Casually Speaking
Cinde W. Ingram: Casually Speaking
Hi, this is Cinde W. Ingram and I'm the Editor in Chief of Casual Living and Garden Decor. Each week I hope to use this blog space to stay in touch with our readers. I want to know what you think about new products, markets, the retail climate and, most of all, Casual Living. Let me know what's going on. Check out my latest below.
How's the weather?
Unseasonably warm weather combined with an earlier Easter holiday to encourage many U.S. shoppers to consider their outdoor areas sooner than usual this spring.The warming trend contributed to a solid sales growth pattern, the National Retail Association reported last month. Consumers were holding their own against rising gas prices and other economic concerns, according to Matthew Shay, NRF presi... Read More
Comments (2)International views
Remember the classic movie Casablanca? It played through my mind several times last month in China as I became fast friends with Eileen Keithly Lee. And our experience is a good example of what can happen when conditions are right for mutually beneficial success. Eileen, president and managing director of Pittsburgh-based US Trading Solutions, was also a speaker at the fifth annual Outdoor Life... Read More
Comments (3)Family Ties
As I've been writing feature stories that involve family-owned businesses, I'm thinking of how widespread such company structures are in the outdoor home furnishings and barbecue grill industries. Family ties strengthen both vendors and retailers.For example, Napoleon Fireplaces & Stoves started in 1979 after one couple was able to develop and sell a better wood stove during an oil crisis. Wolfgan... Read More
Comments (6)Rebound with confidence
You may remember Oprah Winfrey's witty quote about each new year bringing just "another chance to get it right."While new years and new seasons are seen as fresh starts by some folks, others focus only on failures of the past year. Whatever your perspective on the first few weeks of 2012, glimmers of hope streamed from early winter home furnishings markets as well as retailer association... Read More
Comments (2)Going Beyond the Stuff
With the holidays behind us, everyone is figuring out how to merge all their new stuff into existing living spaces. Cramming clothes and other gift items into already overfilled closets is just another dilemma for consumers who received well-intentioned but unneeded stuff.Just how much consumers need no-nonsense personal advice when remodeling and decorating their homes became obvious to Maxwell G... Read More
Comments (0)To Market, To Market
Many of the retailers reading this are putting the wraps on holiday sales and looking ahead toward the winter show season. The winter shows also hold the attention of a segment of manufacturers, designers, sales reps and others within the industry. I know it feels like we've just finished with the whirlwind of fall markets, which were relatively strong for the majority of home furnishings manufact... Read More
Comments (5)Prepare for a bright future
Americans will live in smaller homes with fewer rooms and larger outdoor living areas, according to the new "Vision for the Future" survey from the International Home Furnishings and Design Association.Over the next decade, some of the rooms in Americans homes will gain prominence while others become less relevant to the way families live, IFDA's nearly 2,000 members agreed. Multi-purpos... Read More
Comments (7)Updated spending forecasts
The casual furniture industry represents only a fraction of the overall home furnishings market, but the niche often is like an upstart child with a mind of its own. It wants to stay outside when told to come out of the rain.Furniture industry analyst Jerry Epperson had expected 2011 to be a little healthier than it has turned out to be. His new forecast calls for a 2.9% increase in U.S. consumer... Read More
Comments (3)Industry Checkup
In preparation for our September issue, the International Casual Furnishings Association's executive committee and director took time to reflect on the industry's health going into the crucial Casual Market in Chicago. They shared their perspectives with me and with you, via a feature in this issue.Each of these industry veterans had already experienced the Preview Show in July and had witnessed t... Read More
Comments (2)Pricing trending Up as Casual Market approaches
We're drawing toward the end of an amazing season, marked at its start by a record number of tornadoes and at its sizzling finale with excessive heat in some parts of the country and flooding in others. Despite challenges from the weather and an excruciatingly slow economic recovery, the retailers I spoke with at the Preview Show in Chicago were able to smile as they said their season had been goo... Read More
Comments (6)Charting in the center
Business doesn't always follow politics or vice versa, but the economy plays an integral role in both. It was interesting to note last month when President Obama laid down a foreign policy marker with an eye on domestic politics.Obama drew criticisms from right and left when he announced plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan - 10,000 this year and 23,000 more next year - which would bring... Read More
Comments (6)Winning displays -- Colorful, playful and fun
When I called Ashleigh Kosin to let her know our judges had selected Bell Tower Outdoor Living Company as our Merchandising Awards' Best First-Time Entry, she said her store has been "crazy busy" since the weather turned.I later talked with a sales rep who calls on the Southwest Michigan store that Kosin and her husband Jack opened in 2008. "They've got a lot going on in that store,... Read More
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