by The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many to change their procedures, especially local businesses. Carl Vogel, owner of Carl’s Wholesale Furniture Warehouse, discussed how his business adapted during the pandemic, and his plans going forward into the winter and spring.
When asked about his business’ biggest challenge during the pandemic, he said it was going all digital. Vogel was originally taking calls and online orders by himself, but on day one, the phone didn’t stop ringing. “I gave my salesmen laptops with our software on it so they could work from home. We added a cart to our site, and when we did that, it got pretty busy.”
Vogel had his employees working from home to keep up with all the new orders. He also made sure he had a delivery driver on so they could ship the furniture out the same day customers ordered it. His sales actually increased during the shutdown because everyone was stuck at home.
In regards to another shutdown during the winter and spring, Vogel said he will be ready to adapt again. During the first shutdown, he came up with a new delivery method that allowed for safe and efficient service. “Normally I would send two drivers on a truck, but during the pandemic, we used one driver to put the furniture on the customer’s porch, which saved time,” Vogel said.
Whatever the spring may bring, Vogel plans on using the same methods that were successful in the past. Even though there were a couple of phone glitches and other online issues that could have slowed business down, he managed to overcome these challenges. He was able to remain successful during these uncertain times.
(Article photo sourced from https://www.instagram.com/p/BUko7WTFQ1E/)
