From dealers to academics
Kirov company Techno came up with a retail format,which has no counterparts in Russia yet.
18/05/2015
Furniture Academy, which was opened last year in November in Kirov by the company Techno, has nothing to do with traditional educational institutions. This is not a university, but a beautifully designed showroom with the area of 2 thousand sq. m. However, there is a lot one can learn here. You will know how to design an interior decently and fashionably, will be taught to select materials for the furniture manufacturing wisely and to competently work with them. It will be useful for furniture makers as well as for individual craftsmen.
For 13 years of its existence, Techno has evolved from a small dealer company to a leading regional supplier of furniture materials and components. The firm has established steady partnership relations with the most eminent manufacturers and has also acquired an impressive woodworking machinery fleet, which allows manufacturing furniture parts according to customers’ demand. Today, Techno is the official dealer of such companies as Syktyvkar Plywood Mill (TM Lamarty), Rehau, Häfele, Egger, Commander, Blanco, Valmaks, Arpa, Gratis. In addition, the company offers woodworking tools by the firms Freud and Festul. As for the Techno product line, the range of furniture components and hardware counts more than 50 thousand items, the design variety of laminated chipboard — more than 100 options, and that of plastics — more than 500 articles. All this commodity abundance is at the display in the new exhibition hall called the Furniture Academy.
“Our company’s strategy was “Everything for furniture production,” — says Konstantin Plyusnin, Director General of Techno, inventor of the Furniture Academy format. “But eventually we realized: it is not enough just to offer a full set of materials and components for furniture. It is essential to present complex solutions to all groups of clients and partners, solutions that will help furniture makers produce high-demand products and awake in ordinary citizens a desire to renew the interior of their apartment, their house, making it unique. But it’s not enough just to show. We must tell people about the properties of materials, about the advantages of the “smart” content, and also teach many furniture makers how to work with modern components. Therefore, to four thousand square meters of storage space we added a showroom with the area of two thousand square meters, where there are not just shop assistants, but competent consultants.”
“We have long dreamed of a Lamarty collection brand presentation of this level and quality,” — says Julia Sergeeva, the head of marketing department in Syktyvkar Plywood Mill. “Firstly, our trendy novelties are
fully presented in the Furniture Academy. Secondly, all the decor lines are clearly classified — wooden, monochrome, fancy decorations. It’s so beautiful, and, of course, that makes a strong impression on visitors. It is good that the exposition is not “silent”, it “talks”. Info tablets and banners were made, they tell about the features and advantages of board materials. Consultancy managers help to understand the terms and nuances. This information is essential, first of all, for end-users. For example, here people can find out, what is the formaldehyde emission class, what differs the E1 boards from the E0.5 boards. I would say that having invented the format Furniture Academy, Techno managed to make a small revolution in the market of furniture materials and components.”
A special place in the showroom is occupied by the brand boutique of furniture fittings Häfele TWW-Shop, for which there are 288 sq. m. Since 2012, the world-famous German company has been promoting the program TWW (Trade World Wide) Shop. Today, there are more than Häfele stores in the world. Techno was the first company in Russia to launch this project. And it’s worth mentioning that Häfele TWW-Shop, operating in Kirov, is the third largest in Europe: the bigger ones are only in Turkey and Spain.
“I watched the creation of the Furniture Academy from the very beginning, from the moment when Techno decided to take one of its production sites for a new showroom,” — says Konstantin Rylov, sales manager in the Volga-Vyatka region of Häfele Rus. “The uniqueness of this format is that it is not just a store, but an academy. Here each client gets more than a product, sees how a particular material or component can be used and finds new ideas for himself.”
Techno notes: if someone finds this experience interesting, Furniture Academy will be happy to share it. After all, the materials and components market players define to a great extent, what will the surroundings, in which ordinary consumers live, look like, and that means they define their mood and attitude to the world around them.
