High Point Market report
Outdoor designs add bright spots at High Point Market
Designs once reserved for indoor use appeared with new outdoor capabilities at the High Point Market.
“A natural extension” was the way manufacturers described their directions outward.
“Our customer doesn’t just live inside,” said Pride Sasser, whose accent furniture was among the high-end manufacturers unveiling indoor/outdoor designs for the first time. Dealers’ order-writing response to Pride Sasser’s eclectic pieces proved he reached some sophisticated, discriminating designers and retail customers while making others sought more familiar shapes.
Extensions to Laneventure’s Summer Porch Collection, in WeatherMaster aluminum, received good reception as dealers entered its 8th floor showroom in the Commerce wing of the International Home Furnishings Center.
Whitecraft’s Circles Collection debuted and additions were made to its Nantucket Collection, crafted of wicker in a weathered gray finish, as well as its Woolrich Chatham Run group. Dealers seeking the manufacturer found its showroom relocated to the third floor IHFC Hamilton wing, near the Pavilions on 3, which featured temporary showcases of accessories and home accents in Soho style.
Making its debut in the U.S. home furnishings market, Seazons Outdoor gained notice with a sampling of its 22 outdoor collections, providing a choice of six weave colors and featuring Outdura fabrics, stainless steel feet and Dura-glas fiberglass top tables. For more than five years, the manufacturer has supplied furniture hand-woven in Cebu to residential and contract customers across Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Although it has supplied a high-end U.S. hotel and a dealer with casinos in Kansas City, the company now has opened its U.S. headquarters in Hickory, N.C., said Roger Buff, president, who brings experience from the indoor furniture segment.
BeachCraft Rattan, a division of Capris Furniture, showed off colorful fabrics from sources including Sunbrella, Outdura, Richloom and Rothschild as it introduced six outdoor collections — double the number from the fall High Point Market, when the Ocala, Fla.-based manufacturer entered the category. “We’ve picked up some additional dealers at this market; some of them were carrying outdoor, but some are new,” said Carl Alfrey, vice president of sales and marketing. “The response at this point has been very encouraging. We’re convinced the outdoors will be a viable category for us. It’s a natural extension of what we do.”
Kenian Imports expanded its bamboo and rattan designs, which paired well with Elaine Smith Pillows designs for outdoor and covered areas. The Virginia Beach, Va.-based company lined its colorful Adirondacks, made of Acacia hardwood with stainless steel hardware, outside the showroom entrance.
Ficks Reed also used bright colors on its Double Plunge chaise lounges at the front of its showroom in the Hamilton-Wrenn district. Veneman Collections’ new showroom, located next door, offered high-end style for outdoors and in.
www.sofasandsectionals.com commented:
Doug, as an internet retailer I can tell you that you have some justification in some of the comments above but you are also dead wrong on others. The fact that you think internet retailers are 'wiping out the middle class' is a little dramatic. The 'middle class' specialty retailers you speak of are getting online and building sites for themselves and capitalizing on the trend that has affected every single industry in this world and probably one of the greatest social events of all time - the growth of the internet for 'everything'. To also say that online retailers have no overheads is not true, the amount of money that is now required to brand and market oneself online is in most cases significantly more than you will ever pay to maintain a showroom. The internet is still young but evolves quickly and as the rest of the world joins the party, the competition has increased and winning is no more function of putting up a site and creating a few links. Those days are almost gone and now etailers have to spend huge sums building brand awareness and identity so that someone who has never seen them before can trust them to deliver a product that is put in front of them online at great expense. There is nothing wrong with marketing online retailers on this site (and I am not one of them btw) because many have earned the right to be here after working hard and spending large sums of money to get here.
As an internet retailer, we fight occasionally against our own kind but I have never seen an online discounter ever survive for long. They have all inevitably failed because they, just like you, need to make a profit to pay for the expenses of running a business which include a marketing expense that represents an equal or bigger portion of what your store cost does. The problem in this equation are the vendors that sell you their product and don't enforce some kind of pricing policy for online vendors. If everyone is forced to sell at a minimum selling price (or more) then it comes down to the quality of the service that is being offered - the way it should be - and fair competition. In every instance in my experience where we have been competing with a local store, our customers have said our knowledge of the product was far superior to the store. That is one of the key weapons you use to compete online.
Anyway, I think its time for you to get a web site up and join the movement.
Jay Shaft commented:
Doug Nelson commented:
