The Home Furnishing Association’s website is a comprehensive source for HFA members to obtain detailed information on industry news, membership programs, buying resources and more. The site opens to an organized landing page where the featured topics are presented in a slideshow underneath the main menu. Under the slideshow, there are icons that redirect to the Member Center, the HFA Store, RetailerNOW and Market Information. The landing page also includes the HFA Spotlight (upcoming events, specials and news) and the most recent blogposts.

Membership

Two membership options are offered under the “Membership” tab in the main menu: the Associate membership and the Associate PLUS membership. The former is $500 and includes:

• RetailerNOW magazine
• Government affairs alerts
• Participation in all association programs
• Discounted advertising space in RetailerNOW
• A listing on myhfa.org
• Discounted tickets to attend the annual conference
• The opportunity to participate in the annual trade show and conference at a lower price

The PLUS membership is $1,500 and includes all the Associate member benefits as well as two additional listings on the website, first choice booth space at the HFA resource center and an occasional listing in the RetailerNOW magazine.

The Membership Programs sub-heading offers packages and services available to members that save time and money. These contain recommended service providers, such as CrossCheck, in eight different categories, including finance, marketing and operations.

HFA Buying Source

This page is a resource for independent furniture dealers to find buying programs that can help their profitability, including over 40 suppliers that offer discounts and rebates to HFA members.

Events

The events tab feature upcoming events in the world of home furnishings, including the Atlanta International Gift and Home furnishings event from July 11-18, The Atlanta International Rug Market from July 12-15 and the Regional Networking Event-Colorado Rockies on July 18.

This tab also has a drop down menu to HFA’s markets: the High Point Market and the Las Vegas Market. Both have upcoming events to network, meet vendors, attend seminars and watch presentations. The High Point Market will have its networking event October 14-18, focusing on meeting vendors and attending presentations. The Las Vegas Market event, held July 30 – August 30, will include seminars to improve sales, build brands, attracting customers and using social media. For more information, check our article on the Las Vegas Market.

Resources

This page offers member directories, showing services and organizations HFA members could benefit from. Some partners offer discounts for Associate PLUS members.

The HFA Store is another resource offered by HFA. This page has a slideshow of the most current HFA catalogue where member prices are 25% lower than non-member prices.

An especially intriguing resource is the Retail Performance Report, offered to members for $99 and non-members for $300. This industry-wide performance survey that includes sales and inventory performance, sales change, sales to plan, floor space productivity and more.

Media

RetailerNOW magazine is an HFA publication also listed under resources that includes member benefits and top stories in technology, sales and products.

The HFA Blog contains current news, government relations, marketing information, membership planning and press releases. It also features a category targeted to young home furnishings professionals entitled “Next Generation Now”.

HFA also publishes webinars every Wednesday that are free for members in topics such as industry marketing, communication and education.

Next Generation Now

Not only does the younger demographic of industry members get their own blog category, the Next Generation Now community has web resources specifically catered to their needs. This includes a board to ensure their voices are heard, a leadership immersion experience, events and an information on how they can have lunch with industry leaders. These resources are meant to support and educate new industry members.

Government Relations

This section of the website focuses on safety and government regulations in the world of home furnishings. The first option in the roll down menu is “Anchor it! Prevent Tip Over” which is a campaign to educate parents and childcare providers on how to prevent furniture tip-over.

CA Proposition 65 is the “most far reaching consumer ‘right to know’ law in the nation”, and states that business must warn their customers before exposing them to chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.

The Marketplace Fairness Act was passed to go to the House of Representatives in 2013. If this law gets passed, the legal framework for online and physical retailers would be treated equally. This law would enforce tax collection laws that are already in place. This will allow states to collect sales tax, but only if they simplify the process for retailers.

TB-117 2013 states that changes in flammability testing were effective in 2014.

About HFA

The standard about page offers information on HFA and its purpose. The main heading offers a roll down menu, giving information on their board of directors, the staff team, sponsors, partners and a standard “Contact Us” page.