In August 1928, John DeBasio opened the Luxemburg Furniture Company. The operation was so successful in its first year, that by the time John's younger brother, Anthony, joined the business as his partner in 1929, the store expanded and took a new name - DeBasio Brothers Furniture Company. The company now has two locations and has been family owned and operated in the St. Louis metro area since 1928. The two store locations offer the perfect combination of quality, price and service

Debra Pottinger has been Director Of Advertising and Marketing for 6 years. Overall, she has spent 20 years with same company in various positions including sales consultant, interior designer, visual display coordinator and buyer.




Tell us about your job responsibilities?

As Director of Advertising, not only is my job to order print, but also plan and execute all sale events including point-of-purchase materials, coordination of all advertising and communication to event and sales consultants. It is also my job to develop and monitor advertising budgets. All promotional tie-ins are developed and executed within my office. With my direction, all TV and radio advertising is developed and time is purchased.

You sell to consumers which have been hit hard during this recession. Did the tax refund checks help your business?

It seems that the tax refund has possibly assisted in this recovery. Our business has been greatly affected by the current economic conditions. Furniture sales have been under projected goals for almost an entire year with the worst conditions in April and May of 2001. As of August, conditions seem to be changing. Sales are on the rebound.

Who does most of your printing?

For the most part, I use a local company, SWM, Inc. for most of my printing needs. Occasionally, we will get involved in a national print offering from one of our furniture manufacturers. I have been working with SWM for many years. They have the capacity to not only print small orders but also orders with a sizable quantity. They can also produce die-cut and other specialty items. SWM can take a job from its initial conception to delivery of the finished product. They are also very conscious of current trends and budget considerations.

If you were the print sales rep calling on the company you work for, what would you do differently or better than your current vendor?

This is a difficult question to answer because I am very pleased with my current vendor. I do get calls from other vendors and sometimes I will allow them to give me a bid on an upcoming job. However, it would take a change in our current relationship to cause me to change vendors. If, in a rare instance, the prospective vendor does have a lower price, my current vendor is always willing to meet the competitive price.

Do you do the design in-house?

Because of the internet, I am able to work with my layout person in Florida, review and comment of proofs on an immediate basis and often turn around a project in hours instead of days. The internet has also cut down on costly overnight shipments of proofs. The internet saves a huge amount of time in the preparation of printed materials.

Do you ever check references of print firm and what impact do samples play in examining a new printer?

Recently, I met with a representative from two different local firms concerning their niche in our marketplace. Both firms had called me several times in the last year asking for a chance to bid on an upcoming job.

Finally, in order to appease them, I asked both firms to give me a bid on an upcoming promotion. After learning that SWM was my current source, one vendor dropped out of bidding due to conflict of interest. The second firm did indeed send a bid on the project in which they were several dollars cheaper than SWM. Even though their portfolio of past materials looked good, I was unable to find someone who was familiar with this firm. Instead of switching from a firm in whom I have complete confidence, I chose to have SWM meet the price which they did happily and then stay with my current vendor for this important job.

I prefer to use just one source if at all possible. The amount that I save in time and aggravation is worth it financially as long as I feel that the prices I am receiving are comparable to our niche printers.

Tell us about the largest job you have ever had printed.

The largest job for us was approximately 225M 4-color 8 page flyers. The greatest part of this amount was for an insert in our local Sunday newspaper. There was also a direct mail version of the same item changing only the cover and also in-store copies. This piece was designed and printed in Chicago. Overall, we were pleased with the results. It was, however, a difficult project due to materials, etc. This type of advertising has been abandoned because it became cost prohibitive. In recent years, we have concentrated most advertising dollars on TV advertising.

Does SWM help you find the right paper or do you search on your own?

I try to select the type of paper that will best reflect the type of advertising we are doing. Because so many of our printed items contain large areas of 4-color furniture photos, bleed through must be avoided. Also, budgets must be considered. SWM does a superior job in searching for the best quality paper and the most affordable price. Given the different selections and prices available for a job, I can make an intelligent decision based on the look we are wanting to achieve and my budget.