By: Furniture World Magazine 
Recent International Furniture Transportation and Logistics Council conference tracks trends and advances that will affect furniture retailers.

Many furniture retailers are unaware of the professional association that focuses on furniture transportation and operations issues. The unique problems of transporting furniture from manufacturers to retailers and ultimately to customers’ homes has been addressed by the International Furniture Transportation and Logistics Council for more than 80 years.


Reflecting the shift to international manufacturing and growth in e-commerce, the name was changed from The National Furniture Traffic Conference in 2000. Issues discussed at their recent annual conference are of importance to furniture retailers of all sizes.

Retailer participants at their May 2014 annual conference included well known large operations like IKEA, Crate & Barrel, Art Van and City Furniture as well as smaller companies eager to strengthen skills in managing their overall supply chain. Companies represented every part of the business including those that handle transportation from overseas manufacturing plants, national third party logistics providers, regional warehouse/ delivery operators and local delivery companies. Manufacturers also were active participants. Some of the issues that are of interest to home furnishings retailers have been abstracted below.

Home Delivery: In the home delivery area, the primary challenge discussed was “alleged” product damage at customers’ homes. Companies that thoroughly researched this issue have found that while some damage is genuine, a significant portion is related to misrepresentation of product quality at the point of sale, and buyer’s remorse at the point of delivery.

Obviously these factors are largely outside the control of the delivery operation, whether it be handled by store employees or an outsourced transportation company.

Packaging Quality: Product and packaging quality is…

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