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This is the second in our series of interviews with HON Company President Brandon Bullock. In this article, learn how office furniture shopping has evolved and how HON is reshaping the buyer experience with the right mix of technology and personalized support.
Over the last couple of years, a lot has changed about office landscapes. These days, many of us navigate a hybrid schedule—a balance between a home office and shared office—or work remotely altogether. But the question remains: How do you implement change without confusion and chaos? Selecting and ordering the “perfect” task chair or desk used to be a process burdened by a lengthy consult and sales process. But more and more, our customers are taking control by pre-shopping and planning online, and HON has decided to give people what they want and deserve: Engaging online shopping tools reinforced with localized, in-person consulting and sales support. Even better? Most HON product lines are being updated and improved to align with our new approach to business. Innovative, sophisticated and beautifully designed new products that are easier to shop for—what’s not to love?
HON President Brandon Bullock reflects on how HON stays on-trend and responsive to our customers and the ever-changing landscape of the office furniture industry.
Bullock: Customers now expect a digital pre-buying experience, even in the B2B space. Similar to how consumers are able to organize and plan a kitchen renovation, we’re offering the ability to visualize their space with HON’s Design Resources. The interesting dynamic for HON is that business customers like the idea, but they still expect collaborative expertise to happen locally through the dealer. Like a great recipe, they need all the ingredients to feel confident. Our customers want support through the buying process locally and, for large projects, installation support at the end. Our responsibility is to help customers understand, enjoy and trust the buying journey. Now they can go online to find personal inspiration and discover the keys to success for their project, yet transition to a dealer with ease at any point. What was historically a fairly complex process is now easy and fun—we’re pretty proud of that.
Bullock: We’ve seen a tremendous shift from in-person to online product shopping from B2B buyers. In fact, some accounts went up tenfold during the pandemic. The willingness to make a large purchase online was driven by necessity—everyone was relying on the digital shopping experience and that hasn’t changed. In partnership with our dealers, we’ve made a commitment to add capabilities on both sides to make that customer experience more efficient. We’re engineering and delivering those changes as we speak. Our newly minted HON Store is a great first stop when you’re looking for products to transform your business or home office, and the HON NOW Quickship program gets you the solutions you need without the wait. It’s a seamless, simple process we’re thrilled to have developed.
Bullock: People are always paramount, and how we develop product is a direct reflection of that. If a solution doesn’t inspire, it’s a tough sell—period. HON has made a commitment over the last three years to reinvigorate our seating, surfaces and storage—even our best and brightest, like Solve® or Ignition®. It’s not an option for us to rest on our laurels, so improving upon “great” makes sense to us and benefits our customers. And I love how our team has performed and delivered. We’ve also added the West Hill™ line—a highly sophisticated soft seating collection that works beautifully in shared spaces—as well as significant improvements and expansion to our education line. This is a business segment that’s grown tremendously over the past two years. We’re so proud of the investment we’ve made in these lines—not just because it’s enhanced the products, but because the improvements make a healthy work-life balance attainable. There’s more to come—we can’t wait to unveil what’s next.
Bullock: The pandemic brought the human experience and quality of life into sharp focus. It became abundantly clear in a rather short period of time that we needed to rethink how we all connect, create and stay productive. People don’t want to be boxed in—they want to move, breathe and engage. That doesn’t always happen at one’s desk, which is why we’re seeing café spaces popping up more and more. Folks want a trusted, comfortable space to take breaks or have lunch instead of a rushed, hectic trip to a fast-food place—things have slowed down in a mindful, healthy way. HON’s café products— Ruck™ stools and Astir™ seating come to mind—are light scale, adaptable and mobile. The open floor plan flexibility of these solutions makes them ideal options for spaces where people gather. Individuals and groups alike are also more keenly aware of space density. Environments that didn’t seem crowded pre-COVID now might feel too close for comfort, so there’s a new bar for how densely we’re organizing spaces and people. It’s been a remarkable evolution.
Bullock: Although many of us are balancing our time between home and HQ, HON has its share of remote members. That, combined with an overall shift to a healthy hybrid schedule, has encouraged us to hold a magnifying glass up to our products that support home office spaces. Whether we’re talking task chairs, desks or storage, it’s important that WFH solutions have the same support, comfort and adaptability one would find in the office. Now that people are used to carving out workspaces at home, they’ve realized the extra folding chair they had stored in the basement or even a living room couch isn’t ideal for all-day lumbar support. I believe that’s why our Ignition 2.0 chair has been such a popular choice for home offices. It’s affordable, it’s intuitive, it’s customizable, it’s sophisticated. It’s a game changer—and you don’t have to commute to sit in it!
Be it through product or go-to-market strategy, HON remains committed to the evolution of the workplace. Plus, we have agile manufacturing and product development capabilities that make it possible to respond quickly to every customer’s needs. Listening to and engaging in conversations about how the workplace is evolving is non-negotiable.
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