Retail uptick boosts premarket mood
By Jeff Linville -- Furniture Today, September 22, 2003
High Point — Thanks to strong sales over the past month, retailers brought upbeat attitudes to premarket last week.
At Palliser, all the major accounts visited by Monday afternoon, said Peter Tielmann, senior vice president of marketing and business development. He was pleased with dealer response to the new products.
Dave Shock, Cramco's national sales manager, said he didn't see anyone in a downbeat mood, and did great business for a premarket.
Lexington Home Brands had a full schedule of buyers for premarket and also had a lot of drop-in visits, said Bob Stec, president and chief executive officer.
"We were pleased," said Randy Chrisley, Universal senior vice president of sales and marketing. The company had most of its product on display and only a few sketches, trying to make the week more like market, he said. Universal thus received commitments and new placements, he said.
At Bernhardt, retailers helped shape upcoming collections, as usual. The new goods are a bit off the beaten path, so the company wanted lots of feedback, said Rountree Collett, chief financial officer and executive vice president of residential case goods.
Bernhardt showed a dining table base with three different round tops and an accent table with two bases. Based on retailer reaction, the producer will decide which options to pick for market.
"When they are helping tweak it, they are engaged," Collett said.
In many showrooms, slow spring sales were a distant memory as manufacturers anticipate a positive High Point market and good business through the end of the year. Doug Bassett, vice president of sales at Vaughan-Bassett, said sales began to pick up in the summer. The company has been doing well over the past two months, especially since mid-August.
"Universally, business has improved since Labor Day," said Keith Feuerhaken, vice president of sales at Flexsteel. "It was a great time for retail, and that's what we were waiting for."
Low interest rates and new housing starts had to mean more sales at some point, and this could be the turning point, said Shock at Cramco. His business has held steady this year, and the recent upturn has put the company ahead of last year.
The Powell Co. came into premarket on a high note, fresh off record sales at the Tupelo market a month earlier. Sean Slack, executive vice president of merchandising and marketing, said Powell is up about 30% from the 2002 pace.
A few years ago, he said, Powell did about 70% of its business with mass merchants and catalogs. and 30% with furniture stores. Now, the mix has shifted to 65% furniture stores.
This was the first premarket for La-Z-Boy since a restructuring combined some aspects of the American Drew and Lea Inds. divisions. The two adjacent showrooms now are connected and, at the October market, they will have a central reception desk.
Business was good for American Drew for about three weeks before premarket, said President Jack Richardson. Lea's sales have been brisk for about a month and a half, he added.
The two divisions used to have 66 sales territories between them, and some of their sales representatives were showing lines by other companies, said Richardson. Now there are 33 territories, and the reps carry only the two lines.
| Acknowledgements | ||
| Senior Editor Gary Evans and Associate Editor Tom Russell contributed to this story. | ||
