AUCKLAND, New Zealand — “The global financial crisis hit New Zealand as hard as anywhere on the planet — yet Harvey Furnishings Ltd. increased its marketing spend when its competitors were pulling back or even closing their doors,” said David Drees, general manager of the 11-store chain dedicated to readymade, custom curtains, window blinds and fabric business in New Zealand.

“Our strategy was to use the recession to grow our market share, a strategy that has worked for us,” he said. Harvey’s is also part-way through a rebranding and store refit program, and plans further store openings across the country.

Research showed Drees that even in tough times people still need fabrics and furnishings. In fact, customers could be convinced to use Harvey’s instead of more expensive options of moving to another home or undertaking major renovations, he reasoned. He also said that Harvey’s assertive marketing approach impacted the buying department where strategies had to change to reflect adjusting consumer requirements.

“Ten years ago much of what Harvey Furnishings was selling came from Europe and the USA, which were the key supply markets for product design and quality and people paid a handsome premium for it,” said Safia Haythorne, Harvey’s head buyer. Sourcing has changed dramatically for Haythorne as Asia became the key sourcing country for New Zealanders the past decade. Harvey was one of the first to turn to Asia for product sourcing, said Haythorne, who is a 20-year veteran of the textile industry.

“Nowadays, the greatest proportion of what Harvey’s sells is sourced from Asia,” she said. “Increasingly this market is the future for businesses such as our own.

“The fabric and design tastes of New Zealanders are as varied as any market in the world,” Haythorne continued. “Harvey Furnishings does a fine job in catering to that diversity. The country’s architectural style is often contemporary with large panels of glass looking out to strong summer sun — and that often impacts the technical requirements of customers’ fabrics and furnishings.”

Much of what the business sells comes from one of its three manufacturing plants which are all located in Auckland. Using a combination of sophisticated European technology and good old-fashioned sewing-room workmanship, Harvey Furnishings is famed for the quality of its curtain and blind manufacturing.

The business has three key operational functions: retail, manufacturing, and in-home consulting. The retail division has 11 stores throughout the country’s most populous North Island — each one showcasing fabrics, curtains, blinds and soft furnishings from around the world.

“Our retail stores are the real face of our business and we aim to make them every bit as stylish and beautiful as our customers’ homes,” said Haythorne.

The third arm of the business is in-home consulting, where a large team of highly-trained interior design consultants provide a full window-coverings service to clients. Typically, this will involve a consultant spending hours at a time in a customer’s home, listening to and understanding the brief, working through numerous fabric samples and then creating and quoting a design approach.