Better price points spotlighted in wood
Jeff Linville -- Furniture Today, February 28, 2005
KidKraft brought these colorful children’s chairs to its new showroom in Building Six, after moving from Building Three.
TUPELO, Miss. — Case goods companies offered the usual specials at the Tupelo market, but they also showed new goods at better price points.The idea is to help retailers make more money by selling step-up goods, exhibitors said.Resource APA Marketing said it always has generated strong traffic in Tupelo with specials and closeouts in casual dining. At this month’s market, the importer also attracted interest in its more expensive home entertainment line, according to Bob Lephart, sales and marketing manager.What retailers needRay Steele, vice president of sales and marketing for Ultimate Accents, said that every store has enough dogs to be marked down. What retailers need, he said, are some goods that they can sell up reasonably.He said the key is finding a niche that isn’t well served, or selling goods that have a higher perceived value. He said a retailer can settle for a typical 47% margin on bedroom or dining room furniture, but can get more for certain items such as an accent chair or sink vanity.
The sun’s UV rays can damage visco-elastic mattresses, but Kids Clubhouse hides the foam inside layers of protective padding in its youth and young adult line.
APA took notes on improving its home entertainment lineup from attending the past two Consumer Electronics Shows in Las Vegas. Modifications to the pieces were aimed at giving store sales associates something to talk up to the consumer, such as bigger wire management holes because electronics have more wires than ever.Heat dissipation also is becoming an issue with electronics storage. Components such as DVD players and stereo receivers can overheat in an enclosed space. Lephart said APA’s bigger wire holes help, as do the cooling fans the company has mounted in some side piers. This cuts the ambient temperature inside by up to 30 degrees, he said.Two years ago, Discovery World Furniture created a must-have youth piece with its patented all-in-one bed unit, combining sleep, study and storage in a small footprint. It licensed others to sell the piece, such as Woodcrest and The Powell Co., and protected its patents against knockoffs, according to Glen Moller, vice president.
Comfort Research showed several kinds of beanbags for kids in its space in Building Six.
This market, Discovery introduced two variations on that design that were lower and a little sharper priced. Some youth rooms have low ceilings that don’t give much clearance above the loft bed, Moller said. In the low-profile model, the storage drawers have been reduced from four to two and the desktop computer space is replaced with a pullout work surface for doing homework or using a laptop computer.Fred Holland, executive vice president of Holland House, said retailers who are advertising their specials and unique items are doing well this year.“Those who are sensibly being aggressive in advertising, without relenting, they are being successful,” he said.Holland said his company’s 2004 sales were up 13% from 2003 despite the uncertainty created by the antidumping petition on Chinese wood bedroom furniture. He said the company had practically no bedroom shipments for two months, but sales rebounded once the U.S. government announced relatively low duty rates — in the single digits for most companies. Business has been excellent so far in 2005, he said.Mixing it up
Chinese importer Song-Lin exhibited at Tupelo for the first time. Among the items shown was this 1007 solid-birch sleigh crib that retails between $379 and $399.
*For more Tupelo product pictures, see the Feb. 28th print issue of Furniture/Today.
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Better price points spotlighted in wood
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