Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
Heading Home
November 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in on November 23, 2010
For years, many U.S. consumers have said they want to buy U.S.-made goods, but voted with their pocketbooks for imports in most cases, especially where price was an issue.
Thats changing according to some retailers. Chris McCall, furniture buyer and a partner in Carthage, Tenn.-based retailer D.T. McCall & Sons, said his customers are targeting domestic goods for their purchases.
In the last year, year-and-a-half, made in America has come to be on the forefront of our consumers minds, he said. With what they see in the economy and a shrinking U.S. manufacturing base, they dont even mind spending a little more if its higher quality and made at home. In the next couple of years that will change even more. When you get out of that price-point-only consumer, 99 percent (of our shoppers) want an American product if they can get it.
As a retailer, McCall noted that his container freight cost has risen from $3,800 to $5,600.
In China, theyve created something of a middle class, and thats driven some prices up, he said. ... If China shifts its monetary policy well see even more movement.
Some of thats going to places such as Vietnam, but McCall believes the trend could make American manufacturing stronger: And as a retailer, the logistics are a lot easier.
D.T. McCall & Sons was among a number of retailers who asked Vaughan-Bassett for more help at the point-of-sale in promoting domestic goods. The Galax, Va., case goods manufacturer introduced such a Made in the U.S.A. gallery program and signage at the October High Point Market.
This is a fast-growing trend in the marketplace and may be partially related to the recession and the fact that everyone wants to see job growth in the United States, said Vaughan-Bassett Executive Vice President and COO Doug Bassett in announcing the program.
McCall thinks other vendors might place more of an emphasis on their domestic efforts.
I see a little bit of that with some of the higher-end companiesThomasville built a couple of groups in America in the past year and a half, he said. Vaughan-Bassett has set the bar for a lot of furniture companies to follow suit.
CCI, Furniture Index Compared
Year-to-Date Comparison: Consumer Confidence Index, Furniture Buying Index
The Conference Boards Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. For the Furniture Buying Index, in a typical month, 80 percent of the 5,000 to 8,000 consumers interviewed can name a specific furniture item they intend to buy. The Indexs mark signifies what percent of the benchmark 80 percent actually have a particular item in mind.
Month CCI FBI
January 56.5 62
February 46.4 65
March 52.3 67
April 57.7 69
May 62.7 70
June 54.3 72
July 51 70
August 53.2 67
September 48.6 70
October 50.2 70
Sources: The Conference Board, Americas Research Group