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HIGH POINT — Bedroom is a category that looks like a ready-made winner for ready-to-assemble furniture.
The cases are fairly simple to make in the factory and to assemble at home, and flat-pack furniture makers can hit price points that could make producers of promotional bedrooms blush.
Adding a further hint of opportunity, there has been some substantial attrition in the ranks of assembled-bedroom makers at promotional price points, and the category has not yet attracted the interest of huge-volume importers, at least not at the prices that would represent a serious challenge to RTA.
And the category has been picking up steam, although not enough to be classified as an unqualified RTA hit on a par with entertainment or office.
Certainly, several of the major producers have been giving the category more attention. Sauder Woodworking, Ameriwood, O'Sullivan Furniture and Bush Furniture all have introduced bedrooms at recent markets and not just youth bedrooms. The category is already a staple for companies such as South Shore Inds., which skews toward youth, and for Creative Interiors, which converts some of the assembled bedrooms produced by its sister brand, Founders Furniture, into RTA.
For Sauder, the new collections marry the styling of the company's most popular collections, hardware and finishes. The company is optimistic they will perform at retail. "Some of the newest ones were put in during the 4th quarter," said Susan Dountas, vice president of merchandising. "We don't have any long-term trending, but we do speak of good placements."
Overall, producers say that, like the economy, flat-pack bedroom appears to be on a slow-growth track. Discounters, military PXs, furniture stores and cataloger are all dabbling in it. "What is happening here is there is less competition than you see in the other categories, and that appeals to some retailers," said Phil Miller, vice president in charge of Thomasville's Creative Interiors.
"Since the office superstores and the electronics superstores aren't involved, that is helping to float that category because the competition is not as fierce at the retail level," Miller added.
Opportunity neglected
This appears to be one case where RTA's distribution model, focused on big boxes where easy-to-handle boxes and logistics are every bit as important as styling, hinders its cause.
The retailers who could do the biggest job with flat-pack bedrooms, discounters, treat the category as a piece business rather than an opportunity to sell a collection, and they are still focused primarily on youth bedroom. They will show a four- or five-drawer chest, a nightstand and a storage piece such as an armoire or a chiffarobe.
Because of their display methods, with most furniture up on the same style gondolas that hold cleaning products and T-shirts, most discounters don't have room to show headboards or dresser-mirror combinations.
"Discounters have not picked up on these key items," said Miller, who believes this is a case of opportunity neglected. "There is a segment of the market out there that wants a complete bedroom, including the headboard and the dresser with a mirror. There is a segment of the market that doesn't want just one or two storage pieces. In there lies a huge opportunity."
A new approach
On a regional basis, some discounters are taking a run at bedroom on a larger scale. Shopko in the Midwest, which has partnered with O'Sullivan Furniture, is testing French Gardens, a collection that is styled and scaled for second bedrooms rather than kids' rooms.
The Shopko test — the litmus test for all RTA bedrooms, in fact — hinges on beds. Queen and full headboards have been too big and unwieldy for display in the discount-store milieu. However, Shopko, as well as Ames and Big Lots in the East, have given floor space and not just linear feet on a gondola to their furniture departments, and these retailers are reportedly selling the category well.
"That shows that there's some growth available for the flat-pack bedrooms, but it's still in the early stages," said Christian LaDouceur, vice president for sales and marketing at South Shore.
LaDouceur and others say that a cadre of big-box furniture chains — American Furniture Warehouse in Colorado, Marlo Furniture in Maryland, Benchmark in Kansas and R.C. Willey out of Utah — see the potential in flat-pack bedrooms, but by and large, U.S. furniture stores have not embraced RTA bedroom suites.
"Some are carrying both assembled and RTA," LaDouceur said. "We are approaching the same retailer with the flat pack and the assembled goods. The Canadian stores are still more accepting of the flat-pack in the bedroom than the American retailers, but they are starting to come around."
Commitment to the category will yield results, producers say. "What we're trying to identify is an opportunity for growth," said Creative Interiors' Miller. "That exists, but it may require doing some things differently, one of those being display. It goes beyond buying and moves into merchandising. It's right there. The opportunity is right there."
| FRENCH REFLECTIONS The fourth bedroom collection from O'Sullivan Furniture in the last couple of years, the Transitions collection addresses the company's belief that bedroom furniture represents a double-digit growth opportunity over the next several years. O'Sullivan's ongoing test of the French Garden bedroom at Shopko is being watched by all RTA vendors and retailers. If it succeeds, expect more new groups and more floor space at retail for this category. |
| WHITE AND BRIGHT Ameriwood brought out four new bedrooms at the April market. The new Daytona youth collection employs contrasting hardware over a beech finish. This step-up collection features the company's first captain's bed, $129 for the headboard and $59 for the underneath storage. The six-drawer chest will retail for $169 and the four-drawer for $119, relatively high price points for the Dorel unit. |
| MOVIN' ON UP With two new collections, Gusdorf entered the bedroom category at the April market. The company brought out a promotional set with all pieces below $99 and a step-up option with an armoire and a bookcase headboard carrying retail prices up to $199. "We're feeling our way into this category and using the expertise of our partners to develop exclusive designs," said Shawn Lieb, president. "They believe the category has potential." |
| COUNTRY COMFORT With the strongest presence in furniture stores, Sauder Woodworking has placed complete bedrooms, including headboards, on more floors than most RTA producers. Pictured here is Cottage Home, which marries a popular Sauder finish with a proven hardware and style. By including storage headboards in its bedroom collections, Sauder is hoping that big box retailers will carry those pieces along with its cases. |
| SPANNING THE GENERATIONS South Shore Inds.' specialty is youth bedroom, but the company has a handful of adult suites, too. The full-size group shown here retails at $379 for four pieces or $449 for five pieces, price points that promotional retail stores used to demand for assembled collections. The youth group hits similar retails. South Shore says that RTA is a concept that is slowly gaining acceptance among larger U.S. furniture stores, but it's already a standard promotional component for Canadian stores. |
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