Kacey's brand efforts produce results
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, February 17, 2002
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Ten years ago, Kacey Fine Furniture wasn't anywhere near being considered a preferred brand in its Denver marketplace.
"We made our living from the castoffs," said Leslie Fishbein, president of the five-store, Top 100 company, speaking at the American Furniture Manufacturers Assn.'s Marketing Division conference here. Her topic was "How to Capitalize on Brand Names at Retail" — something that didn't come easy for Kacey in the early '90s.
"In 1992, we came to market and we couldn't get anything," she said. Bigger players in Denver had tied up distribution.
Then came Flexsteel. The upholstery manufacturer was at the time a "castoff" itself, having been bounced from a larger retailer. Kacey seized the opportunity and eventually turned Flexsteel into a well-known name in Denver.
In 1993, Kacey also added Kincaid. Later, the retailer took on other manufacturer brands, including Thomasville, with its hot Ernest Hemingway licensed collection, and Henredon.
And the retailer worked hard to become a preferred brand itself, Fishbein said.
"Kacey is a brand in Denver because over the last several years, we have invested in the frequency, the anchoring and the consistency" of its message to consumers, she said. It has empowered its people with the information they need to do their jobs, and has fostered relationship selling and the idea that Kacey can help people express their personal style, she added.
In the past 10 years, Kacey's annual sales have jumped from $17.5 million in 1992 to $47.9 million for the fiscal year ended in May 2001. Pretax profit also has nearly tripled, she said.
Fishbein said the world of branding is not easy to navigate.
"Jerry Epperson has said that adding another brand on top of a factory brand and store identity can dilute the value of each," she said. "That's the balancing act we're facing right now."
But it's one that has been worth the effort, she said. Kacey chose to use its own name as the umbrella and bring in well-known brands to generate extra profit.
"The fact that they can buy Thomasville, Henredon, Flexsteel in my store is a plus for them because that gives them an assurance of quality prestige, exclusivity." The brands reinforce and legitimize Kacey. "We're good enough to have those products," she said.
But licensed product doesn't always succeed — Stanley's Norman Rockwell bombed a few years ago, she said.
When Thomasville was preparing Hemingway, Fishbein said she couldn't believe they were tying a collection to an alcoholic, suicidal chauvinist. But consumers didn't interpret the furniture with the same critical eye — they saw the romance. Hemingway also attracted more men and more upscale consumers, while keeping the core Thomasville customer, she said.
Fishbein is looking for something similar from Flexsteel's Christopher Lowell Home Collection, which ships next month. She said that at first, she was worried about Lowell's over-the-top persona ("He's more feminine than Martha Stewart, for crying out loud,") but after spending a day with him, she was "blown away" by his passion and believes "his ideas for home fashion can translate well for our business."
Mee Won Maddox, president of licensing agency Global Icons — which represents the Humphrey Bogart estate on the Bogart collection Thomasville plans to introduce in October — called the furniture industry "fertile ground" for licensing.
Branding and licensing grew 15% last year to become a $1.5 billion business in the home furnishings world, Maddox said. She said licensing is enabling the industry to generate incremental revenue, create instant brand awareness and differentiate manufacturers and retailers from their competitors.
| Mee Won Maddox, left, and Leslie Fishbein say branding works. |
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