It was a PrimeTIme to remember for NMG Members, partly thanks to Legacy Classic | Modern scoring a huge appearance by Trisha Yearwood who was there to promote her XXX’s and OOO’s line, produced in partnership with the brand. While that appearance drew crowds to the show floor, it was only a part of what’s new and happening with Legacy. We sat down with Tahira Dock Johnson, director of sales operations for Legacy, to talk about what’s new and exciting for their brand, how they’re helping drive traffic to independent dealers’ stores and more.
Rob Stott: All right, we are back on the Independent Thinking Podcast coming to you from Nationwide PrimeTime here in Las Vegas. Excited to be sitting down right now with the director of sales operations for Legacy. Tahira Dock Johnson, appreciate you coming over.
Dock Johnson: Thank you.
Rob Stott: How are you?
Dock Johnson: I’m doing wonderful.
Rob Stott: Having a good PrimeTime so far?
Dock Johnson: So far, so good. Really appreciate all the efforts that the Nationwide team puts into these types of productions on behalf of the retail and the wholesale operations; giving us an opportunity and a platform to collaborate, explore new opportunities with some of your members. And your members that have an opportunity to explore future opportunities for themselves from a retail perspective.
Rob Stott: It’s a fun time.
Dock Johnson: Yes.
Rob Stott: We get to get together a couple times a year and see this show floor buzz the way it has been, and the business, that’s what’s always fun to see get done.
Dock Johnson: The transformation.
Rob Stott: Yes. It’s incredible. We’ve got a lot to dive into. A very exciting program for you guys that’s actually going down this afternoon that we’ll talk about. But what’s new and exciting at this show that you are showcasing to our members?
Dock Johnson: Outside of what we’re going to drop the bomb on later on?
Rob Stott: Cliff hanger.
Dock Johnson: We are showcasing this show. We’re making sure that the members have the ability to touch and see some of our whole home options. We’re not just dining room, we’re not just main bedroom. We have secondary bedroom. We have youth that can grow with the kids and can be the youth’s first furniture in their homes or transform to be that guest room within the home. We have the occasional. And we just launched a new motion program where we have custom wood finishes on leather, custom wood finishes on upholstery. A new curated view on motion, not the old school look, it’s a new look. It will resonate with this newer generation or resonate with the women who husband wants this recliner but she doesn’t want it. So it’s a great compromise.
Rob Stott: Got you. And what’s the feedback been as members come over?
Dock Johnson: Well, it’s been well received. A lot of the members have come by are re-energized by the refreshing look. It has its own look. It’s different from what’s out there in the market right now and so far so good. The reception has been great and very positive.
Rob Stott: That’s awesome to hear. So out in the market, what are you guys seeing? How are things going right now? If there’s anything, the message to members has been we understand, we know what the market’s like; but from the Legacy perspective, how are things right now?
Dock Johnson: You said it right. The market is tough right now. However, Legacy is starting to see a great uptick. Some of the things that were put in place by our new leadership, starting with April of last year, refocusing on quality and service, re-energizing the market with fresher looks. All of that has happened with the transformation between April of last year into October of last year and then our new launches this past April market. So we’ve had very positive reaction, very positive response, and our current customer base and the opportunity that’s out there in the market is very promising for Legacy.
Rob Stott: We hear about foot traffic, what’s being done to help drive foot traffic. What’s going on with your brand to help do that for our retail members?
Dock Johnson: Well, we have refocused our distribution model and we do know that the logistics nightmares that are happening globally. We’ve partnered with a lot of our key retailers to provide them with support, moving some of that freight on our contracts on their behalves. That really helps that retailer keep their margins tight, which helps them with gaining more foot traffic because they’re able to offer the pricing and the margins that they need to be successful as well.
Rob Stott: Flip it around too because the retailers are obviously always demanding of us and their brands. What can they be doing to be more successful today?
Dock Johnson: Just being more transparent. The retailers, as long as they’re more transparent both to their end consumers and transparent with their wholesale partners, it makes that relationship work a lot better. We urge a lot of our retailers, I know times are tough now, but we need you to forecast and project because you want to end the year strong; and you need to give us insight into what those strategies will be so that we can be here to support you. We can’t be reactive because no one wants to be holding a bag, but we have to responsibly work together.
Rob Stott: Yeah, for sure. Well, we got all that out of the way. Now we can have the fun talk, right?
Dock Johnson: Yes.
Rob Stott: The stuff that’s going on.
Dock Johnson: The hype.
Rob Stott: Your booth is going to be popping this afternoon-
Dock Johnson: Yes, we really hope so.
Rob Stott: … Little country pop in this afternoon.
Dock Johnson: We really hope so.
Rob Stott: Talk about this, the Trisha Yearwood collection and everything that you guys… It’s an incredible launch. How long has it been in the market now?
Dock Johnson: So Trisha has had furniture in the market for 10 years and she started her partnership with a former wholesaler who’s no longer in business. And then when the opportunity presented itself, Legacy put their name in the hat. And she had a lot of other wholesalers to look at. And I think what closed the deal for Legacy is when she finally did the one-on-one, face-to-face interviews with the final candidates and walked into our show space, that was it for her, I believe.
Rob Stott: That’s awesome.
Dock Johnson: She was really blown away with our presentation with just the Legacy assortment and so it became obvious that we could collaborate comfortably together. And so we brought over the collections that were in-house, that were already doing really well. And in April we launched her 10th collection, which is X’s and O’s. And so it has been well-received so far. We’ve sold through the first couple of cuttings already. We cut it two weeks after market-
Rob Stott: Wow.
Dock Johnson: … And we’ve sold through them. So we’re working on cutting four and five at this point. And so this show is yet another opportunity to gain exposure to a different crowd because her previous partnership, they had limited the retailers that were able to sell this product and we’ve opened it up now. And these types of groups allow those smaller members the opportunity because not all of these members have the opportunity to come to the Hotpoint market. And so them being able to see that furniture in the booth, we’ve written so many orders to show solely from the fact that we had the product here and they were like, “Oh yes, this is what we want.”
Rob Stott: That’s awesome. I want to dive into that a little bit more, but I want to ask before I forget. The opportunity to work with her, what’s that been like for you and your team?
Dock Johnson: There are certain type of socialite that we all know it’s very complicated to work with. By far, this has been the easiest working relationship. They are so down to earth, the entire team. She meets our team for the first time and she walks away and she can call everybody by name.
Rob Stott: That’s incredible.
Dock Johnson: And she is such a personable person. You can only imagine how many names are thrown at her on a regular basis. I coach and play sports and half the time I can’t even remember the teammates that I play with two or three years.
Rob Stott: I completely understand.
Dock Johnson: And just after an hour encounter, she’s calling everybody by name. She kind of remembers-
Rob Stott: It’s incredible.
Dock Johnson: … What their roles are and she’s just a very laid back and just a breath of fresh air to work with and collaborate with.
Rob Stott: As far as that collaboration, what level of involvement does she have?
Dock Johnson: She loves to have a voice and understanding the vision. She allows Legacy to take the lead. And then once Legacy determines which path they’re going to go with the assortment, what this theme is going to be, she reviews it and she’s just like, “Yes, this is me. I can do this.”
Rob Stott: That’s awesome.
Dock Johnson: “I love this.” And she’s been awesome to work with.
Rob Stott: And then now back to the retailer and the opportunity. Being here and seeing the product and touching and feeling means a lot. By being able to put this type of brand in their store, what’s the opportunity that they have as a retailer to leverage this in what they’re doing?
Dock Johnson: So a lot of the smaller accounts who haven’t had the opportunity, they’re also in parts of the network throughout the country that’s not heavily penetrated by some of the larger box retailers. So then they always have their loyal customer base, which now gives those loyal customer base that trust, those smaller mom and pop locations for directions and trust their operations. It now gains additional exposure that we didn’t have; because there’s always going to be those pockets of consumers that have their loyalty to the local name versus the larger name.
Rob Stott: Yeah, for sure. For sure.
Dock Johnson: And so we are now in a position where we’ll have a deeper penetration, a deeper presence in the marketplace with regards to her product exposure.
Rob Stott: And for the retailer too, the opportunity or ability to put her name on their floor. I have to imagine that is a benefit in and of itself that-
Dock Johnson: Exactly.
Rob Stott: … They will soon realize.
Dock Johnson: Exactly. Exactly. They can cater some advertisement around that. And all of that name recognition is very important. And so that will help that smaller retailer who’s looking to gain that extra percent of foot traffic now that they have access to yet another great line of furniture.
Rob Stott: For sure, yeah. So I know there’s a big program going on over there, but I think we have a fireside track that’s going on.
Dock Johnson: That is correct.
Rob Stott: She’ll be doing some handshaking with some of our members, and-
Dock Johnson: Exactly.
Rob Stott: … A lot to look forward to over there. That’s exciting. Looking past the show, what excites you about the future of working close with our members and with this line and the direction it could head?
Dock Johnson: So after each show, we do gain some traction with a handful of very important members. And then truly this industry, furniture as a whole, is a relationship-driven industry. No matter what happened in the past, once you build that strong relationship with a handful of members, that spreads within the membership organization, they all talk. So someone may have had one bad experience and that one person who had the best experience here recently will then share, “Listen, Legacy is new. They’re under new leadership, their operation is running a lot different. Give them another try.” And so all that does is continue to build momentum between the members and Legacy.
Rob Stott: That’s awesome. Well, I look forward to getting over there, seeing what’s going on and getting my hands on the line and sitting on some of this furniture and see what’s going on. So we appreciate you taking the time and coming over and chatting with us and sharing more and seeing all of the buzz as people move over to that corner of our show floor.
Dock Johnson: Well, we can’t wait. We can’t wait. We can’t wait.
Rob Stott: Awesome. Well, thank you so much.
Dock Johnson: Thank you.
