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New Strategies Aimed at Retailing Home Office

Thomas Russell -- Furniture Today, August 25, 2011

The Serenity library wall unit by Sligh was a hit with buyers who liked the clean-lined transitional design and the opportunity to showcase the unit with as many or as few SKUs as they want on their floors.LAS VEGAS - Home office resources showing at the summer Las Vegas Market launched new merchandising strategies and product they said met with high levels of interest among dealers.
     These strategies aim to revitalize the category by showing retailers new ways to floor the product and offering options with both modular and custom footprints.
     Aspenhome dedicated an area of its showroom to its new Works For Me concept, which displayed various areas of the home where people work at home. Ranging from the dedicated home office and bedroom to the gathering room, kitchen and other public areas of the home, these displays showed retailers how home office can be integrated into everyday living.
     The approach struck a chord with dealers still interested in the category, officials said. In addition to the displays, retailers also appreciated the traditional design elements of Hathaway Hill, a dedicated office group that will expand to other categories this fall.
     Bush Furniture drew dealer interest with its Kathy Ireland licensed home office line, which is set to hit retail this fall. With four distinct groups tailored to working moms, dealers liked the styles and the price points, which ranged $149 to $549 on various pieces. Dealers also were drawn to companion home entertainment pieces or items that have entertainment uses within the four groups.
     Bush also received strong response to a new desk program called My/desk, which features a hollow core 24-inch by 48-inch desktop in three color choices - Café maple, Andora and black. It has four metal leg options for a total of 12 mix-and-match styles. The desk, made in China, comes packed in two small boxes and is designed to retail for $99.99.
     Marcie Backer, vice president of Bush's living division, said many retailers have been downsizing the space they dedicate to home office. My/ desk aims to give them a quality, sturdy product at a great price point while maximizing a limited space, she said. Bush also had a new nine-square-foot display for an edited version of its Workplace Solutions home office program. Bush narrowed down some 400 SKUs from two home office collections to 16 total SKUs, "simplified to the best choices based on our knowledge of what's sold in the past," Backer said.
     Sligh had space in its showroom dedicated to wall units, a segment that still has appeal despite the widespread use of laptops. With its Northport and Morocco collections, the company showed dealers how to floor items in ways that maximize the amount of square footage devoted to the wall unit concept.
     "In traditional, Northport and Morocco were garnering a lot of attention," said Rob Sligh, president. "People loved the way we designed the product so that each product had a purpose, but it also looked stylish.... Each SKU is versatile, has multiple uses and helps the retailer get a good return on their floor investment."
     Another popular group called Serenity has a more clean-lined transitional design. In addition to a wall configuration, it has companion pedestal and table desks, a sliding door bookcase and a file cabinet.
     Traffic was up 82% compared to last summer, Sligh said, noting that customers were even in the showroom on Friday morning. Written business was up 41% over summer 2010, he said.
     "It's a product oriented business, and we just have some great new products we were excited about," Sligh said. "When people get excited about products even when times are tough at retail, they buy and that is what we experienced."
     Senior Retail Editor Clint Engel contributed to this report.

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