High Point — While case goods are sold mostly through furniture stores, small accents and accessories move through a wide variety of retail channels.
A survey by Furniture/Today's sister publication Home Accents Today found that most accent producers sell to interior designers (84% of those surveyed), home accent stores (77%) and gift stores (55%). Other popular distribution channels include department stores (45%), catalog/Internet/TV (45%), home textile specialty stores (20%), discount department stores like Wal-Mart and Target (13%) and home improvement/warehouse clubs (10%).
Furniture sales make up 60%–65% of the sales volume at Maitland-Smith. Lighting accounts for 15%, with the rest coming from accessories such as tabletop, wall and floor items.
Because the line is so diverse, the company appeals to a wide range of stores and a broad consumer base, said Nancy Sturgill, vice president of marketing. Maitland-Smith sells to furniture retailers, interior designers, antique stores, gift shops, clock shops and other specialty stores. However, the company doesn't sell via catalogs, the Internet or mass merchants.
In contrast, Silver Plume does about 30% of its business in accent/occasional furniture. The other 70% is made up of items for entertaining and dining (small wine racks, serving pieces), floral (vases and flower pots), decorative hardware, wall décor and assorted home accents.
Primarily a decorative accessory company, Silver Plume sees its role as accessorizing the furniture store, rather than providing the furniture itself. The company also sells to designers, gift shops and catalogs.
Finding the right partner
Garcia Imports sells mostly accent/occasional pieces, but also does about 15% of sales in lighting. Chests and tables are its top furniture niches, each capturing about 5% of the company's total sales.
President Eddie Garcia said furniture stores account for about 70% of the company's sales; designers make up the other 30%. He said he doesn't believe that selling to one channel or the other makes much of a difference. It's not about whether they have a store or a design business as much as it is about the preferences and relationships of the customers themselves.
The Platt Collections sells strongly to both furniture retailers and designers. John Reinhardt, vice president of merchandising and operations, said about half of the company's sales at the April market came from design accounts. Interior designers show a lot of interest in Platt's accent furniture line because of the eclectic range of looks.
Powell sells through all the key channels, but "furniture stores are the largest segment of business," said Sean Slack, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing. "Usually the department stores and larger retailers have exclusive designs that we develop specifically for them."
Each class of trade — and frequently each retailer — "has specific areas of strength in certain products," Slack added. "I don't know that we would expect retailers to adjust their business plan to make it easier or more profitable to do business with them. Some retailers will cause us to incur more costs to do business with them, but that is the nature of our industry."
A lot of promotional companies will sell to anyone and everyone to get enough volume. But John-Richard has limited distribution, said Alex Malouf Jr., president. About 85% of sales go to better furniture stores and designers with showrooms. The company also does business with Nieman Marcus catalogs.
Ultimate Accents sells only to furniture stores and stocking designers, said Ray Steele, director of sales and marketing. The top niche is the bombé chest, followed by high chests, low chests and bachelor's chests. Next are armoires/home bars.
Bigger sales tickets
The accent/occasional business has changed dramatically since Ultimate Accents started five years ago, Steele said. The looks have greatly improved, allowing companies to get better prices. He said his average ticket has increased 20% over the past three years thanks to the value of the merchandise going up.
"The total number of pieces sold this year might be 10% less than a couple of years ago, but the sales total will be 15% to 20% more," he said.
In an attempt to increase accent business, Steele said he will be showing at the Atlanta gift show next month for the first time.
