Oct. market to combine opportunity and anxiety
Jerry Epperson -- Furniture Today, September 29, 2003
I cannot remember looking forward to a High Point market more — and dreading it at the same time.
In recent weeks, retailers have seen increased traffic and meaningful sales gains. Just as important, consumers continue to show interest in our furnishings, even after the big Labor Day sales.
We believe retail inventories are coming into line after some excesses earlier in the year, when sales did not bounce back after the Iraq war. This excess was exacerbated when deflation continued in several categories, encouraging stores to carry as little inventory as possible.
This will be a market that should be well attended by the new breadth of retailers, not just furniture stores, all looking to keep the recent momentum in home furnishings sales going as we head into a promising 2004.
We expect more new product than seen since fall 2000, and numerous big, new collections. Needless to say, a major wave of new designs will result in the inevitable array of knockoffs, but at least these will offer something new and different.
As excited as we are about this, we are anxious about the highly emotional discussions we have been having since July 15, when the American Furniture Manufacturers Committee for Legal Trade was announced. There are strong emotions on both sides of the widely reported antidumping issue.
Many see this as either a check on their patriotism, an opportunity to fend off illegal operations and protect America from foreign threats, or as a renewed wave of protectionism, a last-ditch effort to save the old way of business, and a reversal of the global free trade accomplishments of the last two decades.
We have spent at least half our working time discussing the very complex issues involved. We have had calls from everywhere but the moon and, trust us, there is no lack of opinion. Many on both sides see this determining whether they will have a future in our industry. Unfortunately, too often we have found that the opinions are based on emotional reactions and not on knowledge of the facts.
Retailers, in particular, are caught in the middle, lobbied and pressured by both sides. In fact, retailers may not have a dog in this fight, because the outcome should impact every retailer equally, we hope.
Our industry has enjoyed decades of friendships and respect, paying minimal attention to one's religion, home town, national origin or race. Few industries have the kind of relationships that exist in our industry.
Please do not let your strong feelings on this one issue cost you decades of friendships. Be empathetic. Learn all you can so you can see both sides of the issue. Make your decision on facts and not emotion. And please allow others the right to make their own decision.
