Entertainment deserves exciting presentation
Tom Edmonds -- Furniture Today, November 8, 2004
I don’t know about you, but I drool over the electronics circulars every Sunday. Left to my own devices, I would probably own a new big-screen television — maybe plasma but more likely one of the new thin-profile DLP models — as opposed to the 15-year-old rear-projection set that we picked up for $200 when a neighbor was moving to Colorado. That one is actually quite large and works just fine, but I just know that I would be a better man if I had a wide-screen digital model capable of high definition.
As it happens in my house, though, my wife insists that I resist the siren song of free financing so that we can throw a few more pennies into the meager pots we’ve put aside for college or retirement. I have it on good authority, though, that not all wives are winning this argument. In fact, I hear that some women actually approve the purchase. Big-screen televisions and home-theater audio-video systems are among the hottest retail categories today, and projections indicate that they will be selling in huge numbers through the rest of the decade.As a result, entertainment furniture is one of the strongest categories in our industry, but I don’t get the sense that it’s as robust as it could be. And as I shop the entertainment displays in furniture stores around the country, I certainly don’t feel much of the same excitement that is so evident in an electronics store.Does it have to be that way? Can’t we duplicate some of the energy that stimulates impulse purchases of big-ticket items? A furniture store may never be a high-voltage assault on the senses like an electronics superstore, but the entertainment furniture doesn’t have to be as lifeless as a row of coffins, either. Furniture merchants often present entertainment centers and walls as backdrops to upholstery displays. In a few stores, I’ve seen them lined up in a narrow hallway, which is not that different from a coffin display, except the coffins usually don’t have dust inside. It makes a lot of sense to show entertainment with upholstery. It takes up less space, and that is how the furniture will be used at home. But the problem I see — and the reason that furniture retailers are not getting the most out of this category — is the cabinets are almost always empty.Yes, TVs are expensive. But then again, there’s nothing more depressing than a big, empty entertainment center or home theater wall with nothing in it. What a letdown to open a cabinet and see only a yawning, dusty cavity.Props are a big step in the right direction. They, too, cost money, but I suspect they pay for themselves pretty fast by helping shoppers visualize how those entertainment centers will look with a screen inside. And props are a one-time purchase that can be redeployed as displays change.Since it’s your money that I’m spending, I’d also like to encourage you to splurge on a big-screen television or two and keep them running on the floor with a favorite movie. This simple accessorization adds so much life to a store, and people are drawn to the sound and the picture.
-
Entertainment deserves exciting presentation
Nov 21, 2004
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
