Ready-to-sell merchants fill big niche
Tom Edmonds, Contributing editor -- Furniture Today, February 16, 2004
Ready-to-sell. That's the name of this new section in Furniture/Today, and we hope the name describes a certain segment of the home furnishings industry where style, value and logistics are all equally essential.
Ready-to-sell is a phrase that deliberately resonates like ready-to-assemble, and while we intend to give the RTA makers and merchants plenty of attention here, we also plan to talk about other segments of home furnishings that have developed new twists in product design and merchandising, ideas that make home furnishings an easier sell for both the retailer and the consumer.
One of the classic challenges for the home furnishings industry has been the lag time between the time when consumers identify that they want a product and when they actually receive it. However, on the ready-to-sell side of the business, cutting schedules and custom orders are rarely an issue. And rarely does a week go by between the time of purchase and delivery – usually, they occur on the same day.
Success in ready-to-sell frequently revolves around huge unit volumes and instant B2B communications, but it also requires sharp values and styles. After all, ready-to-sell home furnishings often have to justify their display space against the performance of neighboring product categories, including computers, entertainment electronics, apparel and even groceries.
Emerging from a difficult three-year stretch, the ready-to-sell home furnishings category is percolating with new ideas, which is a major reason why we have developed this new section. Producers are exploring fresh ways to meet consumer needs, including new types of furniture for the kitchen and garage. Helping to drive this innovation is the fact that the various distribution channels that handle ready-to-sell home furnishings are constantly looking for something creative to tickle consumers' fancy.
Ready-to-sell is a dynamic category right now, and we hope we manage to capture some of that excitement in this new section.
