Buyers focus on value, delivery in leather
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, November 2, 2009
HIGH POINT — Despite below-average showroom traffic, leather upholstery resources reported brisk business at market from buyers looking for sharp values and reliable delivery schedules.
Executives said Top 100 accounts, department stores and major regional chains shopped the market in force, with most looking to replenish inventories with new products and programs that can spur sales in the midst of the most severe industry slump in decades.
“Everybody was shopping for value, not just the cheapest price,” said Brian Parker, president of importer HTL International. “Everyone is merchandising their assortments smarter.”
That said, Parker and other executives agreed that pricing pressure remained intense, with most buyers seeking leather sofas starting at $999 retail and some insisting on a $799 starting price point.
Producers said they were able to hit those prices by using leather splits, bonded leather, or a combination of leather and matching vinyl for the cover application. In addition, some resources have reduced the size and scale of certain models to hit the desired starting price point.
“It needs to be a smaller scale, but well finished,” said Sheldon Lubin, president of Canadian producer El Ran Furniture. “This is something of a niche that is starting to gain traction.”
Other leather showrooms that emphasized smaller-scaled introductions included Natuzzi, Klaussner and Berkline, whose Modern Comforts collection of contemporary and transitional seating groups was a clear market winner.
“The collection is designed to meet the lifestyle needs of a younger demographic that we are targeting,” said Berkline President Rob Burch. “We want to innovate, not imitate.”
At Palliser, reaction was positive to the Elements II modular sofa program, while Klaussner had good feedback for an import program that keeps top-selling leather sofas retailing for $799 to $999 in stock domestically for quick shipment.
“Since (retail) business continues to be slow, dealers aren't interested in keeping much inventory themselves,” said Jay Foscue, senior vice president of merchandising at Palliser.
Klaussner also highlighted the $999 retail price point with a lineup of domestically produced sofas available in 40 leather colors for delivery in two to three weeks.
New leather resources Sofitalia and D'Oro also reported positive responses to their debut lines, both of which will be container-direct programs from Asia.
The Sofitalia line will be built at Lacquercraft's factory in Jiaxing, China, while D'Oro is using a facility is Vietnam owned by parent company Woodworth Wooden Inds.
“We focused on comfortable seating and good styling,” said Peter Halunen, vice president of sales and operations for Sofitalia, which is concentrating on sofa price points of $899 to $1,499. “Contemporary styling seems to have attracted a lot of customers.”
Tom Schmidt, president of D'Oro, said quality also was the story in High Point.
“There seemed to be an awakening. People were buying better quality,” Schmidt said. “And we feel like we offer a lot of advantages.”
At the higher end of the market, Leather Italia officials reported good response to the new Embassy collection, which features sofas retailing for $1,499 and above, while Italian Homes did well with its Chinese- and Italian-made sofas under the NicolettiHome and CaliaItalia brand names.
“We have had exceptional results,” said Vincenzo Scocuzza, national sales manager for Italian Homes. “There couldn't have been a better time to start this new partnership.”
Another Italian producer, Chateau D'Ax, also reported good feedback to several contemporary modular sectional groupings.
“We couldn't have been more pleased with attendance,” said Harry Cierler, the company's director of North American operations.
At Craftmaster, which focuses on leather sofas retailing for $1,199 to $1,499, dealers liked several new models with eight-way, hand-tied construction and a coil seating system, said President Roy Calcagne.
“We have a good mix of traditional and transitional in motion and stationary,” he said. “It was our best leather market in three years.”
-
Leather uph. vendors aggressive with intros
Oct 17, 2009 -
Leather upholstery buyers target higher price points
Oct 20, 2010 -
Spotlight in leather falls on more upscale product
Oct 14, 2007
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
VIEW ALL GALLERIES
