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Natuzzi to make retail moves

By Joan Gunin -- Furniture Today, October 28, 2001

HIGH POINT — Natuzzi will overhaul its gallery program next year as well as open freestanding, dealer-owned Natuzzi stores.

Using its existing retailer base, Natuzzi will test six to 10 gallery locations starting in the spring before embarking on a full-fledged rollout, said Fred Starr, president and chief executive officer of Natuzzi U.S.A.

"We need to first prove our ability to drive sales, with the goal to substantially increase sales per square foot," Starr said. That will be accomplished through signage, point-of-purchase materials, sales training, layout and display elements.

Once the gallery program is off and running, the upholstery producer will dedicate the second half of the year to testing and opening six prototype stores. The stores, similar in look to the company's Divani & Divani chain in Europe, will be owned by Natuzzi dealers. Three of the six dealers have already been selected, but Starr declined to identify them.

The prototypes, to be called Natuzzi Stores, will be about 8,000 square feet.

As with the galleries, the stores will present a uniform look while allowing the product mix to reflect regional taste.

While the stores will chiefly be a platform to sell upholstery, they also will have rugs, lighting and accessories for the room settings.

"We don't expect to sell a lot of accessories," Starr said, adding that they'll mainly be there "to control the look" of the room presentations.

Starr

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