Fraenkel offers full merchandising menu
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 10, 2005
Baton Rouge, La. — The Tupelo Furniture Market is held in Fraenkel's backyard, so it's not surprising that the producer chose Tupelo as its key marketing event.
Fraenkel exited the High Point market scene last fall, but has stepped up in Tupelo, where its bedding showroom is a standout in the Mississippi Complex.
"This is the heart of where our customer base is located," said Brian Akchin, executive vice president and chief operating officer, during the February edition of the Tupelo show. "We are a door stopper. No one has the breadth of bedding lines that we offer."
The producer, an Englander licensee since 1992, makes its own bedding lines and its Englander offerings at three factories in the deep South. They are located in Dallas, Olive Branch, Miss., and Baton Rouge.
The bedding lineup, which covers all major innerspring and specialty foam categories, retails from $299 to $2,499.
Fraenkel introduced its own bedding brand, USA Sleep Systems, in the 1980s. Posture Therapy, the upper end of that line, retails from $499 to $1,199. That was part of a deliberate strategy by the company to step up in price.
"We realized three years ago that our dynamics had to change," Akchin said. "If you are only selling $299 to $399 bedding, there is not enough margin, unless you are doing pure tonnage, to grow and be profitable. It costs the same to deliver a $499 mattress as a $1,299 mattress.
While Fraenkel still does the lion's share of its business under $1,000, its top-selling bed, in dollars, is right at that lofty price point: The Englander Monaco is a foam-encased, encased coil, visco-cushioned pillowtop bed retailing at $999.
"That bed is equivalent to competitors' beds retailing from $1,300 to $1,499 to $1,799, in some cases," Akchin said.
He said retailers turn to Englander for "breadth of product, excellent service, and value. We offer great values. We give dealers margin. Dealers like margin."
Added Frank Paladino, sales manager for bedding products: "We have a full merchandising menu — not just a small portion of a menu."
Fraenkel, one of the largest exhibitors in Tupelo, is thriving at that market.
"Tupelo is a writing market," Akchin said. "Retailers come here to write orders and to get products."
That's a winning formula for Fraenkel.
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