Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
December 3,
2008 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Markets on December 2008
Cherie Marcum has been named vice president of finance for the Dallas Market Center.
The promotion comes after a year of overseeing the market center’s finance department as a financial controller.
“Cherie did an exceptional job as controller for the Dallas Market Center,” said Lee Taitel, executive vice president and CFO of Dallas Market Center. “I know she’ll continue to be a strong mentor and key leader as part of our management team.”
Marcum has 14 years of experience in finance, starting as a staff auditor at Deloitte & Touche in Dallas. Before joining the Dallas Market Center, Marcum was a manager and controller at Carreker Corp. for more than seven years. There she gained management experience by supervising all accounting functions and assisting in the company’s strategic planning. She has also worked in the finance departments of Internet America, Northern Telecom and Citizens Communications.
In her new position as vice president of finance, Marcum will oversee monthly financial closing processes, process annual company budgets, and complete yearly financial audits for Dallas Market Center.
December 2,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 2008
If there are any positives to be found in the current economic slump, it’s that Las Vegas has become more affordable, and the World Market Center issued an announcement Tuesday urging attendees to book early for the Feb. 9–13 event to lock in the best rates.
Room rates range from $65 per night (Sahara Hotel) to $299 (Encore at Wynn) at 24 Las Vegas Market hotels that are served by the event’s M-Line Shuttle Service. Other properties with rates below $100 include Excalibur at $75 and Monte Carlo at $99. The rates don’t include taxes and fees. At the event’s Web site,
www.lasvegasmarket.com, Market-goers can book rooms with no minimum stay requirements. All of the hotels require a one-night deposit.
“The difficult business conditions our industry faces are being shared by those in the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors, which has led to extremely competitive pricing throughout this destination city,” said World Market Center President and CEO Bob Maricich. “February 2009 Las Vegas Market presents a unique opportunity to maximize productivity while minimizing business expenses.”
World Market Center partners also offering special rates include American Airlines, Air Canada, West Jet Airlines, Budget Rental Cars and Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Those pre-registering before Jan. 16 will receive badges in the mail and won’t need to wait in registration lines at the event.
December 2,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 2008
Sears Holdings, the nation’s largest department store chain, posted a lost of $146 million its in its third quarter on declines in its appliance, home furnishings and apparel segments. The company earned $4 million in the year-ago quarter.
Sales fell 8.3 percent to $10.7 billion at the retailer that also includes Kmart. Comparable-store sales were down 9 percent. The company has ceased issuing an earnings forecast and said the third-quarter results include a charge of $101 million related to the closing of 14 stores and other costs.
“We believe we have positioned ourselves well for a difficult holiday shopping season,” said Bruce Johnson, Sears Holdings’ interim chief executive officer and president. “We have reduced our inventory levels, cut expenses, and announced the closing of select underperforming stores as part of our ongoing review. We are offering differentiated solutions for our customers to help them meet their holiday needs, through programs like our successful layaway program at Kmart, which we have recently expanded to Sears.”
December 2,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on December 2008
New orders from furniture retailers fell 12 percent in September compared with the same month last year, while factory shipments dropped 14 percent for the same time frame. Through 2008’s first three quarters, both new orders and shipments stood at 10 percent below nine-month levels last year.
That’s according to the latest Furniture Insights survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors from the High Point accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard.
On a brighter note, orders were 15 percent higher than August 2008 orders, although an August-to-September bump is normal; and September was the fourth straight month that orders decreased by double digits compared to the same month a year ago.
Similarly, September shipments rose 3 percent compared with August, but it was fourth out of the last five months where shipments were below the prior year’s same month by 10 percent or more.
Backlogs improved 3 percent over August as orders exceeded shipments. Backlogs were 15 percent below September 2007, down slightly from the August year over year decline of 16 percent.
Receivable levels were 11 percent lower in September 2008 compared to September 2007. With shipments down 14 percent, the 11 percent decline was a bit out of line.
On the other hand, receivables were down 2 percent in September versus August in spite of a 3 percent increase in shipments.
“Overall, while we know everyone is concerned over retailer credit, it appears that we were not off too far in September,” Smith Leonard Managing Partner Ken Smith wrote in the survey report. “We are concerned that October results may not be as good.”
Inventories were even with August levels and down 4 percent from last year, results consistent with the August comparisons.
“So while these results are somewhat out of line with orders and shipments, it appears that we are not, as a whole, building inventories,” Smith wrote.
The number of factory employees was flat in September compared to August, when they were 3 percent lower than July. The number of employees was down 13 percent compared to September a year ago, the same as reported for August. September 2007 numbers were off 10 percent from September 2006.
Factory payrolls were up 4 percent over August. These payrolls were down 17 percent compared to September a year ago. With the number of employees down 13 percent, the differential appears to reflect some short-time being worked by the employees. Year-to-date, these payrolls remained 12 percent below a year ago. In 2007, the payrolls for the first nine months were off 8 percent compared to the same period in 2006.
“The results for August were not unexpected based on what we heard in late summer from various sources,” Smith wrote. “Unfortunately, we do not expect very much improvement for the rest of the year. As we noted in the reports on consumer confidence, there are many things on consumers’ minds these days, and buying articles they really do not have to buy is not really one of those things.”
Smith did note that the decline in existing-home sales appears to have leveled off in the last two months.
“Certain areas of the country seem to be showing some signs of life,” he wrote. “If the government can ever figure out how to deal with the mortgage crisis and calm those waters down, we think housing may eventually bottom out. Unfortunately, most of what we hear on the news is bad. It does appear the Black Friday was much better than expected, even considering low expectations. The question is how much did the retailers give up in profits in order to get the sales.”
Smith said the industry needs to keep in mind the fact that furniture is still being sold.
“People are getting married and moving to new homes and people are still having babies that need new furniture,” he wrote. “Kids are growing out of cribs and kids are graduating from schools and moving out from home. Even if Mom and Dad give them the old furniture, Mom and Dad have to replace the old stuff.”
December 2,
2008 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on December 2008
America’s Research Group Founder and CEO Britt Beemer announced Wednesday that he’s predicting the Christmas 2008 retail season to generate 3.5 percent less sales than last year after forecasting a 1 percent drop in mid-November.
Beemer based the revised forecast on disappointing data from the third America’s Research Group/UBS Christmas 2008 Survey conducted over the past weekend and the fact that fewer consumers will give gift cards this year, a finding from survey number two.
“When you look at the numbers, you see that over the weekend consumers were frugal and focused, staying within their budgets and concentrating on the deals and advertised specials,” Beemer said. “Add to that the finding that some consumers will give cash or nothing at all instead of gift cards this year makes me very pessimistic.”
Of those consumers who planned to shop over the weekend, 37 percent shopped on Friday and another 37 percent did not shop at all, the highest numbers in over 10 years. Almost one fifth (19.4 percent) shopped at only one store this year, the highest number since 2001 when 23.5 percent shopped at only one store.
Seventy percent (70.2 percent) of consumers said that they stayed within their budgets, an indicator of this year’s disciplined shopper. In addition, 88.1 percent bought items they had seen advertised. Both figures are a nine-year high. Also, 88.1 percent of consumers shopped at one of the “early bird” specials on Black Friday, a number surpassed only in 2005, when 91.3 percent hit the specials.
Of those consumers who normally give gift cards but won’t this year, 64.4 percent will give money instead. Only 35.6 percent said they would give gifts instead, dashing retailers’ expectations that fewer gift cards could boost gift sales. Of those consumers who will give fewer gift cards, more than a third (36.4 percent) say that there is a chance they could give nothing at all. These are data from the second America’s Research Group/UBS Christmas 2008 survey released Nov. 20.
Another ominous sign for retail traffic during December is that almost twenty percent (19.1 percent) of shoppers say they have finished 90 percent or more of their shopping this year, compared to 13.6 percent last year; and 63.1 percent said that they would finish their shopping in three days or less.
Consumers seem to be shopping less online if they can’t find an item in the store. When asked if they went online because they could not find an item in the store, only 12.3 percent said “yes,” a nine-year low.
The one winner this Christmas appears to be Wal-Mart, where 61.3 percent of consumers shopped for gifts versus 59.3 percent last year. In addition, 78.3 percent of those shoppers who did not go to Wal-Mart this weekend said they expected to shop there this Christmas season.
The America’s Research Group/UBS 2008 Christmas Survey, consisted of 809 telephone interviews from a pool of 849 consumers who said in previous surveys that they intended to shop over Thanksgiving Weekend. It was conducted Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 28–30, at America’s Research Group headquarters in Charleston, S.C.