Why SmartFurniture.com Is Different.

After 10+ years of helping customers design, customize, and purchase furniture to suit their unique needs, we realized that we haven't really told folks who have not heard SmartFurniture.com who we are and why they should want to buy something from us. We decided it was time to think about this, and here are a few reasons:

1. We have a soul.
2. We will win your loyalty with world-class customer service.
3. Unlike many other online retailers, we actually make stuff. We even have a real store in real life.
4. You can actualy design your own products and your own spaces, on demand.
5. We do all the other stuff too (best prices, free shipping...)

1. We have a soul.

• We are real people. If you ever happen to call, email or chat with us, you will speak with an actual person who works at Smart Furniture in Chattanooga. Call us at (888)467-6278 and see.
• We don't outsource your calls to a different company, country or planet.
• We will actually do everything we can to help you. Everyone has had to deal with apathetic companies, and we are here to right their wrongs to you. We are small enough to actually care, and have a team of design specialists and customer service people who know a lot of stuff and really like helping people -- and are pretty good at it. Here are some of our people:
  
  

  Karen	Mark	Natalie	Matt
  Melanie	Stephen	Dustin	Cyndi

• We live and work in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Yes, you may detect an accent, but it's because we're from the South, and everybody here talks funny.

• Our company has an actual story. Read about how Smart Furniture came about, and take a look at a few things we're doing now:

Twitter Updates

Facebook Fan Page

Smart Furniture Staff Blog

Smart Furniture Blog

Smart Furniture Studio Blog

Smart Trade Program

• Finally, we really love what we do:

We are like you. We love design, we hate recessions. We appreciate great personal service, not "your call is important to us." We appreciate Charles Eames, not knockoffs. We like honest advice, we don't like being "sold to." We loved the last episode of *M*A*S*H*, but the last Seinfeld? We love guaranteed best pricing, and we hate, well... recessions. We love the internet, but it can't beat a worn-out paperback. We love timeless innovation, not fads. We love great selection, personalized attention and custom design, not one size fits all.

Because you are different. You may like a lot of other stuff we like. But maybe not in the same color, fabric, size, shape or space. Like you, Smart Furniture folks are diverse in our tastes and talents. And we make it easy for you to be different, with an utterly unique selection of products (some found nowhere else), unlimited custom designs, and a unique approach we call Design on Demand®. Like you, we appreciate great design and great service. But at Smart Furniture, what we really appreciate is who makes us different: you.

2. We will win your loyalty with world-class customer service.

• We strive to provide the best customer service in the world, which sounds cliché, but we're very serious about it -- read this whitepaper for more. We admit that we're not always perfect, but we really try hard to make you happy. We've won lots of awards for this, but until you experience how hard we try to make you happy, you will have no idea. So give us a chance -- call us, ask us a question, request a custom design, order.
• We care about ethics and integrity. Our team here is small, but dedicated, and we strive to be honest as the day is long. We think you'll appreciate how we do things. If you'd like to learn more, our team wrote an a whitepaper on ethics.
• Our customers love what we do for them. Read just a sample of the feedback we've received.

3. Unlike many online retailers, we actually make stuff. We even have a real store in real life.

• We actually invented Smart Furniture, -- with 3 patents and counting, designed it ourselves from scratch, manufacture it locally (in the USA), and ship it to you directly. We're not just middlemen.
• For the products we don't make, unlike many online retailers, we've actually seen the stuff we're selling. In fact, we have an actual store where we talk to customers face to face everyday about our products, what they like and don't like. This store has real products, real people, and sometimes even real cookies.
• If you can imagine a time when most companies made things, there are a lot of things people learn about product design, materials, quality, durability, and customer satisfaction that you can only learn by doing.
• We have been making Smart Shelves® for over 10 years, and what we've learned helps us to evaluate other people's products for you. We tinker and test a lot of other people's products we sell -- just so we can tell you what we think, and hear what you think.

4. You can actually design your own products and your own spaces, on demand.

• We call it Design on Demand®. We started Smart Furniture to give people like you a place to go online, easily personalize a product or space that suits your needs, and have that product shipped to you really fast.
• It started with Smart Shelves®, our flagship product line. Now, we sell a number of brands, carefully chosen because: it's good stuff, it's great design, and/or it's versatile enough for you to design it from scratch, or personalize it (thus "Design on Demand").
• We invented the one-of-a-kind Smart Designer® for you, where you can design (and order) products and spaces online. We've been doing this for 10 years (here's our first design tool based on our 1997 Smart Shelves concept).
• We make it all easy. For those who don't like messing around with web-based design tools, just give us a call at (888) 467-6278 and we'll take care of you.

5. We do all the other stuff too (best prices, free shipping...).

You know those lists of things that most companies have that say "this is why we are different" but the lists are all the same? We do all that stuff too, but we lump it all into #5 on our list because we work so hard on the first part of the list too. So here is our list of stuff that does not make us special:

• Best prices anywhere. Really? Here's the truth: almost every company that sells products made by Herman Miller, Blu Dot, Steelcase, Kartell, Knoll, etc. all sell products at the same price -- the only exception is Design Within Reach who generally sells stuff at a higher price because people keep buying stuff from them. We sell the exact same stuff and it is almost always less expensive here. If it doesn't seem like it, give us a call.
• Like all authorized retailers of these leading furniture manufacturers, we are restricted by a little thing called "MAP" -- "Minimum Advertised Pricing". The only thing you need to know to get the best price is whether the company is charging MAP. If someone is selling below MAP, that means it is either a fake, used, no warranty, or unauthorized (which usually means fake or used and no warranty). We charge MAP.
• Free shipping. Similar to MAP, most companies give away shipping when the authorized retailer rules permit it. We do this for as many products as allowed. For all the companies that think this makes them special, it doesn't.
• No sales tax. Wow, really? Unless you are in Tennessee, yes. We would not charge it in Tennessee, but they make us. To make it up to Tennesseans, we will give you a hug or a cookie if you buy from us.
• Fully-authorized products. Our Herman Miller products are Herman Miller products, our Kartell is Kartell, our Smart Furniture is Smart Furniture, unlike many places on the wild internet frontier. There are many reasons why we're a safer, more economical, and overall better choice.
• 24 x 7 x 365 Easy Secure Ordering (yada yada). Since the creation of the transactable internet, this has been available. We will accept your order every second of every day of the year, and we spend a lot of money to make sure that your order is secure.