Furnishings, online sales look good for top retailers
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, January 25, 2004
NEW YORK — NEW YORK — Four top retailers at this month's National Retail Federation convention here said they see furniture and other home furnishings as important targets for sales growth in 2004.
And a hot distribution channel is the Internet, where business is growing at a far faster rate than in the store or catalog channels. Many top executives had doubts about online sales several years ago, but their views and business objectives have changed dramatically.
At Crate & Barrel, Internet business now represents 12% of the company total, making it larger than the catalog business, which is 6% to 7%. Internet business has been growing at a 40%-plus rate, said Gordon Segal, chairman and chief executive officer.
At Sears, one home furnishings category that is strong and viewed as a growth area is bedding, said Alan Lacy, chairman and CEO. Mattresses are sold at 400-plus Sears stores now and will be added to more, he said.
JCPenney's home furnishings business "is great," said Allen Questrom, chairman and CEO. "Our furniture business is the best we've ever had it, and we're breaking even. We used to lose a lot of money." The improvement follows major infrastructure changes.
Penney is making money on Internet sales, he added. "The largest (Internet) businesses are home furnishings and ready to wear. We've been showing 40% increases."
At Ethan Allen, the business outlook is good and much of the marketing emphasis will be on the company's Solutions program, said Farooq Kathwari, chairman and CEO. Solutions brings together all elements of the company's assortment — furniture, rugs, accessories and the newly expanded window and bed coverings program — as opposed to selling one piece of furniture at a time, he said.
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