Buyers flock to motion, recliner showrooms
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, May 2, 2011
The Scrumptious love seat from Franklin has a reclining back, but needs a standalone ottoman since there’s no reclining mechanism.
HIGH POINT — A heavy round of product introductions resulted in busy High Point Market showrooms for vendors of motion furniture and recliners.
Exhibitors said buyers were eager to embrace most of the new offerings, since the categories continue to perform relatively well at retail. They said many of the sales are driven by purchases of consumer electronics - especially flat-panel TVs - whose sales continue to increase despite the economic slump.
"Our business is still good, but we wanted to introduce a lot of products early in the year so our dealers could start making money on them sooner," said Don Hunter, senior vice president for major accounts at Catnapper. "As a result, we were very busy."
Hunter and others said motion groups that deliver value and function were especially popular at market, and they said dealers frequently were interested in displaying those products in vignette settings with lamps, occasional tables and area rugs.
That was one of the driving forces behind the success of Klaussner's new Solutions Studio gallery program. Klaussner officials said about half the dealers who signed up for the program wanted to feature motion furniture - well above the number they were expecting.
"It was very popular with our dealers," said Len Burke, vice president of marketing. "We're all about speed and delivery and this is a great way for them to take advantage of that."
Similar success was reported at Franklin, which doesn't have a gallery program, but did unveil several motion products with features such as dropdown tables, reading lamps and small refrigeration units. The company also introduced a motion loveseat that has a reclining back, but needs a standalone ottoman.
"We want the customer to think that it isn't motion," said Chuck Tidwell, vice president of merchandising and product development. "It was very well received."
At La-Z-Boy, dealers responded favorably to three new recliners and a pair of motion sofas, while Lane reported success with a pair of recliners on a swivel base - two of the 15 new recliners the company had in its showroom.
Norwalk, meanwhile, had success with its newest recliner program, which allows consumers to customize a chair by choosing from three back and arm styles and more than 1,000 fabric and leather covers.
Reyna Moore, Norwalk's director of marketing, said a model with contemporary styling was the most popular choice among dealers, largely because it doesn't look like a typical recliner.
"It's a recliner that a woman would be proud to have in her home," Moore said.
Recliners also were a big part of the story at Man Wah/ Cheers, a company best known for motion sofas and loveseats that unveiled 30 recliners retailing for $399 to $799. Stephen Barr, president of Man Wah USA, said he believes many of the new recliners will wind up in vignettes with stationary upholstery because they are more stylish than traditional recliners and have push-back mechanisms.
"I would like to eliminate the word ‘recliner' and call them comfort chairs," Barr said. "When people hear ‘recliner,' they think of Archie Bunker, and that's not a good image."
At Best Home Furnishings, a sectional featuring a patent- pending locking mechanism that keeps individual pieces from sliding apart was a hit with dealers, while El Ran had success with a half-dozen new high-leg recliners that are available in a variety of fabric and leather covers.
"It has been a big success. I would say every one of them has been a winner," El Ran President Sheldon Lubin said of the high-leg models. "I may have to make more styles because of some distribution issues."
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