Rose Hill to boost RTA uph. output
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, November 10, 2003
Okolona, Miss. — After successful placements and strong October market orders, upholstery maker and case goods importer Rose Hill is refitting a warehouse here to produce its ready-to-assemble upholstery.
The company debuted its RTA upholstery program, now called SimplyFits, at the August Tupelo market, and currently is offering 11 sofas targeted at $299 to $499 retails, plus a wing chair at $199 and an accent chair at $99. The collection has 10 different groups consisting of a sofa, loveseat and chair.
"The response (at the October market) was bigger than we anticipated," said President Hamp Hughes. "We recently added RTA production lines in our stationary upholstery plant, but the demand for RTA is greater than existing capacity can handle. Our aim is to get this product into the field as soon as possible, while maintaining the strict quality standards our customers demand.
"Judging by the response we've received in the past three months from a cross-section of retailers, our customer is hungry for something that provides solutions for the marketplace," he said.
He added that "response has been running pretty even from non-traditional retailers such as TV shopping channels, catalog houses, Internet sites and RTA stores. Big-box retailers have been the next big hit, followed in the distance by traditional furniture stores."
Rose Hill expects to begin RTA production in January in the former warehouse.
The RTA upholstery uses a patented, high-pressure plastic lock-and-pin system that doesn't require tools to assemble and can be adapted to any design. The full-sized frame is packaged in a single box for truck shipment, or in two boxes for UPS shipping.
Pieces can be put together by one person in a matter of minutes, the company said.
The program's name change to SimplyFits from SofasToGo aims to send a clear message to consumers. "Folks told us we needed a name that addressed the simplicity of the system and how it solved tight space issues," Hughes said.
Rose Hill unveiled a SimplyFits gallery program at the October market, with point-of-purchase materials, signage and demonstration video. Combined with Rose Hill's folding wall units and knocked-down occasional tables, the upholstery creates a complete room package in an RTA format.
Hunter Bigham, vice president of sales, said a 100-square-foot gallery could show two starter frames or a consumer-choice arm program, with one frame displayed with four different arms. A 500-square-foot gallery would allow a dealer to display two small RTA frames and three of the company's top-selling assembled frames.
"The real power of the gallery program seems to be in RTA stores or in RTA departments within stores," said Bigham. "The flexibility to get either assembled or RTA is the real draw for traditional brick-and-mortar stores."
Other products in development using the SimplyFits system are promotional home theater seating and a slipcover program.
