Ohio Furniture Company Will Refund Customers $1.5 Million if Ohio State Wins
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4X-image/iStock/Thinkstock(DAYTON, Ohio) — A furniture company in Ohio made a big bet on the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship game on Monday and may end up giving away $1.5 million in free furniture.
Morris Furniture Company, based in Dayton, Ohio, ran a promotion at its 15 Ashley Furniture HomeStore and Better Sleep Shops in Ohio and northern Kentucky to people who bought $1,999 or more of furniture between Dec. 17 and Jan. 1.
The company will refund the money customers paid if Ohio State wins by 7 points or more on Monday against the University of Oregon Ducks.
About 500 customers will qualify if the Buckeyes win, said Rob Klaben, vice president of marketing and advertising at Morris Furniture, which was established in 1947.
The company isn’t an Ohio State sponsor and says that the promotion isn’t affiliated with the university’s football team. Ohio State is a 6-point favorite to win the game, according to ESPN.
But the company won’t be coughing up $1.5 million either way. A third-party company, which wishes to stay anonymous, will.
“We did work with a third-party company that underwrote the promotion. So we’re excited to see a win,” Klaben told ABC News. But Klaben added, “It’s not inexpensive to have this kind of promotion.”
Morris ranked number 70 as the top 100 home furnishing stores by annual sales by trade publication Furniture Today.
If Ohio State does win, eligible customers are invited to fill out a rebate form in-person in the stores after Feb. 1. Customers can choose between a rebate for their original purchase amount or 110 percent of that in a store gift card.
Klaben declined to provide the company’s sales or how much it took in during the promotion period. But he said the promotion was a major boost to a typically slow period of furniture sales, the week before Christmas. The company found that the promotion was so successful that it extended the period through New Year’s Day from Dec. 30.
“It created some great conversation points in our stores,” he said.
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