Casual furniture prices moving up
By Cinde W. Ingram -- Furniture Today, June 23, 2008
Increased costs for transportation, materials and labor, combined with currency pressures, forced some casual furniture manufacturers to impose midseason price increases in May. Other vendors held off, but many are wrestling with the same problems and expect to pass on their higher costs soon.
Hanamint became one of the first companies to announce its midseason price increase, although dealers soon faced 4% to 10% increases from a few other vendors, including Laneventure, Kettler, Mallin and Tropitone Furniture.
“It's extremely difficult and challenging for a retailer to implement a midseason price increase because the season is short and it comes across as being insensitive,” said Mike Echolds, CEO of Tropitone. “But the reality is, it was absolutely mandatory, and people are going to be shocked at the level of price increases that are going to be implemented this summer.
“Price is the story. There's no other story right now other than what's going on with inflation on commodities, raw materials and everything. It's really the last thing Tropitone wants to do, and we only do it if we absolutely have to, but this year as tough as it was it was the right thing to do.”
In his letter to dealers, Michael Sosnowski, national sales manager of Kettler International, explained record-level exchange rate differences between the Euro and the U.S. dollar.
“The increase in the exchange rate has been compounded by substantial increases in raw material costs,” he said.
Those cost increases make it tough for other manufacturers not to increase their prices.
“I've been tempted, but I've been able to hold off,” said Fred Ilse, president of Outdoor Lifestyle.
“We are getting price increases from our suppliers, but we're not doing a midseason price increase,” said Terri Lee Rogers, co-president of O.W. Lee, which makes its outdoor furniture in Ontario, Calif.
“If I get a price increase after I've set my prices, I know it makes me mad.”
