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Home theater a Vegas hit

By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, January 19, 2003

Las Vegas — Exhibitors of home theater furniture did quite nicely at the mammoth Consumer Electronics Show here earlier this month, with exhibit halls housing home theater products remaining crowded throughout the four-day market.

And nearly all exhibitors were pleased with the sales leads — and some outright sales — the show generated.

Home theater is one of the hottest growth areas of the consumer electronics business, and more than two dozen wood and upholstered furniture producers ventured to Las Vegas to see if they could capture a piece of the action.

"It was a great show. I'm thrilled with the results," said Mark Parris, vice president of U.S. sales and marketing for Coja, a Canadian leather upholstery producer and first-time CES exhibitor. "The contacts we made in several alternative distribution channels were incredible."

Coja, which produces leather home theater seating, is hoping to add electronics stores and audio/video outlets to its traditional furniture store customer base. The company shared a space with APA Marketing, a case goods importer whose lineup includes the Encore line of home entertainment furniture.

"We haven't been in the home theater category that long, but this show seemed like a good avenue to grow our business," said Parris.

Companies such as Coja and APA face stiff competition from numerous furniture makers who sell exclusively to the consumer electronics market. Most don't exhibit at furniture markets and have no interest in doing so.

"We're a consumer electronics company, not a furniture company," said Keith Pribyl, vice president of Sanus Systems, a producer of upscale entertainment furniture. "Furniture stores are not our market."

Other companies such as Acoustic Innovations and Cinema Tech focus on consumers willing to spend $10,000 to $100,000 or more on a custom-built home theater. Furniture, particularly seating, is a key component of any such project.

"Our brand is recognized by consumers ... so one of our main jobs is to train salespeople to sell their customers on the total home theater experience," said Cinema Tech President Michael Murphy. "I'm not here just to sell you a product."

Jay Miller, president of Acoustic Innovations, said he welcomes all the new home theater competitors because it raises the awareness of the category.

One of Acoustic Innovations' owners is former PeopLoungers executive Mark Muffi, and the company's home theater seating is built in a Tupelo, Miss., factory that he oversees.

Another home theater seating producer at CES, Continental Seating, was founded by three former executives of the now-defunct Leather Center chain. That company, whose products retail for $1,799 to $2,999 per seat, also focuses on the consumer electronics market. Shelly Norman, a former Leather Center executive, is Continental's vice president of national sales.

In addition to Coja and APA, a number of other traditional furniture producers ventured to CES, and most of them left Las Vegas believing the consumer electronics channel is a viable way to be included in the home theater boom.

Case goods producers Wambold, Laurier and AmeriWest had extensive displays of entertainment furniture, as did upholstery specialists Ekornes, Jaymar and Relax-R. Relax-R had a standalone booth, while Ekornes shared a space with Jamo, a Danish producer of stereo speakers.

"We make more contacts at this show than at any other show where we exhibit," said Daniel Ide, vice president of sales at Relax-R. "We're constantly pitching product. There's no downtime."

Much discussion centered on flat-screen TVs, which won't fit in most entertainment centers on the market today.

"Right now, 90% of our cabinets are for big-screen TVs, but the industry is changing rapidly," said Bob Gingras, national sales manager at Laurier. "Two years from now, I think 90% of our cabinets will have some kind of base (to support flat-screen models.)"

Wambold President Harvey Kallen isn't convinced the conversion will be that rapid because prices on flat-screen models, particularly plasma TVs, are still too high for most consumers. "I just don't think there's a big enough market for plasma yet," Kallen said. "The volume is all in the big-screen designs."

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