Gorillas, baby bears could eat your lunch
Carole Sloan, Senior Contributing Editor -- Furniture Today, March 20, 2005
There are some 800-pound gorillas out there, and they have some friends, baby bear cubs by comparison but potent adversaries nonetheless.
The gorillas are the giant retailers Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart, the latter soon to be Sears and Kmart.
Wal-Mart steadily is building its furniture presence, both in-store and on the Internet, and Target just went full bore with a dramatically expanded furniture offering, also both in-store and on the Web.
Sure, Sears left the furniture world in the '90s except for mattresses, but Kmart has a good furniture business and is planning an even bigger one. Already Kmart has put dining furniture on a circular cover, and it's going to launch a Martha Stewart Everyday ready-to-assemble furniture program.
We're talking here about thousands of big-box stores, coast to coast. And don't pooh-pooh the styling, quality, service, delivery, etc. they might offer. All of these are getting better — and some traditional furniture stores are not exactly problem-free in these areas.
What it all means is that there hardly will be a community in this country without one or the other of this trio selling furniture. And each in its own way is getting more proficient in on-line selling and the logistics needed to make the whole thing work.
As for the baby bears, one need look only at Williams-Sonoma and its four brands, all of which are growing by leaps and bounds.
Just this month, Williams-Sonoma executives identified the relatively new and now three-store West Elm division as its fastest-growing and potentially biggest brand, among its already-blockbuster brands Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and Williams-Sonoma Home.
Better look carefully around your neighborhoods. There may be lurking some very large, furry critters with big appetites for your business.
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