Motion remains industry bright spot
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, March 2, 2003
Tupelo, Miss. — There are countless reasons to be negative about business, but motion furniture buyers did their best to remain upbeat when they shopped the semiannual market here.
Motion, in fact, has been one of the few quasi-bright spots throughout the recent industry slump, and buyers came here looking for ways to continue to prime the motion pump and get consumers into their stores.
"Everybody was looking for promotions," said Cabot Longnecker, merchandise manager for recliners at Berkline. "And they had an appetite to buy. We wrote a lot of orders."
Longnecker and other executives said most buyers were optimistic, even though fears of war, rising fuel prices and host of other economic woes have given them plenty of reasons to be pessimistic.
"I was kind of amazed at all the positive attitudes," said Kerry Lebensburger, president of Ashley's upholstery division. "But people were very positive ... and they were buying."
Ashley, one of the few motion producers showing new product here, did particularly well with a three-piece motion group retailing at $1,299, while other exhibitors said recliners and glider rockers were especially popular because of their traffic-building ability.
At Klaussner, Jay Foscue, vice president of merchandising for motion furniture, said, "We want to be known for our recliners ... and since we've made some improvements to our line, our business is growing now."
Larry Daigneault, president of Newport Gliders, said a pair of new glider rockers with fully upholstered side panels were well received. He said buyers told him they were good items to promote, even though the $399 retail price tag is above what's traditionally defined as promotional in the glider rocker category.
"People don't like looking at the metal base," Daigneault said. "I took these two chairs to the Minneapolis market (in early February), and it was the best market I've ever had."
Other producers agreed that price isn't the only factor that makes an item easy to promote, with several noting that leather covers continue to gain market share despite slightly higher price points.
"We've tried to give people some more upscale looks, and those products are retailing," noted Gentry Long, merchandise manager for motion furniture at Lane.
Vandy Baker, vice president of merchandising at PeopLoungers, said his company did especially well with a lineup of motion sofas, loveseats and sectionals covered with leather from South America.
The show marked the company's first widespread use of the South American leathers, and Baker said he was very pleased with the results.
"The pricing is now competitive with China, and the logistics are 1,000% better," he said.
But neither Baker nor anyone else was willing to declare the industry's slump over, even though the motion furniture business has been reasonably good of late.
"We think the second half of the year will show some improvement, but if (fears of war) continue to drag on, 2003 could be a soft year as well," said Gene Gathagan, national sales manager at glider rocker producer Brooks Furniture.
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