Upholstery reps hitting road after market
By Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, April 14, 2003
High Point — The road's going to play an important role for upholstered seating companies in the next several weeks.
With business off and traffic down at market, most factories will make sure their sales forces are out pounding the pavement to meet with retailers who, for one reason or another, decided to skip High Point.
That's the strategy of Morgan Stewart and its affiliated companies, Dunmore, Jordan Alexander and Laura Orsborn Designs. The companies weren't stingy on introductions, and worked to shore up voids and provide as much value as possible in their new products. But President Andrew Teague also is taking steps to seize opportunities.
"One, we want to make sure we are in a good inventory position so that, when space on the (retail) floor becomes available, we'll be there," said Teague, noting the Dunmore line is ready to ship products in the $499 to $599 retail price points in a 10-day delivery cycle.
"Two, we'll be ready to roll (after market) with pictures and swatches.... We're ready to hit the road," he said. Key targets will be smaller dealers.
"If the small owner/operator was not in driving distance of High Point, he wasn't here," Teague said.
Likewise at Rose Hill, where President Hamp Hughes said attendance by small dealers at market was off considerably, while the number of big hitters was stable.
"As far as the majors, I can say that I saw as many or more than I usually do," he said.
Hughes said the company "did a lot of groundwork" before the market and will be doing the same afterward. He focuses on the Top 100 retailers.
"What I'll do is take the list and prioritize and go after the ones that are the hungriest," he said.
If possible, he said he would be calling on customers by the Monday after market. "The first one to the retailer is the one who wraps up the deal," Hughes said.
At Rowe, traffic was down, mostly from smaller dealers, according to Corey Keifetz, vice president of merchandising.
The company always has a post-market strategy, and "did a lot of prep work prior to this market," he said.
"For our dealers who decided not to come, we want to get in front of them quickly and give them an overview of what they missed at market," Keifetz said.
He noted that Rowe's management team had developed for the sales force "the tools it needs to leave the market and hit the ground running."
Barry Lazar, chairman and chief executive officer of contemporary seating specialist Lazar Furniture, said the Los Angeles-based company would "use what we learned here" for its post-market strategy.
Quick delivery is an important sales feature for Lazar, which sends out special-order products in four to five weeks.
"Dealers are looking for ways to make the most money with the minimum of investment," Lazar said.
Best Chairs enticed market business with club and wood accent chairs in the $299 and $399 retail price points, and a bench program had a $199–$349 target.
"Traffic held its own but we won't know what our orders are until we get back home," said Brian Lange, vice president of sales and marketing. He said Best Chairs sends out newsletters three to four weeks before market describing introductions.
"I think they really do well because we have people coming here looking for specific things in the newsletter," he said.
Lange said the company's reps "will be out there pounding the pavement" for orders. "January and February were good for us; in fact, it was good two weeks before the market. Then everything slowed down. I think by the end of the year it'll rebound for us."
Linrene Furniture, a high-style contemporary house based in Siler City, N.C., had its sales force out three weeks before the market giving personal invitations to prospective buyers to the showroom.
"We saw a lot of market traffic," said Joseph Short, president, although the company didn't write a lot of new business.
"But we planted the seed," he said.
