Buying Sofas on the Internet

What You Want, When You Want It

For many people, buying a sofa ranks near purchasing a car on their list of unpleasant shopping experiences. Both can be high-ticket, long-term-commitment items with complicated buying processes and frustratingly long delivery delays. But a sofa-buying revolution is under way, thanks to the Internet.

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“By creating a Sofa Collection marketed over the Internet, we can eliminate much of the frustration, confusion and aggravation of shopping for and buying just the right sofa for an individual’s lifestyle,” says Bert Shlensky, president of The Sofa Collection.

Traditional sofa-buying has involved walking into a furniture store showroom, or picking up a catalog, and hoping for the best. Aggravations have included pushy or uninformed sales people, undetermined product quality, high costs, a disconnect between durability and design flexibility, and lengthy waits for deliveries. Buying over the Internet removes the frustration of dealing with sales people, confusion over quality and design options, and extended delivery times.

Integrating design, manufacturing, marketing and distribution has allowed The Sofa Collection to achieve cost-reducing efficiency - which is passed on to buyers in the form of high quality products for nearly half the price. Sofa Collection shoppers can expect to pay about $700 to $900 for sofas that would cost $1,200 to $1,800 from a traditional furniture store.

This integration and value are largely a result of using the Internet as the main marketing tool. While there are a few showcase stores to view the product, the program has been designed to sell on the Internet. The www.thesofacollection.com site is uniquely fashioned to allow consumers to view the product in room settings, design a complete room, compare the various products and answer questions about buying from The Sofa Collection. Using the Internet provides both expert advice and simplifies the entire selling process to save time, shipping, overhead and commission costs

Experts agree on the construction of a good sofa: kiln-dried hardwood or thick engineered wood, sinuous springs or eight-way hand tied springs, padding on all wood pieces, and notched, doweled or blocked joints. Cushions should be detachable and made of high-quality foam wrapped with a durable material soft fill. Unfortunately, few consumers can determine the quality of a sofa merely by looking at it on the showroom floor. They’ve had to rely on the word of a sales person.

“The dilemma with traditional sofa buying has been confusion and lack of clarity over the quality of a product,” notes Shlensky. By acting as both manufacturer and distributor, The Sofa Collection ensures every piece of furniture it sells meets the highest quality standards. Design and durability have also been enduring issues of traditional sofa buying. For some, the design challenge has been too much choice and not enough guidance for how a sofa might look in their décor. For others, the issue is a lack of options that are both durable and flexible. Sofa Collection solves design challenges by providing the three most popular sofa styles - round, curved and square - with a concise selection of popular fabrics to meet consumer needs.

Slip covered sofas, specifically designed to provide a tailored and upholstered look, are one of the key differentiating features of The Sofa Collection. Easily removable, the slip covers are custom fit to avoid the sometimes baggy appearance of traditional slip covers. Available in heavyweight, washable fabric, the slip covers can provide a whole new look for less than $200.

A bitter irony of sofa shopping has been that many expensive sofas that look great may be the most uncomfortable seat in the house. Or, it may not fit in the elevator so you can’t get it up to your fifth-floor apartment. Consumer-oriented design solves the issues of comfort and fit. Backed by extensive market research, every Sofa Collection product is built to dimensions that are most comfortable for the average consumer, are compatible with most room sizes and can fit into a standard-sized modern elevator.

After negotiating the painful traditional buying process, you may have to wait as long as 16 weeks for your new sofa to be delivered. Because The Sofa Collection is both manufacturer and distributor, and because they inventory every style, buyers typically receive their new sofas within two weeks. The company offers no-questions-asked, free returns, and will even cover return shipping charges.

“It took me a year to buy my last couch, sitting on all of them and trying them on,” says Mrs. Anders Lofgren of New York. “But my husband wanted a new sofa and with the 48-hour in-home guarantee, I thought, well, I have little to lose; the price is right. We love the Cottage couch and chair/ottoman combo. My husband is a tall guy and the couch with the lower arms allows him to stretch out comfortably.”

To learn more about The Sofa Collection, and to view their products in room settings, visit www.thesofacollection.com. For information, call (800) 256-1880.

Courtesy of ARA Content

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