OVER the past four decades, BLIMS Lifestyle Group Inc. (BLG), a house of lifestyle furniture concepts that carries local and international brands, has been turning houses into homes, and its thrust of catering to every market segment will just continue to be stronger in the coming years.
Home to local and international brands such as BLIMS Fine Furniture, Office World, Sogo Home and Office Center, Home Factory Outlets, Cellini, Gautier of France and La-Z-Boy, BLG is embarking on a growth path to bring its timeless furniture closer to customers.
Gregory Lim, the company’s vice president for marketing, said his group will continue to expand its presence in different areas in the Philippines to cater to the growing demand for quality furniture in the country.
“Our vision is for us to again double our size with our intention of growing our current pool of brands and bringing in more brands for multiple market segments. We want to be able to cater to the furniture needs of everyone for us to realise our mission of turning every Filipino house into a home,” he said.
The plan, Lim said, is to increase the group’s sales channels within the Greater Manila Area (GMA) and key provincial cities.
“With the continued growth of the economy especially the growth of housing and condo developments, we see the huge demand in furniture moving forward,” he added. “Our advantage is that we have different retail formats that we can bring into these markets, depending on what we believe the market wants.”
BLG also focused its attention on the fast developing Southern GMA area as they opened different specialty stores such as BLIMS Fine Furniture and SOGO Home and Office Center showrooms in Laguna, Imus, Dasmarinas and Muntinlupa.
The group, he said, is bullish of realising its goals, as the company has, time and again, proven that it can sustain its growth despite challenges. In fact, its growth trajectory was so fast, it was able to hit its targets two years ahead.
“We embarked on a five-year plan called Vision 2020. Our target was to double in size by 2020. We managed to achieve this by 2018,” Lim said.
The secret behind this, he noted, was for the company “to go back to the basics of furniture retail.”
“We focused on improving our product selection by introducing new and exciting collections. We also made sure our prices remained competitive as we continue to shop the world to find quality pieces for a great value. In our stores, we focused on having well trained sales associate that provided great service to our customers.” Lim explained. “And most importantly we continue to embark on our store experience upgrade initiative. In the first half of the 2019 alone we will finish upgrading 25% of our BLIMS Fine Furniture showrooms.” Lim added.
As the furniture market continues to expand due to urban development, more and more furniture companies are coming in. Even with competition, BLG is confident that it will remain as the top brand of choice for consumers, Lim said.
“With the continued growth of the furniture market, there is also a lot of new local and foreign competitors that have come in. We believe by going back to our roots of providing the perfect furniture pieces for Filipino consumers, BLG will continue to be the house of furniture brands for decades to come,” he said.
Currently, BLG is present through its 45 specialty retail outlets nationwide, each specialty store offering different furniture pieces to everyone — from cash and carry customers to mid tier buyers and to high end consumers.
“In our group of brands we always go back to the brand essence of each and why consumers buy,” Lim said. “Our focus is always on the foundations of buying furniture. Furniture is not just a showpiece, it is something that you always use to relax in. That is why in all our brands, we continually focus on quality and comfort.”
For BLG’s cash and carry brands, consumers like the affordability of the product, hence the company provides room packages wherein they can give more savings to consumers.
Its mid tier to higher end brands allow furniture buyers to take home quality and timeless pieces of superior quality and comfort. Its brands have built a strong reputation of providing quality pieces that last for generations.
“We believe that furniture is personal, meaning that a piece should sit well with both the taste and needs of our customers. What we offer is a service that helps our customers choose the right pieces for their personalized homes — that is why we always encourage our customers to first experience the furniture to make sure they like the comfort level before they make a purchase.” Lim noted.
Despite this, it is also evolving to the digital customer’s demands. In the future, BLG products will be available in the digital marketplace to cater to a wider audience of consumers.
BLG’s different brands carry a plethora of collections that are constantly updated to fit the latest urban lifestyle. To do this on a constant basis and to further adapt to global trends, the company shops the world to find the perfect furniture pieces that can complement any environment and any market.
“Value does not necessarily mean low priced, but value is different for each type of consumer. And each of our brands cater to these different types of consumers. But one thing remains constant, customer satisfaction in our products and service is always our top priority and we believe that this is why we have been here for four decades and this is how we will still be here serving Filipino consumers for another 40 years” Lim added.
40 Years Transforming Houses into Homes
BLIMS Lifestyle Group, Inc. is a house of lifestyle furniture concepts that helps Filipinos transform their houses into their own personalized homes. They carry local and international brands that offer everything from sofas and dining sets, beds and mattresses, recliner and accent chairs and even office furniture.
BLIMS FINE FURNITURE Pioneering furniture one-stop shop concept since 1977 that sells everything you need to turn your house into a home. BLIMS provides quality furniture with modern contemporary designs that are timeless. It also carries a plethora of pieces that allow it to curate different design collections to suite your taste and lifestyle. www.blimsfurniture.com.ph
LA-Z-BOY An iconic American brand whose name has become synonymous with the world’s favorite recliner. La-Z-Boy is beyond recliners! It now carries a wide assortment of upholstered products including motion sofas, power recliners, cinema loungers, sleeper sofas, leather and fabric stationary sofas that uses the same formula of quality and comfort that the brand is best known for. www.la-z-boyphilippines.com
SOGO HOME AND OFFICE CENTER is known for their signature Furniture Room Packages, Buy 1 Take 1 deals and Everyday Low Prices across furniture categories such as sofas, dining sets, beds & Mattresses, decors and office furniture, closer to furniture buyers.
SOGO offers easy payment options of up to 24mos 0% interest with major credit cards or financing with Home Credit, Aeon or Flexi Financing. With SOGO, furnishing your home does not need to hurt your wallet. www.sogofurniture.com
HOME FACTORY OUTLETS is the country’s first factory outlet center for home furniture and furnishings. This 3,000 sqm warehouse center located in Mandaluyong is designed to offer furniture and furnishing factory overstock, last pieces and clearance items at factory outlet prices .
HFO has now opened another location in Ayala Fairview Terraces that brings its signature great deals of up to 50% off daily on home furniture to Quezon City. www.hfoutlets.com
GAUTIER, the premium French furniture brand (est 1960) that is synonymous with being chic, functional and contemporary in design
The Gautier showroom at the Shangri-la at the Fort BGC is carefully curated and laid out in classy and sophisticated vignettes that highlight its French designed collections from living room, dining and adult & kids bedrooms. Their made in France pieces ensures that every day spent in your home is a moment of pure joy. www.gautier-furniture.com
La-Z-Boy Aggressively Eyes the Health Industry for Growth
La-Z-Boy recliner, long-known as the best TV chair, is no longer just used as a comfortable way of watching the latest series in the living room.
“The new market of La-Z-Boy is actually the health industry consumer” explains Gregory Lim, General Manager of La-Z-Boy Philippines. “Sitting on the La-Z-boy has benefited many consumers that have various health needs” he added.
Post-surgery patients like La-Z-Boy as it is the only recliner that has a locking mechanism that allows it to have 18 different sitting positions. This allows patients to sleep soundly when required to stay at any reclined position.
La-Z-Boy recliners, found in the top hospitals across the Philippines, is now also eyeing the dialysis industry.
“As more and more dialysis centers are set up across the country, we want their patients to be as comfortable as possible when they come in for their treatment”. La-Z-Boy is the only chair that provides ample lumbar and full body support at any reclining position.
They have recently partnered with Medline Dialysis Center to provide recliners to their new centers.
“Partnering with La-Z-Boy which provides distinct comfort allows us to elevate facilities to hospital grade levels during dialysis and is consistent with our commitment to continuously and consistently provide patients with ways that can touch them and make a difference in their lives” said Medline CEO, Bong Lim.
Another market that has grown fond of La-Z-Boy are the new moms. Since La-Z-Boy is used at the top hospitals in the country, moms often want to have a La-Z-Boy after a checkup or once they bring home their newborn baby.
“More and more moms have been buying La-Z-Boy recliners to help them through their pregnancies. They like the comfort and support it provides to prevent backpain and also to nurse their babies” La-Z-Boy’s Gregory Lim explains. “The glider chair that provides gliding motion or 360 degree swivel motion is especially perfect for new moms as the motion allows them to soothe their babies to sleep through” he adds.
Finally Mr. Lim adds, “Make sure that you get a genuine La-Z-Boy recliner as there are a lot of copycat recliners that claim they are La-Z-Boy. Only La-Z-boy has a patented mechanism that give customers 14 distinct advantages. But in the store, we usually don’t even have to explain these advantages to customers anymore. We just simply ask them to sit down, recline and relax and they are instantly convinced.”
BLIMS Lifestyle Group Aggressively Expands in Southern GMA
BLIMS Lifestyle Group (BLG), the pioneering Furniture retailer in the Philippines, has been serving the Filipino consumer for more than 40 years.
Continuing with its mission to transform every house into a home, BLG continues its growth as it expands aggressively in Southern GMA.
“In the last year alone we have opened six new showrooms in the south area under our group of brands” stated Gregory Lim, Vice President of BLG. “We have seen the quick growth of the residential market especially in the Calabarzon area and all of these new homes would need to be furnished”.
New showrooms under the brands BLIMS Fine Furniture, SOGO Home and Office Center and La-Z-Boy Gallery have opened in different locations in the area.
BLIMS, which features everything you need for the home from sofas, dining, bedroom, office and even specialized condo furniture, opened a huge showroom at the CW Home Depot in Imus.
La-Z-Boy, popularly known for its comfortable world class recliner, has also opened in the same location.
While SOGO Home and Center, known for Everyday Low Prices on furniture, has opened several showrooms in Robinsons Imus, Robinsons Dasmarinas, Ayala Southpark and also in CW Imus Home Depot.
“We want to provide affordable options for the consumers in the area and so we offer complete Full Room packages at extended terms of 24 months 0% installment using any major credit card or they can get it through financing” Mr. Lim adds.
To add to this, BLIMS has recently upgraded their southern flagship store at the CW Alabang Home Depot in Alabang. “We have made sure that when the customer comes into our showroom, they will be able to have a truly comfortable shopping experience and choose the right pieces for their homes” according to Frederick Lim, President of BLG.
“By the 1st half of 2019, we are also upgrading our BLIMS showroom at the Alabang Town Center and opening two new locations in the Macapagal Bay Area to bring our total to 45 furniture showrooms nationwide” he added.
The new residential communities south of the metro has nothing to worry about for their furniture needs as the BLIMS Lifestyle Group offers a wide array of different shopping options to furnish one’s home.
For more information visit any of their 45 showrooms. www.blimslifestylegroup.com