Retailers tout benefits of vendor 800 numbers - 800 customer help line numbers - RTA Merchandising supplement

Discount Store News, June 4, 1990

Retailers Tout Benefits of Vendor 800 Numbers

Discounters are telling ready-to-assemble furniture manufacturers that toll-free phone numbers to assist customers is not merely a bonus for buying from a certain vendor; it is an increasingly necessary service.

Vendors say they will continue or expand their 800 number availability despite low consumer utilization of the toll-free numbers.

Don Metz, K mart's RTA furniture buyer, said providing his customers with an 800 number is crucial for the RTA business.

"All of our suppliers have a toll-free number. These numbers are very important . . . It has never gotten to the point where we've had to drop a vendor over it; usually they are able to start one if the number is not already in place."

Danny Langevin, director of marketing at Club Price in Canada, said the

toll-free numbers are extremely important to the furniture business, especially in membership warehouse clubs, the ultimate self-service environment. In fact, he said that having such a number is a "pre-requisite" for doing business with the Canadian membership warehouse club.

Rose's Stores, Henderson, N.C., has a different point of view. Tony Cincotta, senior vice president and chief merchandise officer, said, "Whether or not a manufacturer offers an 800 number does not affect our buying or our business."

Sauder Woodworking has had an 800 number in place for the past two years and has just extended the calling hours to include Saturday. The company had weekday hours from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. but decided that many people who buy RTA would do the actual assembly on Saturdays, according to Gene Metz, vice president, sales and marketing.

Despite insistence from many retailers that 800 numbers are important for their customers and therefore important to them, some manufacturers are reporting low utilization of these lines.

Tom O'Sullivan, national sales manager with O'Sullivan Industries, Lamar, Mo., said the company initiated a toll-free line nearly three years for consumers needing parts replacement. Assembly assistance was incorporated into the service about a year ago.

Despite the availability of this service, O'Sullivan said the company receives an average of only three calls per day. Call-in hours are weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., CST. "We've talked about doing a swing shift through the weekend, but we're a long way from needing the additional hours," O'Sullivan said.

Mike Gusdorf, marketing manager with Gusdorf Corp., St. Louis, reported similarly low utilization figures. Gusdorf is in the process of switching to a dedicated toll-free line that connects directly to a customer service representative; previously, the consumer was connected to the central switchboard where they would be routed to the correct office.

The company is only able to determine utilization rates as they come through the dedicated line. The frequency right now is under five calls per day. Whether that figure will rise when all calls come through the one direct toll-free line remains to be seen. The frequency will almost certainly be below levels most retailers would imagine.

"Even if I can improve returns to stores by 1 percent, the toll-free line is worth it," said Gusdorf. Right now about 30 percent of product being shipped has the new toll-free number on it, the other 70 percent lists the one that goes through the switchboard. Gusdorf estimated that by year-end the level would be up to about 90 percent with the new number.

Gusdorf's consumer toll-free service operates during business hours, plus Tuesday and Thursday evenings. "All other times the line is picked up by an answering machine, and the information recorded."

Ben Levy, director of RTA furniture with Soundesign Corp., Jersey City, N.J., said the company has offered a toll-free number from the start. "We study the volume of calls month to month and determine the nature of the calls, how busy the lines are. Right now the hours we have are sufficient."

The company's toll-free phone number accepts calls on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., EST.

David Messinger, vice president of sales and marketing at Bush Industries, Jamestown, N.Y., said most of the time customers are calling to be reassured. "Basically, all the customers have required is for someone to say, `that-a-boy!'"

Bush double-checks the effectiveness of its toll-free number by calling customers who have used this line and asking them about the service. "We have found 99.9 percent of all people calling the toll-free line were satisfied with the help they received," Messinger said.

Usage rates of these toll-free lines vary from vendor to vendor, but perhaps what is more important than using the line, is just letting the consumer know that the manufacturer will not abandon the end-user, and that this is one less chore for store personnel to handle, some vendors assert.

Bill Agnew, manager of sales and marketing at Armstrong Furniture, Lancaster, Pa., said that Armstrong includes the number on both the outside of the carton and inside on the instructions sheet. "[This is] part of our way of saying, `let the buyer have faith' rather than `let the buyer beware,'" Agnew said.