The young pose a moving target
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 9, 2006
High Point — Manufacturers work hard to determine the styles and prices that will hold the most appeal for typical consumers between the ages of 20 and 35. But this group is often a moving target.
Jennifer Sievertsen, vice president of brand marketing for La-Z-Boy, said that on the retail side, the Todd Oldham collection provides an introduction to the company — while other offerings are more geared to the more traditional customer, who is usually 40 and older.
"We want to appeal to them as they move through different stages in their lives," said Sievertsen.
Monica Edwards, vice president of marketing for Drexel Heritage, said that it's important to gather information from those who are purchasing the furniture and then market accordingly.
"We believe it's a mistake to pigeonhole an age group or demographic," she said. "Baby boomers are surprising us by going contemporary and the younger group is surprising, because they can often choose traditional. I really hesitate to say younger consumers have this style and want this from us. It is not a style, but they really want to personalize their space and make it their own."
Jay Moore, director of communications for Bassett Furniture, said that his consumer research has found that many of the customers between 20 and 35 have unique characteristics.
"Most of the time, we are finding that younger folks are highly involved style leaders, they get shopping catalogs from magazines and they have a self-service orientation," he said. "They don't rely on sales associates, and they like unique furniture."
Accordingly, Bassett has brought out furniture that is casual, smaller scaled and lends itself well to customization. The customers can build their furniture on a Web site — but then must go to a Bassett store, where sales associates work toward building a relationship with them.
"They want the kind of furniture that fits in with their vision of who they are," Moore said.
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