Some issues that never get resolved
Carole Sloan -- Furniture Today, March 24, 2002
The reports from this month's National Home Furnishings Assn. convention indicate it was, at least in part, an exercise in reiterating what some retailers have been saying for years — nay, decades.
Especially pertinent in this regard were some of the remarks of Jim Gabbert, who said he wished certain things would happen but didn't think there was much chance they would. These included one market a year, all-industry marketing, retail pricing that was consistent — he apparently didn't discuss realistic — and product quality that doesn't force retailers to assume the role of manufacturers.
I can't count the number of times over the years that I've heard Jim, as well as a host of his colleagues, discuss these same points. And they're all very valid.
What is disturbing is that, as an industry, we haven't been able to address any of these subjects and come up with a solution. Each of them in one form or another has been discussed and discussed and discussed at industry gatherings. Everyone nods sagely, goes back home ... and that's it.
Excluding the one-market-a-year issue, which can bring emotions to a high pitch on either side, the subjects are legitimate business challenges and should be resolvable. But, apparently, there's no impetus to make this happen.
On the topic of pricing in furnitureland, one only needs to look at a recent issue of Furniture/Today and the page 1 story about the TV show that discussed discount, factory outlet and conventional retailer pricing.
This wasn't the first time this subject was raised on a radio or TV show, and it won't be the last. But it does point up the need to re-examine how furniture pricing is presented to consumers on all levels.
The other issues are important, even critical, but they are internal industry issues. Pricing is public, very public.
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