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Fewer markets? Not likely for most rug vendors

Lissa Wyman, Rug Editor -- Furniture Today, February 12, 2006

Everyone says they want fewer markets, but it looks like rug vendors have another one. The recent Atlanta rug market, the Surfaces show in Las Vegas and the Vegas World Market Center show — the new kid on the block — were all hugely successful for the rug business.

That's the problem. If one had been a bust, rug people would be making a mass exodus. As a niche category, rug folks can't call the shots on where and when markets take place. They have to show where their customers shop, and their customers are everywhere.

Rugs are sold by every type of retailer — mass merchants, big boxes, home improvement centers, national chains, department stores, furniture stores, rug stores, Internet retailers, catalogs, patio shops, home accent stores, floor covering stores and to-the-trade designer shops. I've left out a few, but you get the picture.

In order to reach those channels, rug companies have to exhibit at a whole slew of markets, including High Point, Tupelo, the New York Home Textiles Market, various gift shows, The International Contemporary Furniture Fair, the New York Metro Market for traditional hand-knotted rugs, and floor covering buying group shows. Now add the WMC show to the list.

It's costly, particularly in an industry comprised largely of independently owned companies with sales under $20 million. (A rug company with sales over $75 million is a giant.)

To an outsider, the solution seems simple: specialize in a few channels and cut down on shows. Easier said than done. Even the smallest vendors dream of scoring a big buy from a major catalog house. Even the biggest are reluctant to give up independent dealers.

The two January shows in Vegas, Surfaces and WMC, were at the same time and in the same town, but they could have been on separate planets. Floor covering people attended Surfaces. Furniture, designer and home accent people went to the WMC. A few Surfaces retailers checked out the WMC, and vice versa. But when we mentioned the WMC show to our broadloom buddies, we were met with uncomprehending stares. They'd never heard of it.

Surfaces is not popular with the rug industry. It's very expensive but it's about the only place they are exposed to a big bunch (like 30,000) of floor covering retailers. Some rug people showing at the WMC have kissed the floor covering segment goodbye. Feizy, Masterlooms, Safavieh and Surya have lines much more attuned to the home furnishings industry and they have wholeheartedly embraced the WMC market.

But some are caught between the WMC and Surfaces. Large vendors such as Oriental Weavers, Nourison and Momeni are set to open showrooms next year at the WMC, but they are reluctant to give up on the floor covering channel. Because this year's Surfaces was a rip-snorting success, some will be showing at both places.

Fewer markets in the future? I don't think so.

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Fewer markets? Not likely for most rug vendors

Feb 13, 2006

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