With Herman Millers residential retail channel DWR results being called "not only disappointing, it's just not acceptable and we can't be there for long," Herman Miller yesterday began selling task chairs directly on Amazon, terming it "a great marketing step." Previously certain task seating models were available from other resellers, but as of today, Herman Miller is an official Amazon seller.

"We have always had some form of representation on Amazon, often through one of our other wholesale customers who has stores on Amazon," said Brian Walker, Herman Miller, Inc. - President and CEO. "We believe that the idea of going to Amazon just was another addition to our overarching multichannel strategy. We think you want to be able to meet the customer where they want to shop and Amazon is a place that a lot of people go to shop.

"Task seating happens to be one of those things that is often known. People know what they are buying. So, it seemed like it made some sense to work with them. Certainly they have a outstanding logistics capability. So, it looked good from that angle.

"We also know that increasingly consumers start often on places like Amazon.com when they are doing a search. In fact, some people would tell you that maybe searches start more on Amazon than they do on a Google search now. So, you are spending a lot of money to do Google AdWords on search; yet, if you're not in the place that they are searching they don't even find your brand there.

"So, the idea was could we get the Herman Miller brand represented on Amazon in a way that if people are doing a search, if the products weren't on Amazon that they were looking for, but they found the Herman Miller brand, maybe they found a chair but they wanted another option, that also leads them hopefully back to the DWR site or HermanMiller.com, or one of our other great retail or wholesale customers so that they can see a more expanded offer, if there's additional things that they want.

"We saw it as a two-pronged benefit. We think people will buy from that channel. But we also thought it was a great marketing step. To be frank, there's also a third benefit, and that is that often what you find on Amazon, sometimes if you are not represented there you see replicas or knock-offs of your product, and having the real thing there we think actually helps, a bit, discourage the folks that are trying to play off of our brand and the designs of our products.