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Classic Sofa Design with a twist.
When leading furniture retailer Andy
Cussins built up his Sofa Workshop chain in the '80s and '90s he
shook up the UK retail furniture industry.
Now, as design director and chief
executive of new brand Sofasandstuff.com he is doing it all over
again, pioneering a unique approach that delivers classic furniture
- with a twist. Emphasising design, comfort, customer service and
ease of ordering, his new venture delivers all the benefits of
individual customisation - offering a huge choice of different
design and fabric options - while satisfying the equally strong
demands for high quality and web-era savings (30% less than the
high street).
Talk to Andy Cussins of Sofas & Stuff
about the design philosophy behind his new venture and he reaches
for a brown leather jacket hanging behind his chair. 'You see this
jacket. I bought this in the King's Road in the 1980s, and I love
it. It is part of me. I would be devastated if I lost it. It has
never gone out of style, it gets better with age, and I have never
had any problems with it.
30% savings, easy 3-step-ordering
"If you ask me what defines Sofas &
Stuff, I would say it is the same approach that is shown by this 30
year old leather jacket of mine. Classic, timeless design that
doesn't go out of date. It will become a cherished favourite and
family friend, with its own patina and 'usage wrinkles'. With our
sofas we also aim to offer top notch quality, all at around 30%
less than for the equivalent sofas on the high street."
Through a simple 3-step online ordering
process which takes the hassle out of furniture buying, visitors to
the Sofas & Stuff website can choose from a huge range of
design shapes and sizes, displayed initially in white, ranging from
the traditional to the modern. All is not as it seems, however,
when it comes to many of the designs, as Andy explains. "Look at
that wing chair. It is a classic design but with a twist - the
wings are larger than normal, the arms are smaller, and the legs
are from the fifties, a design era I love. Put together, they give
this chair a unique and highly distinctive look and feel, updating
a classic."
The sofas are exceptionally well made, to
Andy Cussins' exacting standards. A huge effort has been put into
making them comfortable to sit in - "We are experts in comfort"
says Andy. "Most covers are removable and washable, springs are
high quality, and the filling used is Duratech (which has a Gold
Star award from the Furniture Industry Research Association).
All sofas are also backed up by a 5-year construction
guarantee."
Personalised customer service, money back
guarantee
Special attention is paid to ensuring
that customers understand exactly what they are ordering, and that
they are completely happy with their sofas when they receive them.
"Expert, personalised customer service is part of our DNA. We go to
the nth degree to get things right for every customer", says
Cussins. "We have to because we make every sofa to order and offer
a money back guarantee."
"Once a customer has ordered a sofa they
are sent a sample of the fabric they have chosen, to ensure that
their understanding of the colour matches the exact colour being
used." Customers who are undecided about fabrics can select
(online) up to eight fabric samples to be posted for viewing at
home.
Delivery times are another area where
Sofas & Stuff take pride in outdoing their competitors: "We
deliver sofas in around 4 weeks as opposed to the industry
standard, which is up to 12 weeks. Our returns policy, in fact our
whole business model - that if you don't like it you can return it
- means that our focus is different from many other suppliers,
where once you have bought the sofa the commitment ends. We make a
special effort to find out exactly what our customers want, to get
it right, without any hard sell. If we didn't take that extra
trouble to get it right we would have sofas coming back from
unhappy customers. By not holding stock, which costs manufacturers
money, we are able to make savings which we then pass on to our
customers." Customers can also call a helpline for additional
information, help or advice when ordering, or visit the company's
first (non-high street) showroom - a renovated barn in a beautiful
rural location near Petworth in West Sussex, with other showrooms
opening in Hungerford in July and Parson's Green in London in
September. Add in free fabric protection and it is not hard to see
why, since its launch in November 2009, Sofas & Stuff has seen
phenomenal growth in popularity, sales and public recognition, and
that more new store openings are planned throughout the UK in the
near future.
Fabric by the metre
Love the sofa. Adore the fabric? So buy
it by the metre. They're perfect to turn into matching curtains or
cushion covers, as well as for covering sofas.
5 year construction guarantee
All our sofas carry a five year
construction guarantee. It covers the feet and frame, springs,
webbing, and sofabed mechanisms. Everything you can't see, except
the seat cushion fillings. But don't worry about them. They'll
retain their shape and comfort for years.
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