Establishment partner ring VME

Establishment partner ring VME
legal form	GmbH & Co. KG
founding	1964
Seat	Bielefeld , Germany; At Wesebreede 2 ; 33699 Bielefeld
management	Frank Stratmann ( General Manager ); Jürgen Karmann ( Chairman of the Supervisory Board )
sales	2.5 billion euros (2018)
Branch	Furniture trade
Website	www.einrichtungspartnerring.com; www.einrichtungspartnerring.de

The furnishing partner ring VME GmbH & Co. KG is a furniture association from Bielefeld in East Westphalia . The company is active in medium-sized furniture retailers in Germany and Europe.

The group, founded in 1964, has around 200 member companies with around 400 furniture stores.

The external sales of the purchasing group are approx. 3 billion euros, in Germany the group has a market share of approx. 10% with furniture. The furnishing partner ring VME is a member of the Mittelstandsverbund - ZGV e. V.

Exhibition hall in Bielefeld

Development of centrally regulated sales

The centrally regulated sales , according to his own statement in the year amounted, in 2018 1.246 billion euros (incl. VAT.).

Department sales (2018) in percent

The main product groups include upholstered furniture and kitchens . The kitchen share is 29.9%, followed by upholstered furniture with 23.0%, bedrooms (15.2%), dining rooms (9.0%) and living room furniture with 5.6%. The proportion of specialist ranges.

Trade Shows

In its own 12,000 square meter exhibition center in Bielefeld, up to four trade fairs for the shareholders of the furnishing partner ring take place every year. Furniture, kitchens, specialist ranges, etc. - the entire range of the range that the furnishing partner ring negotiates for its shareholders is presented there.

Network brand concept

The shareholders of the furnishing partner ring VME are partners in a network that has been operating successfully on the market since 1964. By resolution of the shareholders' meeting in April 2008, a brand campaign of its own was launched within the group. The network brand "Einrichtungspartnerring" was developed to support the retailer brands on site.

In 2011, the Einrichtungspartnerring brand was repositioned, the joint market presence was fundamentally revised and a diverse range of marketing measures was developed. From outdoor advertising to in-house communication and the use of social media, a marketing package was put together that is intended to strengthen the local shareholders. The claim “We have it” can be positioned as a connecting element on the partner's logo.

Goods and entrepreneur brand concept

The furnishing partner ring VME presented the concept of an international goods and entrepreneur brand in April 2016. Interliving is a further development and addition to the existing network brand concept .

With the introduction of its own word / figurative mark ( logo ), the Interliving brand should bring a high recognition value throughout Germany as well as in Austria , Switzerland and South Tyrol. The aim is to attract more regional and national attention to the associated furniture stores. The claim “Furniture made for me”, developed for this brand, should also contribute to this. A large part of the VME range is produced for the Interliving label . The first Interliving products were presented to specialist retailers in November 2016, and the range has been expanded regularly since then. The brand has also been available in furniture stores since autumn 2017.

In addition to the brand name, Interliving is also introduced as a company brand. Companies that meet the conditions of the interliving license agreement may use the addition of interliving in their company name . What is special about this entrepreneurial brand concept is the voluntary commitment of the participating furniture dealers to special services in the area of advice and customer service.

Testimonials

Since 2016, the furnishing partner ring VME has also been relying on prominent testimonials in marketing. Initially, the furniture association Bruce Darnell - known from Germany's Next Top Model , Das Supertalent and Deutschland sucht den Superstar - was able to win over as an advertising partner. The Youtube spot he started as part of the interliving campaign had already generated over 1.2 million clicks after a short time. In 2018 he then hired the internationally known British actor Gerard Butler as a new testimonial. The TV spots with the celebrities are flanked by numerous measures - from advertising material for the affiliate houses to print ads and posts on various social media channels. In 2019, Samu Haber , the front man of the Finnish rock band Sunrise Avenue and long-time coach on the jury of the talent show The Voice of Germany , was finally engaged.

Bruce Darnell (2012)
Gerard Butler (2016)
Samu Haber (2017)

Merger of the furnishing partner ring VME and Union Purchasing GmbH

In 2017, Einrichtungspartnerring VME and Möbelverband Unionkauf-GmbH initiated a merger. For this purpose, VME UNION GmbH was founded as a joint company based in Ratingen on July 1, 2017. In the first phase, the company is responsible for the joint purchasing of the two associations.

history

Historical overview
1964	United Möbel -kauf GmbH (VME) is founded on July 20, 1964 in Bielefeld
1975	The shareholders' meeting decides to introduce central settlement
2002	Construction of the new exhibition center in Bielefeld with 12,000 m² of exhibition space
2004	The association's first trademarks are introduced
2008	Introduction of the umbrella brand Einrichtungspartnerring
2009	Start of the online shop www.einrichtungspartnerring.de
2010	Renaming of VME GmbH & Co. KG to Einrichtungspartnerring VME GmbH & Co. KG
2011	Repositioning - the establishment partner ring becomes a network brand
2013	Foundation of the VME MHK purchasing company together with the MHK Group .
2014	Anniversary campaign of the furnishing partner ring VME on the occasion of the 50th anniversary. The furnishing partner ring VME once again announces record profit.
2015	The furnishing partner ring VME does better than the industry average.
2016	The furnishing partner ring VME presents the national product and entrepreneur brand "Interliving". The furnishing partner ring VME is the first provider in the furniture trade to develop central master data management, the so-called product information management (PIM system)., Complete manufacturer catalogs can be viewed and used via the PIM system.
2017	Foundation of VME UNION GmbH on July 1st, 2017.

The first association logo of the VME from 1964
Managing Director Wolfgang Teubert in his inaugural speech in 1964
The first own publication after the association was founded in 1964
Furnishing partner ring currently No. 127

In the summer of 1963, a group of furniture dealers was formed in northern Germany, some of which were organized in the Deutsches Möbel-Großeinkauf-West (DMG). They wanted to install a democratic order in their then association, demanded disclosure of finances, democratic decision-making on income and expenditure, the right of association members to have a say and equal rights for all. As a result, on July 1, 1964, 30 furniture dealers from northern Germany came together to form a purchasing association .

The newly elected managing director in Neumünster, Wolfgang Teubert from Bielefeld, initiated the establishment of the VME on July 20, 1964 - initially under the name "Intermöbel-Purchasing-GmbH". Since this name was already protected, the name "United Furniture Purchasing GmbH" was chosen. By resolution of the shareholders' meeting on May 12, 2010, VME - Vereinigte Möbel -kaufs- GmbH & Co. KG was renamed to Einrichtungspartnerring VME GmbH & Co. KG .

Chair of the supervisory board of the furnishing partner ring VME
1964-1974	Friedrich Luebcke
1974-1998	Alfred Rössig
1998-2002	Roland Frenzel
2002-2008	Bernd Hellwig
2008-2016	Helmut Staude
Since 2016	Jürgen Karmann

Social responsibility

Since September 2010 the furnishing partner ring VME GmbH & Co. KG has been cooperating with the SOS Children's Village under the motto "You save - we donate". The donations in kind and money from the partner companies are used to promote and support socially disadvantaged children and young people within the framework of the SOS Children's Villages.

literature

Günter Olesch: Cooperation in Transition. On the importance and development of the associations. Anniversary publication on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Central Association of Commercial Associations. German specialist publisher, Frankfurt am Main 1998.