TGC Weighs In: “West Elm Shows Retailers New Way to Reach Customers”
West Elm Shows Retailers New Way to Reach Customers BY LIZ WOLF OCTOBER 14, 2016 Ever stay in a hotel and wonder where you can buy the chic table lamp or cozy sofa? Well, if you stay at West Elm’s new hotels, everything in the room will be available to purchase online. You heard it right: Trendy home furnishings retailer West Elm, a brand of William-Sonoma that’s been around since 2002, announced plans to launch a chain of branded boutique hotels. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based retailer is partnering with hospitality management company DDK, with the first hotels scheduled to open in late 2018 in Detroit; Minneapolis; Indianapolis; Savannah, Ga.; and Charlotte, N.C. West Elm will market, design, and furnish the hotels with its contemporary line of beds, linens, tables, lamps, chairs, and other furnishings. That gives potential customers the chance to “test drive” the décor before buying. A New Strategy To Expand the West Elm [...]