La-Z-Boy Europe gears up with filled out product line
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, February 10, 2003
Cologne, Germany — Buyers at the furniture market here last month got their first look at the full product lineup of La-Z-Boy Europe, a joint venture of La-Z-Boy and Germany-based Steinhoff Group.
The new "Americanized" Comfort line joins the company's existing European Motion line and the style-intensive Active line.
"Our initial product selection, which we began shipping in June, is only a year old, and when the Cologne market was over we had more than 100 dealer partners signed up in our target markets," said Tom Zollar, one of La-Z-Boy Europe's managing directors.
"At the January market, we completed the line from a selection point of view," he said.
"These products build the line to where we need it to be."
The three new recliners in the Comfort line take a European approach to function, emphasizing power motion capability and sophisticated mechanisms, but with American attributes adapted to Europe.
"The American-leaning pieces are a little larger, a little plusher, but Europeanized," Zollar said. "Three firmness levels are available, also with a power footrest. This takes a chair that may not be acceptable to a lot of European consumers because of the handle mechanism and adds power."
The Motion line employs sleek styling for the European market. The Active line has higher style in very clean forms.
"We're focusing on innovation in styling and function," Zollar said. "You can find that niche pretty quickly; occupying that niche takes time."
The line incorporates function and/or mechanisms in all pieces, including motion upholstery items. Sofas in the Active line, for example, have pullout ottomans, and the chairs have swivel bases.
La-Z-Boy and Steinhoff have equal stakes in La-Z-Boy Europe, and Steinhoff's Ralph Rengshausen serves with Zollar as a managing director. The joint venture, launched in late 2001, has the market knowledge and manufacturing and distribution infrastructure needed to succeed in Europe, Zollar said.
Steinhoff manufactures in more than 90 plants employing 21,000 people around the world. The company includes Steinhoff Pacific, a joint venture with Freedom Group Ltd., Australia's largest furniture manufacturer; Peach & Hatton, a large furniture maker in South Africa; and The Reylon Group, a large United Kingdom bed manufacturer.
In addition to South African licenses for Sealy and Therapedic bedding, Steinhoff owns several bedding component suppliers in Africa and Europe.
"If you're going to be a player in Europe, you have to have a presence there on the marketing and sales side, and the manufacturing side," Zollar said. "You have to make product for that market. You must be a real player, not a remote player, and contribute to their economy and their employment."
He said La-Z-Boy was a known brand in Europe but had no identifiable attributes, and the alliance with Steinhoff has linked the La-Z-Boy name to European pricing, product and marketing strategies.
In the United States, La-Z-Boy focuses on middle price points, also offering upper-middle and lower-upper product. La-Z-Boy Europe, while hitting those same price points, gets into more premium pricing.
In the States, La-Z-Boy's core retail price points for recliners range from $400 to $600. La-Z-Boy Europe focuses on $750 to $1,000 for fabric recliners. Motors add another $130 to $150, and leather another $500.
"The premium market in Europe for recliners is much larger than in the United States," Zollar said. "Leather plays a huge, huge part, as well as better microfibers. There's not as much demand for velvets and cheaper dobbies."
He said 80% of high-end recliners in Europe are power-activated. Also, Europeans tend to have a higher sense of style and function, Zollar said, and the super-plush seating in American recliners is hard to find. "The styling has evolved here to slicker, off-the-floor styling that necessitates a smaller seat cushion," he said.
In marketing, the La-Z-Boy name itself posed issues, especially in countries like Germany or Switzerland that prize industriousness.
"Pronunciation of our name was an issue, so we took out the hyphens in our materials and signage," Zollar said.
"We had to identify to the market here the positive attributes of 'lazy' — how a lazy feeling is a relaxing feeling."
La-Z-Boy Europe came up with slogan that addressed Europeans' love of wordplay and propensity for tag lines in English — "Every Body's Darling."
"Here, 'darling' doesn't carry the personal connotation it does in the States," Zollar said. "It's a very strong way of saying 'it's my favorite' about any number of things."
Zollar declined to give a target volume figure for La-Z-Boy Europe, citing reluctance among European manufacturers to discuss sales numbers.
"We want to be a major player within five years and a dominant player within 10," he said.
