Furniture Village to review £7m account

Furniture Village is reviewing its &£7m advertising account, held by Golley Slater. The furniture retailer has already drawn up an undisclosed shortlist, which does include the incumbent agency.

The review is being overseen by director of marketing Andrew Hickling, who joined the company last year from Courts, where he had been marketing controller.

Earlier this year, Furniture Village used the agency Clear to advertise its new upmarket retail brand, London Furniture Company. The company wants to use the brand to be a major player in the top end of the furniture market and hopes to roll out the concept to up to six sites. It has about 30 sites trading under the Furniture Village brand name.

The privately owned retailer reportedly posted a one per cent rise in operating profit, to &£5.3m, on turnover up 11 per cent to &£120.9m for the year to the end of March.

Competition is on the increase in the furniture retail market, which has been buoyed by the recent boom in consumer spending. A number of new players are being attracted to the UK market, including American retailer Ethan Allen, BO Concept and Danish retailer Ilva, which is looking for suitable sites.

Those already operating in the market are also upping their game, including Marks & Spencer, which has appointed Selfridges chief executive Vittorio Radice to manage its homeware business.