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Delivery, materials sell promotional upholstery

Gary Evans -- Furniture Today, October 25, 2011

AT THE MARKET — Competing in the crowded promotional upholstery category, vendors are here with products and programs they hope will give them an edge.

Some programs involve delivery, customization and materials, and others concern cost-saving methods for shipping and delivery.

With transportation costs rising, John DeFalco, senior executive vice president of Primo International, said the company is going for "high loadability value" in shipments by engineering ways to pack more products in containers.

And while some promotional sellers are gaining ground with entry price groups for new accounts, DeFalco said Primo is selling more to its dealers with better fabrics and features like slipcovers and memory foam. Among the products getting attention at Primo are a new Studio Sleeper program with Kathy Ireland.

Klaussner's bread-and-butter sofa business is in the $799 to $999 price points, but Jay Foscue, vice president of sales and marketing for Klaussner, said the company is working to capture more business in the $399 and $499 retail price points this week.

To compete in a "flooded" market, Klaussner stocks styles that allow customers to special order for three-day delivery, according to Foscue. Since it stocks, he said, the company gets the economy of longer runs on similar products and customers get products to promote in 20-plus styles.

An introduction from Broyhill this market is VIP Custom Upholstery, positioned to give dealers an opening price point collection that is special order in 20 cut-and-sew fabrics with a choice of pillows.

Paul Peters, vice president of upholstery, said the program offers five frames and allows the company to give retailers a program at $100 less for popular styles with Dura coil construction that normally would retail for $799. Delivery is 28 days.

Toby Konetzny, vice president of marketing for Coaster America, said rising freight charges and other challenges are making it difficult for importers to compete against domestic manufacturers on the promotional end. To compensate, he said, Coaster is adding extra value in the construction of products with such features as extra padding in the arms and better frame construction for a heftier feel.

"It's important to have the styling, better fabrics like linens and better construction," he said.

Bonded leather also is playing a part in allowing promotional to mid-priced manufacturers to bring good looks and value to the marketplace.

Coaster, for instance, is using a white faux leather with stitching on a well-styled sofa and loveseat, with the combo able to retail for $799 out of one of the company's U.S. warehouses.

Affordable also is capitalizing on the value of bonded by taking some best-selling fabric sellers and putting them in the leather-like material.

"They've been very strong this market," said Ron Tetter, vice president of marketing and merchandising.

He said the company also is packing value into mechanisms and other U.S. components that dealers are familiar with as a selling tool against offshore materials that sometimes are less substantial.

The company also is strengthening its domestic manufacturing by investing in such things as high-tech sewing equipment that will allow it to supplement offshore cut-and-sew kits, he said.

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