Primo tilts to freestanding dining, occasional groups
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, June 21, 2004
High Point — High Point— Aiming to give its Chinese sourcing partners enough business to sustain them in the event of trade sanctions, Primo Designs is creating more freestanding groups that don't tie in with its collections.
Before, the company typically used bedroom as the springboard for whole-home collections. Dining room and occasional launched either simultaneously or followed soon after, depending on the success of the bedroom groups.
But the threat of duties on Chinese-made bedroom furniture has the company taking a slightly different approach now.
While Primo still sells entire collections, at the April High Point market it introduced more freestanding dining and occasional groups.
"We have very close relationships with our factories," said David Ballard, president. "We need to give them something to do."
Today, the company sources 80% of its product from China, and the rest from Vietnam.
The antidumping issue has not slowed the company's bedroom business in China up to this point. But that could change as the company reviews new cuttings and placements starting June 1. By June 17, the U.S. Department of Commerce is expected to decide whether or not it will impose preliminary duties.
If duties are imposed, Primo could source bedroom elsewhere and help the Chinese plants fill the void with its new dining room and occasional products.
The company's two new freestanding dining groups feature both formal and casual dining sets, including 54-inch-wide round tables that seat six. Its Mayfair group features mahogany veneers, while the Fleur De Lis group has a combination of cherry and burl veneers.
A table and six chairs in Mayfair retails at $1,499, while a similar set in Fleur De Lis retails at about $1,999.
The groups also have buffet hutches and sideboards, curios, china cabinets and curved dining mirrors.
Another freestanding dining collection launched by Primo in April is called Old Tuscany. A followup to the two-year-old Chanticleer collection, it is a hand-painted set that has a distressed finish with terra cotta and gold tones and a fruit motif.
The group includes four dining tables, a buffet hutch, a baker's sideboard, a kitchen island and bar stools.
At market, the company also brought out six freestanding occasional groups in traditional, transitional and contemporary styles. A typical cocktail table retails for $199.
The strategy is not much different than that of other importers facing similar duties on Chinese-made bedrooms. Case goods importer A-America Furniture, for instance, focused more on its casual dining collections versus bedroom at market, as did Canadian-based case goods importer Hamilton & Spill.
Primo Designs also is using the antidumping stalemate as an opportunity to launch new categories. In April, for instance, it introduced three new Chinese-made leather sofas. The sofas will retail for $1,299.
Depending on the success of these items, Primo may bring out more leather in the future and possibly lower its retail price points to $999 for a sofa.
"The values will just keep getting better and better," Ballard said. "Like our friendly competitors, we will take advantage of those values as they come around."
