At a glance
- Industry: Furniture and home furnishings.
- Business challenge: Compete for high-ticket shoppers without relying entirely on cash discounts.
- Approach: Offer customer-facing travel vouchers as added value.
- Reported outcome: Improved margins, competitive differentiation, and conversion of shoppers into buyers.
- Program scale: More than 10,000 offers distributed over several years, according to the company's general manager.
The challenge
Furniture buyers compare stores, styles, construction, delivery, service, and price. When the purchase is substantial, a percentage discount can quickly remove a meaningful share of gross profit.
The Place Furniture Galleries needed a way to make its offer stand apart while protecting the value of the furniture and giving interested shoppers a stronger reason to complete the purchase.
The approach
The company used discounted travel vouchers as an alternative to cash discounts.
The offer added a separate experience to the transaction instead of reducing the base selling price. In the current Best Buy Incentives program language, this type of customer offer is described as a discounted travel voucher and presented according to the terms of the specific product.
The reported result
General Manager Richard Healey reports that the discounted travel vouchers:
- Improved margins compared with cash discounts.
- Gave the stores an advantage over competitors.
- Helped convert shoppers into buyers.
- Were distributed more than 10,000 times over several years.
The significance is not merely the number of offers. The company describes a repeatable use case in which added customer value supported conversion and price integrity.
Why the economics matter
Suppose a $10,000 sale carries $3,000 in gross profit. A $1,000 discount lowers the selling price by 10% but reduces gross profit by one-third.
A value-added incentive should be evaluated using its actual business cost and measured effect on:
- Close rate.
- Average discount.
- Gross profit.
- Time to decision.
- Average transaction.
- Cancellation or return behavior.
- Customer response.
The Place Furniture Galleries example supports the central strategy: determine whether added value can produce a stronger commercial outcome than subtracting price.
How furniture retailers can apply the model
- Define eligible purchases, products, locations, and dates.
- Select a discounted travel voucher appropriate to the audience and transaction.
- Review inclusions, recipient costs, deadlines, availability, restrictions, and support.
- Train associates to establish product fit and value before presenting the offer.
- Provide customers access to the complete terms.
- Track voucher presentation, close rate, discounts, gross profit, and customer feedback.
Explore the opportunity for your stores
Best Buy Incentives can help compare your existing discount pattern with a customer-facing value-added promotion. Bring your average transaction, gross profit, current close rate, and typical discount; we will help structure the test around measurable economics.