Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
November 25,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2007
Black Friday weekend, the days after Thanksgiving and the traditional opening of the Christmas Holiday spending season, held some good news for furniture retailers, according to numbers released by the National Retail Federation.
According to NRF’s survey with BIGresearch, 19.6 percent of shoppers purchased “home decor or home-related furnishings,” compared to 17.4 percent last year. That’s still down from the 21.1 percent figure in 2005.
Overall traffic was up 4.8 percent compared to Black Friday 2006, but sales were down 3.5 percent. NRF still projects holiday sales to increase 4 percent in 2007 to $474.5 billion.
Interestingly, men outspent women this past weekend, with men averaging purchases of $393.63 compared to $303.95 for women. Clothing or clothing accessories (46.8 percent of shoppers), were the most popular categories, followed by books, CDs, DVDs, videos or video games (41.7 percent); consumer electronics (35.7 percent); toys (28.2 percent); and gift cards (21 percent).
Today’s shopping activity on the Internet, the so-called “CyberMonday,” should be of interest. Research house comScore predicts today’s online spending will exceed $700 million, which would make give it the most one-day sales in e-commerce history.
November 20,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Retail Technology on November 2007
Retail automation vendor Storis Management Systems, Mt. Arlington, N.J., has released an an enhanced version of its InTouch customer relationship management (CRM) product. InTouch uses an advanced centralized information center, which systematically tracks sales activity, to offer insight into customer purchasing habits in real time, and generates and archives reports to maintain an advanced scope of customer activity.
InTouch enhancements include several new integrated features, including sales lead creation and update based on service work order activity. Storis’ Vision R8 system can automatically add lead follow up assignments to related, completed service orders and allow the user to enter a service work order directly from the sales lead entry process, which facilitates service team follow up with customers for feedback on the level of service they received, or follow up on potential add-on sales related to extended warranties that will be expiring.
Additionally, direct integration into the Customer Shopping Cart feature allows sales and design representatives to follow up with consumers who have created shopping carts via your integrated eSTORIS virtual store Web site. A mouse click automatically generates a quote for the customer which can be em-ailed, faxed, or printed.
November 20,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2007
Wickes Furniture, Wheeling, Ill., announced Wednesday the opening of its 43rd store. The 40,000-square-foot location in Bolingbrook, Ill., is the company’s 19th location in the Chicago area.
A grand opening celebration Dec. 1-2 at the Bolingbrook store includes autograph signings by former Chicago Bears players, drawings for tickets to Bears home games, furniture giveaways and free hamburgers. The showroom features room group collections devoted to casual, contemporary, traditional and country styles, as well as vignettes devoted to the company’s new Urban Innovations collection.
“We’re proud to open our newest Chicago area showroom, where we’ll be introducing Urban Innovations by Wickes - a line of beautiful and functional furniture for smaller spaces such as condos, townhouses and apartments,” said John Disa, Wickes Furniture president and CEO.
Earlier this month, Wickes, a Sun Capital Investment company, opened a 40,000-square-foot showroom in Henderson, Nev., that is its second store in the Las Vegas area.
November 20,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2007
Jennifer Convertibles, the largest specialty chain devoted to sofa beds, announced Tuesday that sales in its fourth quarter increased 3.9 percent to $37.5 million. The Woodbury, N.Y., company generated net income of $1.74 million versus $1.57 million in the same period last year.
During the company’s fiscal year, revenue decreased 2.2 percent to $136.6 million and net income totaled $3.97 million, down from $5.22 million.
“Our industry has been under extreme pressure for some time, which has impacted our comparable store sales numbers,” said CEO Harley Greenfield. “Despite this downturn in the industry we have been able to maintain our profitability due to cost cutting, supply chain management and adjusting our merchandising and advertising strategies.”
He said the company is optimistic about the coming year due, in part, to its opening of a 40,000-square-foot Ashley HomeStore in mid-June. He said the Ashley store will generate as much volume as 10 to 15 Jennifer stores, and, as a result, the company expects to open one and possible more Ashley locations in the coming year.
“These stores will add substantial revenue and increase profitability to our existing strong Jennifer model,” he said.
November 19,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on November 2007
West Elm, a 27-store subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma, has partnered with one of the largest real estate developers in Washington, D.C., to provide design consultation and furniture to a new high-end residential building, Midtown Alexandria.
The design services agreement for residents of the 368-unit high-rise condominium tower is one of a number of strategic alliances for the developer, Kettler, which also features GE Profile appliances in the building.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with (West Elm), a brand known for sophisticated décor and furnishings,” said Jamie Gorski, Kettler’s chief marketing officer. “In addition to being one of the nation’s most successful furniture companies, West Elm gives our residents the opportunity to create a completely unique environment that suits their tastes and lifestyle.”
West Elm, which recently opened a new store in Washington, D.C., also sells through catalogs and its
http://www.westelm.com Web site.