Share this on

O'Sullivan marks anniversary as 'rebirth'

By Ray Allegrezza -- Furniture Today, April 24, 2005

High Point — Not all the celebration at the O'Sullivan showroom here involved product introductions. The company also marked its 50th Anniversary in its newly remodeled 21,000-square-foot showroom at 220 Elm.

"The combined impact of our 50th anniversary, newly established management and focused strategy that has resulted in the rebirth of O'Sullivan really made this as much a coming out party as it did a furniture market," said Mike Franks, vice president of marketing.

In the past 10 months, the company has added more than 50 new people, led by President and CEO Bob Parker. O'Sullivan also has organized into four strategic business units — home furnishings, office, storage/organization and new business development.

Franks believes O'Sullivan has transformed itself from "a manufacturing-driven company to a marketing-driven company." In developing product, he said, the company is spending more time talking to the consumer.

"For example, we did consumer focus groups to find out which areas of the home they most felt needed storage solutions," he said. "Initially, we assumed they would point to areas such as closets, kitchens of bedrooms. However, what they told us was that their No. 1 need was for storage solutions for the garage. That input allowed us to hit that opportunity early and hard."

While the company said it sees opportunities in each of its four key silos, it is particularly upbeat about prospects in home entertainment.

"The steady stream of new electronics technology will continually obsolete the furniture that supports it," Franks said. "For us, that is a tremendous opportunity."

Share this on

Lexington to Buy Sligh

Oct 11, 2011

People on the move

Sep 3, 2011

Schwartz Joins Zenith as VP

Aug 25, 2011

Douglas Schwartz joins Zenith Global Logistics as VP

Aug 11, 2011

Premarket draws more dealers

Mar 29, 2012

Also by this author

Also by Ray Allegrezza

Featured Company

FurnitureCore.com

FurnitureCore.com is a dynamic web application aimed at the furniture industry. Retailers and manufacturers alike will find our deep reserve of tools to be exactly what their furniture business needs.www.furniturecore.com... more

Most Recent Resources

Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market

Here is a selection of products shown at this month's International Gift & Home Furnishings Market here.

Networking at the 13th annual F/T Leadership Conference

NAPLES, Fla. — Industry executives and guests took the opportunity to network and play golf during down time at Furniture/Today's 13th annual Leadership Conference here this month.