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April 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Financial Reports on April 23, 2010
Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) has declared a quarterly cash dividend on its common stock and approved a quarterly increase from $.18 to $.205 per share, or $.82 per share on an annualized basis.
The dividend of $.205 per share is payable May 21 to shareholders of record at the close of business May 7.
Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco currently operates 567 warehouses, including 414 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 77 in Canada, 21 in the United Kingdom, seven in Korea, six in Taiwan, nine in Japan, one in Australia and 32 in Mexico. The retailer plans to open an additional five to six new warehouses prior to the end of its 2010 fiscal year Aug. 29.
April 21,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Business Strategy on April 22, 2010
Private label goods helped retailers' gross margins even during the economic downturn, according to a new report from Miami, Fla.-based RSR Research.
The findings of the report, "Getting it Right the First Time: Designing and Delivering Merchandise that Sells," are based on a survey of 79 retailers in January and February 2010. The research was supported by Tradestone Software and Dassault Systemes. The report contains analysis of the business drivers, opportunities, and organizational constraints surrounding product lifecycle management and private label management, as well as recommendations for creating successful processes and controls.
"We were really surprised to find so much immature technology supporting a mature and significant part of the retail merchandise portfolio," said Paula Rosenblum, managing partner at RSR Research and co-author of the report. "Retailers still worry over inconsistent product quality and finding dependable partners, but less than half conduct post-production merchandise audits prior to release from the factory or measure those partners in any kind of consistent way."
"In the two years since we published our last PLM benchmark report, larger retailers in particular have ramped up collaboration with trading partners to bring new products to market," adds Brian Kilcourse, also a managing partner at RSR Research and co-author of the report. "Still, they have a long way to go in scaling their technologies and processes at the same rate they are growing their business. It's time for a holistic view supported by holistic systems."
The report, part of RSR Research's ongoing efforts to provide market intelligence on retail technology trends, can be downloaded here.
April 21,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Green on April 22, 2010
Amidst the flurry of environmentally-friendly Earth Day 2010 activities unfolding around the globe today, the Greenguard Environmental Institute, Atlanta, urged communities, families, and individuals to participate in activities that help protect their indoor environments, too.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, people spend an average of 85 percent to 90 percent of their time indoors, where the air is two to five times more polluted than the air outside. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are chemicals that can trigger asthma, cognitive delays, nosebleeds, nausea, developmental disorders, and even cancer, among other health problems, are a common source of indoor air pollution. VOCs emit from many of the products and materials found in indoor environments, including furniture, drywall, flooring, paints, mattresses, insulation, and electronic equipmentalmost anything that's human-made.
Greenguard's suggestions include:
* Opening windows for the day to improve ventilation in homes and offices. Tightly-sealed, energy-efficient buildings can trap VOCs and other pollutants inside.
* Taking a break from cleaning for the day (many cleaning products and solvents emit potentially toxic VOCs) or to use natural cleanser alternatives, such as vinegar and baking soda.
* Letting any new furniture or interior decor off-gas, or air out, somewhere outdoors for a few days before bringing it indoors.
* Replacing potentially high-emitting products with third-party certified low-emitting products. Visit www.greenguard.org for a free product listing.
"Certainly Earth Day should be about protecting the planet," says Henning Bloech, executive director of GEI. "The outdoor environment is extremely important. But when you get right down to it, the reason we're trying to protect the planet in the first place is because we're trying to protect the lives of the people who live on it. And that means focusing on human health."
The Greenguard Environmental Institute is an industry-independent, third-party, not-for-profit organization that aims to improve human health and quality of life through programs that reduce people's exposure to chemicals and other pollutants. The Greenguard certification programs certify products for low chemical emissions and provide consumers with a resource for choosing healthier products and materials for indoor environments.
April 21,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on April 22, 2010
A new study of 2,043 U.S. consumers with an average age of 45 revealed that 65 percent of the respondents were unhappy with the current comfort and support performance of their mattress, according to specialty sleep innovator Sleep Studio LLC and A-ha! Insights, which sponsored and conducted the research.
A surprising finding of the research, however, was that only 5 percent of the respondents were considering buying a new mattress, whereas 60 percent said they would more readily buy a mattress topper.
"We were surprised that 76 percent of the respondents were familiar with mattress toppers as a solution to their support and comfort challenges with their current mattresses," said Sleep Studio President and CEO Michael Rothbard. "With their aging parents on one side and their maturing children exerting pressure from the other, the last place baby boomers say they want discomfort in their lives is when they go to sleep at night."
Adding comfort and providing a better night's sleep were the two key motivators for the mattress topper decision, as reported by 38 percent of the respondents. Better back support was cited by 19 percent of those surveyed.
The most important product attributes for consumers for their mattress toppers were related to price, thickness, firmness and density. Of secondary importance were added features such as being hypo-allergenic, anti-microbial and the product being eco-friendly.
Sleep Studio markets its SleepJoy-branded ViscoFresh mattresses, pillows and toppers to leading retailers. The company commissioned the independent study to help it better understand why mattress topper sales in big box retailers was growing, yet weak in the furniture, department store and sleep shop segments of the industry.
"A key learning for us was that while a majority of consumers are not getting the support or comfort from their current mattress, they don't necessarily see the immediate solution being a new mattress, but rather they first want to look at an accessory purchase, like a topper, which they cannot find at a traditional bedding retailer," said Rothbard. "Yet, if you use basic norms of consumer product research, we think there is a topper market of probably 33 million consumers who would likely buy mattress topper today or tomorrow and the traditional bedding retailer is missing out on this market opportunity."
April 21,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on April 22, 2010
Select Comfort Corp. (NASDAQ: SCSS) reported a net income of of $7.8 million for the first quarter ended April 3, compared to a net loss of $2.7 million during the same quarter last year.
Net sales for the specialty bedding retailer totaled $158 million for the quarter, a 13 percent increase compared to $139.6 million during the same period last year.
"During the quarter, our solid execution resulted in improved performance, demonstrated by sustained same-store growth and strong operating margins," said Bill McLaughlin, president and CEO. "We took advantage of an improving consumer environment and positive in-market testing to increase media investments behind our proven value messaging. The result was sales growth across all company-owned channels."
McLaughlin said his outlook for the year has improved.
"While still cautious about macro-trends for the balance of the year, we anticipate an improved outlook for 2010 based on our continuing momentum, and consequently are increasing our earnings guidance," he said. "We will continue to incrementally invest against our brand and customer experience, which represent key initiatives for the year."
revolving credit agreement.
Looking forward, the company is increasing its previously announced guidance and now expects earnings per share in 2010 of between $0.45 and $0.50 per share. According to the company, the outlook assumes a continuation of recent sales trends, adjusted for normal seasonality, for the balance of 2010. The company expects to generate positive same-store growth throughout the year, although it anticipates that the rate of growth will slow as year-over-year comparisons become more difficult, specifically in the back half of the year.
Select Comfort closed out the first quarter of 2010 with 399 stores and expects to end fiscal 2010 with between 380 and 390 stores after the consolidation of planned store openings and closings. The company expects that 2010 capital expenditures will be approximately $15 million.
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