Office sources pleased with traffic, sales
By Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, February 4, 2008
Las Vegas — Home office vendors were pleased with market traffic and sales here last week.
Vendors offered focused introductions in the category, and some were either easing payment terms or considering taking that step to help drive business.
Modular groups got a lot of attention, especially at companies like Kathy Ireland Home by Martin. Two of the company's more popular groups were simpler three-SKU modular offices, Espacio and Copley.
Martin plans to expand the program at upcoming markets, said Karl Eulberg, vice president of sales and marketing.
He said the market was a promising one for Martin.
"Our traffic was up and the buyers were coming in with open-to-buy. They aren't hunkering down and that's a change," Eulberg said. "I think a lot of them have right- sized their inventory, stopped the flow and got inventories in line with demand. They bought for slight growth. Trimming allowed for new product growth."
The company also rolled out a program that more importers and manufacturers have begun using, sometimes referred to as 30-60-90-day financing. Martin typically had required payment in 30 days.
With the new program, a credit source pays the importer or manufacturer when goods are shipped and retailers pay the credit company. Payments can be extended.
Legends started using a similar program about six months ago and it has been an effective tool, said Tim Donk, marketing director for Legends. He said traffic in the home office category was brisk last week.
"This January market is about as busy as our first market in Las Vegas and there's not as much doom and gloom as I thought there might be," Donk said.
Retailers may have had a few more dollars to spend in Vegas because so many had dollars tied up in specials last year, weakening their ability to bring in new product, said Tim Ratcliffe, president of Fusion Designs.
Fusion Designs was offering a less-than-container load program at last week's market, and Ratcliffe said the company is committing this market to holding its warehouse prices until July.
Traffic also was good in the Sunny Designs and Winners Only showrooms, executives said.
