The Big Sleep

BTW, we are looking for a website assistant, so if you know anybody, have him/her email @  jobs@bedeezee.com.

That person would be in charge of updating the website's content, especially pictures (products, special offers, new webpage designs for example). Candidates should know Photoshop very well and Dreamweaver at least a little bit.

Let's just try the blogcruitment!!

Hi everybody,

Maybe you've heard about Google accepting to censor its results in China, in order to be able to open a local google.cn (cn=china) website.

Click to see how results can be different in the UK and in China on the same word: tiananmen

Google is often seen as the ultimate search tool allowing anybody to find anything, THE democratic tool! But we're being reminded it's a business above everything else!!

PS: To be totally honest, I must add it's a business with competitors. Yahoo, Msn and the others have done the same quite some time ago with some bigger breach in freedom of speech.

What I don't understand is the necessity for Google, Yahoo and others to be physically in China? Does it improve local results for users? Couldn't they offer the same service if they installed their servers in a more democratic country?

Hi everybody

I hope you're all fine.

At the show, although it was not top priority, I found those fashionable sofas and I must say I was quite impressed. I liked the covers, the eeze of use, the variety of shapes and colors... Almost everything.

Although it's not strategically decided priority, sometimes you just do what you feel is right. I hope we will be able to get those products across to the UK. But in order to decide if we should do it, I need to know if you guys would be ready to wait a few weeks (3 to 4 probably) in order to be delivered? You would know it at order time of course.

So what do you think?

PS: the pictures are taken with my mobile, and they're not very good, I admit it.

Funny how some days, you can go from better to worse...or worse to better as I see it.

We had several messages this morning on the website: one very very rewarding and one very very appaling!

One of our customers has waited far too long even for two pillows. Due to christmas closure, it has taken us weeks to get two pillows out of our supplier's factory, we were being told they were sent out the next day...which kept never happening... This person was, and rightly so, very disappointed and angry at us. I didn't manage to get him on the phone today (voicemail) but we will offer him the products he has been waiting for free (if he wants them). This was the appaling message.... Of course you can't give a 100% satisfaction service, but that's only stats! I would have been less polite if I had been the customer! (BTW, if this customer is reading, please feel free to call me on 08000 12 20 20 tomorrow morning, i'll try anyway)

Thanks a lot to that customer for speaking loud: it's good to hear those things when we're wrong!! And it lets us a basis on which to work!

The very same day, we receive this message that speaks for itself:

"Just wanted to say how impressed we were with the service from you guys - our bed arrived this morning and is perfect. The guy who took our order over the phone was very helpful, delivery was promt, and the item is great. We now want a Fatboy and will definitely be using bedeezee for our next order. Keep up the good work!"

Thanks a lot to that customer also: it's good to know when things go right.

As a company, I think it's difficult to be all good or all evil. Only the worse or only the better (although that's clearly the objective)... But when we're handling one order, we can be partly one or the other. What I appreciate in this business it's that through emails, phone, etc.. we have a direct feedback from you guys...and that's very important (maybe the most) to us!!

I hope you're not scared by the first part: it happens but it's not the main scenario!!

Hi everybody,

Back from the NEC furniture show, with a bag full of brochures, business cards and some nice new ideas!!

I'll probably blog on this later on in the week (this week end I think as I have a few pictures in the camera to upload). I just wanted to thank everybody for their warm welcome: Jackie and Jamie from Sweet dreams, John and Jason from Rest assured, Gary and Neil from Sealy, Sue and Tony from Silentnight, Wendy from Beldorm, and also Les, Anne, Nick, Geoff, Nino and some others... I must mention Guy as we had a great chat on the massage chairs he sells: thanks for the try-out and the tips (hope we can do something together)!!!

I'll be back with more on the products themselves soon.

Got some catching up to do for now!!

Have a good day all of you!

It seems the year hasn't been so good...or that the show is loosing some of its attractiveness. Some of the big names in beds won't be there this year at the show! I'll confirm that on Monday but their names didn't appear in the catalogue and I've already heard some rumours.

You could have a big debate on the real interest of those big trade shows for the demonstrators. It's costing probably a lot of money to be there (although I must admit I have no idea about the total budget of this thing for a demonstrator). And I guess it's bringing less and less immediate orders to account for every year...It's about being seen and spotted. It's more about PR now than about selling! It's not anymore sales expenses but marketing investment for the full next year... What do you think? What's for sure is that passing on this event when you've always been there is a sign!

For us, retailers, it's obviously very handy: we have a quick look (3/4 days) at all the new products. (Last year, concerning beds, you could definetely see the impact of the memory foam story, at least on retailers and suppliers: it was everywhere.) One could say it's a way to meet some new persons...but you usually always bump into the same guys, not necessarily with the same companies :-)

Anyway, I'm getting ready this week end for it. Need to compile a few numbers and prepare my meetings.

Have a good one!

Hi, Blogspirit, our blog host, has added this newsletter block on the left sidebar. It's really great, you won't need to come and check out if the big sleep has been updated! Every week an email will let you know immediately what's new! Much easier for those not familiar with RSS feeds... (thanks Philippe for this great idea)

So feel free sign up, you'll be able to unsubscribe @ anytime.

BTW, I will not use any of these emails for commercial purposes (bedeezee or third party).

See you soon for lots of new furniture designs and my comments on the show!

Hi everybody,

Just to excuse myself for not blogging a lot these days but I have an excuse. As some of you might know, the big annual furniture trade show is coming up next week and I hope I will be able to send you out some new designs and the latest in furniture trends (I'll try not to stick to beds). Look out for the pictures from next wednesday!

I can already let you know a few of our objectives for this fair:

1- Increase our bedsteads range with more designs and more products (possibly try to lower our lead time on them)

2- Launch a range of headboards (5/10 designs available quickly)

3- Increase our range of bed linen deliverable in 5 days in order to offer more complex designs than just our plain ones (which are a big succes, especially the Egyptian cotton linen sets range)

4- Increase our service level on quilts and pillows and stock more items in order to get a next day delivery on all products

5- Start a bedroom collection

6- Start a kids collection

Although all of these will take around six months to implement (especially the two last ones), because of other projects, most of the selecting work will be done at the show. The rest of the time will be used to work out how to best present the products to our customers.

By the way, if you're at the NEC furniture show on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and would like to meet, I'll be more than happy to and you can send me an email at julien.gm(at)bedeezee.com.

C U!

Hi everybody.

I know I'm a bit late for it:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I've got a good excuse though. I was on holiday in Cabarete, dominican republic for a (long) week. I tried Kite surfing for the first time and I must say it's pretty good. Any of you knows a good spot in the UK???

And I'm as frozen as my daiquiris over there since I came off the plane. Funny to see the very confident people boarding the plane in shorts (+ 30 C degrees over there) and T shirt, unboarding with stalactites (-1 C in London at the time)...

Any how, back to business, this year 's three new year resolutions for the bedeezee team:

1. The customers
2. The customers
3. The customers

Hope we will all see the improvements :-;