Fresh wood aims to drive store traffic
By Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, February 1, 2010
LAS VEGAS —
The approaches case goods vendors are taking at market this week are varied, but all have a single goal in mind: driving sales on retail floors.
Some sources are showing large new collections, including AICO and Lexington Home Brands, which is launching its latest Tommy Bahama collection. Others are bringing out shorter, price-driven groups geared toward consumers who are still cautious about spending.
AICO's “Michael Amini & Jane Seymour, A Design Collaboration” is the company's first major licensed collection with a celebrity tie-in. It includes three case goods and upholstery collections, each featuring between 40 to 50 SKUs, making it the among the largest introductions this market.
Offerings include Cobblestone Road, a traditional group with casual European design influences that has two beds, including a metal bed with wood posts and a wood poster bed with turned posts.
Palace Gates is another traditional collection in a sable finish that features a wood and leather upholstered mansion bed. Hollywood Swank is a contemporary collection with several finish options. Among the signature pieces is a dining table with smoked glass inserts.
AICO also is launching The Sovereign, a case goods and upholstery collection featuring a poster bed with hand-carved elements and a rectangular dining table with a diamond-pattern top.
Chromcraft Revington aims to attract interest with its licensed Southern Living collection launched last spring. At market, it will feature Gresham Park, a group with turn-of-the-century American traditional design influences. A four-piece bedroom in this collection retails for $2,900, while an 84-inch formal dining table with six chairs retails at $2,000.
“From the last October market, our Southern Living placements have doubled with all the collections,” said Rob Halsten, vice president of product development, of the four groups available in the Southern Living lineup. “Dealers who were on the fence with it saw what we had. It is retailing, which has made our dealers who have invested in it very happy.”
A.R.T. Furniture is launching two new collections this market, each with between 30 and 35 SKUs. British Heritage is a bedroom, dining room, occasional and home entertainment collection with British traditional design influences. Made with mahogany veneers and birch solids, it includes four-piece bedrooms targeted to retail at $2,999. A formal dining table and six chairs is targeted to retail around $2,299. The collection also has a display cabinet that has six drawers behind glass doors.
A.R.T.'s Stone Creek is a lodge-influenced collection of bedroom, dining room, occasional and home entertainment. A four-piece bedroom is targeted to retail at $2,799. On the dining side, the collection features a buffet and open hutch versus a display china cabinet.
The company decided to develop British Heritage because of its success with traditional designs.
“There have not been a lot of recent introductions in British traditional, said Bill Sibbick, vice president of sales and marketing. “This will have a very broad appeal because of the design of the cases. It's a nice traditional look that's a little different than all the European traditional in the marketplace.”
Sibbick also expects the informal, lodge-inspired design of Stone Creek to have broad appeal.
More often than not, introductions this market are focused on smaller lineups that highlight essential pieces at sharp price points.
Magnussen Home is introducing at least three new bedroom groups, each featuring six key pieces. It is also showing several groups that were launched in High Point in October. Four-piece sets start at $1,299 and go as high as $1,699.
SLF is launching four short bedroom groups with contemporary and transitional designs ranging from $799 to $1,499 retail. Two are priced at the lower end of the price scale and are marketed under the SLF Direct banner. These are made with birch veneers and solids, while the higher-priced groups are made with combinations of cherry and ash solids and veneers.
The groups are all priced to move in an environment where consumers remain skittish about large-ticket purchases. Vendors also are operating in a shrinking retail environment, noted Guy Walters, vice president and general manager.
“There is a lot of opportunity out there, but it is very competitive,” he said. “You have less people to sell things to and the same amount of people trying to get that business.”
For vendors showing here this week, the strategy is not just about new and competitively priced product. It also lies in the ability to service new and existing accounts. SLF and sister company Pulaski are touting the quick-ship capabilities of their domestic warehouses in Phoenix and the High Point area.
Companies like A.R.T. and Magnussen also have domestic warehouses that have been supporting large and small dealers alike.
So does Star International Furniture, which has a 90,000-square-foot warehouse in Santa Margarita, Calif., as well as a recently opened 65,000-square-foot facility in Richmond, Va. Roughly 75% of Star's SKUs are available from these domestic facilities, said Matt Genova, marketing manager, adding that the majority of the company's business is currently done from the domestic warehouses.
“We are trying to load up on inventory when things are bad,” he said. “We have it in stock and ready to ship — we are investing on the front end so they don't have to invest on the back end.”
This market, Star is launching Motif, a soft contemporary bedroom made with walnut veeners that complements occasional and dining introduced in High Point.
Star also is showing another soft contemporary collection called Horizon. An upholstered bed is slated to retail at $1,199, while a 60-inch dining table retails at $699.
Leggett & Platt's Consumer Products Group is showing two new $499 platform beds, including a wood version made with mahogany solids in a 10-step rustic cherry finish and a white faux leather upholstered version with a 36-inch headboard and a 17-inch footboard.
While consumers may still be shopping for the best deals, they aren't trading down, said Herman Tam, group vice president of sales and marketing.
“In this economy, price points have become more important,” Tam said. “And yet, we never forget that the market is not homogeneous.
“Price isn't the only determining factor. Value is a function of price and quality, design and style, and workmanship and materials.”
He said the company remains optimistic about the market due in large part to its product mix and the momentum of its Retail Solution program. This program, which emphasizes the power of selling the benefits of sleep with a new retail display system and new sleep accessories, has signed up 75 retailers thus far and looks to have more than 300 in place by year's end, Tam said.
“Obviously, a lot of retailers were very cautious in 2009, and I would guess their inventory levels have been very well managed,” Tam said. This market, we are sending a message of optimism, encouraging them to have confidence to jump back into the pool.”
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