Marc Barnes
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Top 100 store El Dorado Furniture wins praise from Wells Fargo Financial for the breadth and quality of its private-label credit program.


The store makes it a point to reach every customer it can. Roberto Capo, chief marketing officer of the nine-store Florida chain based here, said the idea is to catch anybody and everybody in the marketplace, regardless of whether they have cash or need to finance their purchases. Terms at El Dorado run from three to 24 months.

“To be competitive, we have to offer all of the plans,” Capo said. “Some people prefer to pay it off in six months, just not to have the hassle. We also have minimum purchases — to get a (longer) term like 24 months, they have to have a higher minimum purchase than the three months would be.”

He said El Dorado sets itself apart from the competition by offering a menu of financing options, rather than just one or two plans.

“When we do direct mail, we will offer a discount for dollars and we include a promotion with a financing offer, and most likely it will be a year or a little more, depending on the discounts that we are offering,” Capo said.

Salespeople are trained to show customers how they can save a few dollars if they pay cash instead of financing for six months or, alternatively, spend as little as $50 more to qualify for a full year’s financing.

Capo said financing can be a delicate balancing act, and salespeople are trained to bring it up at the end of the sale, or when the customer starts talking about money. Some customers don’t want financing at all and see it as a hassle. And the offers aren’t spelled out on big signs throughout the store, because the $4,000 minimum for the longest financing might scare them away.

Capo said it’s important to include deposits and minimum payments in financing plans because the rates are better for both the store and the financing company — and there’s less risk.

“If they are going to default, you will find out within the year, instead of waiting until after the finance period and finding out the customer is not going to pay at all,” he said. “At least you are going to know in the first couple of months whether they are going to pay late or what the payments will be.”

Capo noted the store hasn’t been taking a closer look at customers’ credit ratings lately because requiring minimum payments has meant less fraud. “I can actually see it getting better,” he said.

But Capo said that for a store to be successful, its priorities have to be in order.

“In our stores, the focus is not on the financing, even though we have it,” he said. “We try to sell our furniture and also offer the financing. If you advertise only financing, you are not looking at the furniture, only at the financing. That’s when you become a commodity and that’s not what you want your product to be.”

There are two kinds of furniture retailers, Capo said, one that sells financing, the other that sells a lifestyle or a brand.

“Financing and price isn’t everything,” he said. “It has to be a combination. You have got to have the quality furniture; you have to be there when the customer needs you. Selling style and color and customer service and having the financing there in the background really completes the package for us.”