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Recliner guts are category's glory

By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, January 20, 2002

Back to basics
Competitive edge
An oldie but goodie

HIGH POINT — HIGH POINT — Reclining chair producers have made considerable marketing hay in recent years over chairs that have more bells and whistles than the average Las Vegas casino.

In their seemingly endless search to differentiate themselves from the competition, producers have added everything from massage units to coolers to laptop computer hook-ups.

Storage compartments in the arm have all but become standard equipment, and amenities such as telephone jacks, airplane-style tray tables and electrical outlets are almost as common.

But producers say they haven't forgotten the principal reason recliners continue to be popular decades after the first one was built: They're comfortable. They say consumers primarily are looking to put up their feet and relax — and yes, maybe even take a nap.

That's why the mechanism that makes a recliner recline — in essence, the guts of the chair — remains the most crucial element of the product's salability. If the consumer doesn't like the way the mechanism works, the chair won't leave the showroom.

"The bottom line is … whether it really adds comfort and functionality for the long term," said Larry Fruge, vice president of marketing for home furnishings components at Leggett & Platt. "If it doesn't, the other (amenities) really don't matter."

Fruge said Leggett & Platt, the largest producer of recliner mechanisms, has a host of patented features on dozens of different mechanisms. Some extend the ottoman with the touch of a button on the side of the chair, while others employ a small handle on the inside of the arm.

Back to basics

Still others have neither buttons nor handles. They rely on gravity as the user shifts his weight to make the ottoman open and close.

"People are going back to basics," Fruge said. "If the consumer sits in a recliner on the retail floor and can't operate the mechanism easily, she's probably not going to buy it."

Fruge and others involved in the recliner business say that ease of operation is especially critical now that the many producers are designing smaller-scale chairs targeted to women.

Steve Hoffman, president of mechanism manufacturer Ultra-Mek, said his company's three-way gravity-based systems, which require gentle pressure on the chair arm to operate, are proving to be especially popular on such chairs.

"The smaller-scale chairs have really been a boon for us," Hoffman said. "We have refined and refined and refined them until we came up with exactly what our customers (reclining chair producers) were looking for."

He said three-way mechanisms, in which the back moves independently of the seat as the chair is being reclined, provide superior comfort to traditional two-way mechanisms, where the seat and back move together. As a result, the three-way systems are gaining in popularity since they are suitable for chairs at all but the lowest price points, said Hoffman.

Competitive edge

Drew Sweeney, national product manager for motion components at Hickory Springs, said gravity-driven mechanisms also are popular because there's no need for handles or buttons on the side of the chair.

"It gives motion furniture the capability of looking like a piece of stationary furniture," he said. "And the mechanism can still operate if the furniture is placed close to a wall or an occasional table."

While components specialists such as Ultra-Mek, Leggett & Platt and Hickory Springs keep most of the category's major producers well stocked with mechanisms, the three biggest reclining chair players — La-Z-Boy, Lane and Berkline — are among a handful of companies who design and build their own systems.

All three have staffs of engineers and designers who do nothing but develop new recliner mechanisms and tinker with existing models, and the producers believe this gives them an inherent competitive advantage in the marketplace.

"We're constantly trying to bring value-driven recliner enhancements to the marketplace," said Bob Young, merchandising manager for recliners at Lane.

Greg White, vice president of merchandising, La-Z-Boy residential, said his company's traditional handle-operated mechanisms still are used in about 80% of the reclining chairs it sells, but he noted the company's no-handle, gravity-driven mechanism is quietly gaining in popularity.

"We're starting to see increasing interest in that type of product," White said. "It's still a small part of our overall business, but it's becoming more important."

Young said one of Lane's most popular innovations was the development of a glider recliner in the mid-1990s. This chair features a patented mechanism that allows it to move horizontally like a glider rocker but recline like a traditional reclining chair.

"The mechanism is gravity driven and has more ottoman extension and ottoman height than conventional mechanisms," he explained. "The gravity-driven feature makes the chair easier to operate and appeals to all users … especially seniors."

Young said Lane tries to take advantage of its various patented mechanisms by featuring them in hangtags and other promotional material. A hangtag for its popular Comfort King line of large-scale recliners, for example, graphically illustrates several construction features and touts the strength and durability of the Comfort King system, he said.

An oldie but goodie

Another of Lane's most popular innovations — the tuck-under chaise — is actually one of its oldest. Unveiled in the early 1990s, this mechanism allows the ottoman to be extended an additional two-and-a-half inches.

"It's still going strong today," Young said.

Lane, La-Z-Boy, Berkline and several other producers also use so-called "wall-hugger" mechanisms in a number of chairs. These systems allow chairs to fully recline while sitting only a few inches from the wall.

White said such chairs are great space-savers for consumers wanting to put a recliner in tight quarters, but noted they still account for only about 10% of La-Z-Boy's recliner sales.

He said the vast majority of purchasers prefer a rocker/recliner combination, which generally isn't possible with a wall-hugger design and essentially defeats the purpose of a close-to-the-wall chair in the first place.

"That's a very steady business for us," he said of chairs with wall-hugger mechanisms. "But it's nearly always the rocker that comes first."

LOOK AND LEARN Lane touts the durability and ease of using its mechanisms in a hangtag designed for its First Class Seating line, which was unveiled in 2000.

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