Single-source furniture programme

Retailers must frequently work in cooperation with several suppliers in order to put together a range of furniture consisting of shelving, stackable boxes and occasional furniture like desks, chests of drawers and corner benches. Inter Link, based in the French town of Seltz, is pinning its hopes on an overall concept with a full range of products for DIY superstores. Besides the items already mentioned the programme also includes roller containers, plus metal office furnishings as the most recent addition. The company offers a number of possibilities for presenting the total of around 200 articles: they can be integrated into heavy-duty racking, though display bays and concepts for special presentations are also available.
Packaging is designed to be suitable for self-service and self-promotion.
However, Inter Link is also striving for parallel integration into seasonal promotions aside from its presence in the permanent store display. Marketing boss Stefan Frisch is convinced that, “Corner benches, for example, can very easily be marketed together with garden chalets.”
Packaging has been completely redesigned. The white boxes now come complete with milieu photos and all necessary information. Rounding off the POS concept are subject-oriented brochures for the end consumer.
The “Link-Container”, an individually stocked lorry, is available for special occasions such as store inaugurations, open days or Sunday shopping. Inter Link also provides support for advertising campaigns leading up to such events.
The company, which was founded in 1962, was originally based at Straubenhardt in the Black Forest. However, the company decided to move its headquarters to Seltz in France when conditions became too cramped. The specific reason behind this decision was the construction of a new logistics centre approx. 10 000 m² in size, which has in the meantime been completed. Today this allows the company to supply not only the entire German market, where about 60 per cent of its sales are generated, but also France (20 per cent) and “the rest of the world” (20 per cent).
View of the newly designed showroom with products for DIY superstore distribution.
Employees at Inter Link, which currently has a workforce of around 60, are specially proud of the low rate of customer complaints. Frisch declares himself pleased that, “We have now managed to reduce it to below one per cent and, just in case something might by chance be left out, we offer the stores our service package of…