There's No Recession At the US OPEN
My kids both played competitive tennis through college which means my wife and I saw a lot of tennis matches throughout the years. This past weekend I decided we would leave the nice quiet lifestyle of Omaha NE to travel to the hustle and bustle of New York City for the premier professional tennis event - the US OPEN.The environment was electric with people everywhere. The US Open was sold out every session and they have had record crowds for this year’s event in spite of whatever recessionary challenges are in the economy. I was subject to sticker shock more than once this weekend when I saw what prices they were getting for things and what people were willing to pay. Tickets in the lower bowl were going for $2000 and more. The least expensive tickets in the nosebleed section were $300. That got you into just one session on one day. This wasn’t even to the quarter final rounds yet, so I can’t imagine what the finals would go for. And yet every session was sold out.
How about food at the US Open? A restaurant my daughter and I ate at was packed with a waiting line. A hamburger and a sandwich without alcohol or dessert was $60 and it took an hour to get.
The tennis was great, the atmosphere was fun, and people were having a terrific time every place I looked. Some people were diehard tennis fans while others were there for the show.
So the question for our industry is how can we get people as excited about spending money on a new living room set as they are on a lower bowl tennis ticket. You can buy a lot of sofas or even bedroom sets in our industry for $2000.
We need to realize that our greatest competitors may not be the big box store down the street but the entertainment options people have. Make your experiences fun and exciting and maybe you can get some of that discretionary revenue as well.
Anonymous/Ret.Sales commented:
The Open Set want to spend Money, sure, but they are a "Decerning" bunch. They won't just buy anything. It seems to me the Furniture Industry got ruined when the big manf's chose to use 'strict' MRP pricing. I used to sell beautiful furniture for great pricing 10 yrs ago,and lots of it! Now the pricing has "topped out", the Manf's have done it to themselves. Let the Furn. Stores set their own pace in pricing and service and lets get back on track again!!! Let some of the 'good olde boys'/VP's go back to Retail Sales and learn it all over again, their unfortunate firing will cut down the Manf's overhead and get more correctly priced sales through the door again. These Co's are Top Heavy, and the Designer's Licencing is over the top too! Should I go on?? The big fine furniture co's have done it to themselves. So very sad to see the quality co's go to mass produced Chinese made product and try to pass it along as "fine furniture". More and more the US OPen Set customers are asking for American Made. What they want is quality for their $'s and it is hard to find, if at all. They are the toughest customer to sell these days. As I said, they are a
'decerning' bunch! Good Luck this Market, and I truly mean it, as you all go I will go, I have to.
Anonymous/Ret.Sales commented:
It seems to me the Furniture Industry got ruined when the big manf's chose to use 'strict' MRP pricing. I used to sell beautiful furniture for great pricing 10 yrs ago,and lots of it! Now the pricing has "topped out", the Manf's have done it to themselves. Let the Furn.Stores set their own pace in pricing and service and lets get back on track again!!! Let some of the 'good olde boys'/VP's go back to Retail Sales and learn all over again, it will cut down the Manf's overhead and get more correctly priced sales through the door again. These Co's are Top Heavy, and the Designer's Licencing is over the top too! Should I go on?? The big fine furniture co's have done it to themselves. So very sad to see the quality co's go to mass produced Chinese made product and try to pass it along as "fine furniture". More and more the US OPen Set customers are asking for American Made, what they want is quality for their $'s and it is hard to find, if at all. They are the toughest customer to sell these days. Good Luck this Market, and I truly mean it, as you all go I will go, I have to.
georgia rep commented:
To observe a happening like the US Open and then to suggest that there is an untapped furniture market is silly. Come on. Grow up, and instead of trying to sell us your book or your consulting services, offer some insightful analysis or some best ideas that are actually working.
Anonymous commented:
Mike, you are exactly right, you can buy a lot of sofas for $2000. As a matter of fact I have seen several ads lately from Ashley stores where you can buy them for $199 each. That's 10 sofas for $2000. Of course I am sure this is helping the Ashley Home Store as they are probably paying as much as $180 for this sofa. Even Wal-Mart can't be profitable at 10% margins. First we were giving the credit away, now we are giving the product away. In the years ahead I am afraid the road will be littered with more industry players biting the dust.............good luck.
Anonymous commented:
As one who spent a successful 20 year career in the furniture business as a wholesale representative and retailer and am now in a completely different field I can say the furniture business, led by the manufacturers, are still doing business like it is 1960. Do not get me wrong, as there are some manufacturers that have been more progressive in their business and they are the ones that are successful and will continue to have success, but there are many old guard manufacturers still operating with an outdated business model in terms of their sales teams and attitude towards service, recession or not, that will doom these companies to failure or continued anemic sales. Most vendors do not have the first idea how to create excitement for their brand or company and have been trying to grasp this concept for as long as I was in the business. How many of us have seen the same tired promotions year after year?
Victor Pedraz commented:
The US Open is hardly worth a comparison to 'recession'. As a native New Yorker I can personally testify how sacred an event this has been for every and any tennis fan for many years. Because NYC, being what it is, the venue at Flushing Meadows has always been very attractive to NY natives and well heeled tourists especially Europeans and now the Russians and Asians and lots of 'new' and or 'rediscovered' money. These crowds would hardly sacrifice furniture dollars to attend this event. Mike's point is well taken however, and retailers and manufacturers alike need to look at new ways to reinvent themselves and re-attract the old business and attract the new business in the 'new' ways. Anyone looking at the internet and social networking lately?????
