Fiamma has import financing
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 27, 2006
Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Man Wah Holdings Ltd., owner of Chinese importer Fiamma Leather, is offering a new service that gives retailers 60-day, interest-free financing on finished goods as they are shipped from China to dealers.
"We pay the 60-day finance costs so retailers can feel comfortable that they will have enough time to receive and display the goods," said John Li, executive director of Man Wah. "We hope to increase our sales in the United States by making it easier for our customers to import, finance and sell our quality upholstery products."
The service, called the Trade Flow Finance program, is provided by GE Commercial Finance through its Commercial Distribution Finance unit. The GE unit said it developed the program in response to furniture industry demands for financial tools that assist importers in growing their business by leveraging longer financing periods.
"Fiamma is quite new to the U.S. market," said Gary McGugan, senior vice president of strategic growth for the GE unit. "With the Trade Flow Finance service, they are better able to help grow sales by relieving the retailer from cash flow pressures normally associated with container-lot orders."
