Our web developers have been busy over the last few weeks to prepare us for a major web marketing campaign. We are about to introduce a “next day” bed frame and mattress delivery service and offer our internet customers some unbelievable one-off web deals. The containers are arriving from China as we speak and some of the products are going to be out of this world at incredible prices.

We already have an enviable conversion rate both in store and on the web, so we know our bed product offerings are up to the job. However to commit to the type of web marketing spend that is planned (£400k) we need to be doubly sure that our web site and products are the very best.

So watch this space.

The roll out of our new Archers Sleepcentre signs and logos is starting Monday. Our Ayr bed store is the first to get the makeover. The old signs come down, the painters come in, the new signs go up, and by the end of the week, hey presto we should have a totally new look store. New footmats, new internal logos and banners and a fresh and modern fascia.

Our Great Western Road bed store in Glasgow and our Windsor Street furniture warehouse are also getting the treatment this week. The plan is then to take stock, see we are happy with the new look, and all our other bed stores will follow.

So any comments and suggestions are earnestly welcomed. We are going to give ourselves a week to “digest” the look and then press the button. The whole re branding will cost in excess of £20k – so we do want to get it right. Fingers crossed we like it and the public still recognise us as the same shop. We will still be the best place to buy beds, mattresses and bedroom furniture in the whole of Scotland. Just prettier.

Starting Friday 17th October 2008 for 3 days only, Archers Sleepcentre are taking an EXTRA 10% off absolutely everything – beds, mattresses and bedroom furniture. The promotion ends 5pm Sunday 19th October.

Click to Archers Current Press Advert to view our Scottish national 10% off bed advert. It features our Petra divan set with of course an extra 10% off. Remember our 10% off promotion is for this weekend only.

Please note that we cannot extend the offer to our internet customers unless they are able to visit one of our bed superstores. Its one of these situations that shopping locally gets the better price….. the offer is to drive customer footfall and so make the visit – you won’t be disappointed.

We have taken on three new bed sales consultants in our East Kilbride, Glasgow and Cumbernauld bed superstores. The quality of applicant has been superb and I know we have got three fantastic new sales people to bolster our sales performance.

What is strange is that we are struggling to fill our job vacancy in Edinburgh. Its a hard city for employers, but given the current job climate there ought to be someone out there looking for an opportunity. Our Edinburgh bed store does take the money, good commission can be earned, and if you know someone who might be interested then get them to apply.

We pay a high basic, great commission and a regular 5 day week. And being the best and the biggest, selling beds is easy!

MFI is “restructuring” and Rosebys are in administration. This time there seems no way out for two old, venerable, but struggling bed and bedroom retail chains. We expect a big number of their stores to close which isn’t good news for landlords but is good news for us bed retailers who are left.

The ever rising rents and ever more restrictive planning conditions have been a huge disincentive to open more bed stores. Sometimes it feels that only a phalanx of supermarket lawyers and their bankers can negotiate the current system.

The dam may however may begin to burst and if both councils and landlords start to see the folly of screwing the retailer (we end up passing the costs to the customer in the end) there could be opportunities for independent retailers after all. 

As always at Archers, we will find a way. More bed superstores to follow shortly….

Kaymed have kindly arranged two trips to Dublin for 20 of our sales consultants to visit their factory and enjoy the famous Irish hospitality. It is a fantastic opportunity to visit the shrine of visco elastic memory foam.

Visco elastic has revolutionised the bed industry and Kaymed are the undoubted world leaders. The big problem is that visco is a complicated material to describe and our hope is that by meeting the experts we will come back totally on top of the subject.

Kaymed are confident that we will return enthused to sell more of their products. I haven’t told them that we are already enthused (we do want the free trip you see). But make no mistake, visco isn’t going to disappear as a fad. We must embrace it and this trip should give us an edge and a taste for good Guinness of course.

Our new bed promotional deals started Tuesday 30 September and if you click to Archers Current Press Advert you will see our latest Scottish national bed advert. It features our Petra divan set - fast becoming one of our best sellers. It proves that great quality and great value will always win through….

The biggest result for us is that we have avoided the large inflationary increases that our suppliers have been trying to implement. The falls in the euro, the dollar, fuel increases and metal and foam increases have all been cited as reasons for why Archers should pay more for their beds.

Needless to say, Robert Hunter, our Rottweiler buyer, has chewed over the arguments and spat them back out. So over the next few weeks we should see a bigger gap between our prices and our competitors…

Our Victoria bed finally got its 15 minutes of fame. The episode featuring our bed was shown on TV today. The bed looked beautiful and within 15 minutes we received an order from a lady in Surrey. It proves that at least one person watches daytime TV.

As from today we can now advise local customers to phone their store the evening before their delivery day to get a 3 hour delivery slot. Previously we asked customers to phone in the morning of the delivery.

There are two advantages and one disadvantage to this new system. The good news is that in most cases we should have time to phone our customers rather than wait for them to phone us. Second, if there is a problem, we have time to do something about it.

The bad news is that we need to cut off next day delivery at 12 noon. We always say, better to promise what you can definitely achieve rather than what you might achieve. So the cut-off protects against promises we can’t keep. Our delivery contractors accept the fact however, that sometimes we need to bend the rules….

As from today our delivery charge will be £25 any where in the UK mainland. We believe we have one of the most cost effective delivery services in the business. Delivering a bed however, does require huge care and attention and most often involves a “two man” lift – so there are some costs that just can’t and shouldn’t be avoided.

Of course we do compare favourably with our competition – Dreams £29, Bensons £35, Bed Shed £25+ and even Comet charges £24.95 for a telly! If only there were free delivery pixies out there. But as there are aren’t what we strive to achieve is a reliable, damage free service, delivered with a smile and the promise of a fast response if things do go wrong.