Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
July 2,
2007 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on July 2007
Katrina Janes has been named marketing and advertising manager for VyMaC Corp., a supplier of mattress kits and key raw materials to manufacturing and specialty bedding companies.
In her new role, Janes will provide brand-specific project support and adminstrative marketing support working with Dave Young, the company’s chief exectuive officer.
“We are very honored to have Katrina join the VyMaC team,” Young said. “Her duties as marketing and advertising manager will provide day-to-day leadership direction to all the advertising, communications, events and promotions in the attainment of VyMaC sales and market share goals.”
Prior to joining VyMaC Corp., Janes worked as the advertising and marketing manager for The Milton Courier newspaper in Wisconsin, overseeing advertising sales, design, newspaper layout, copy-editing and photography. She also had served as the marketing manager for Cost Cutters Family Hair Care.
July 1,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on July 2007
The American Furniture Hall of fame has opened nominations for new inductees. The nominating process will go through July 27, and new members will be announced and officially inducted at a gala banquet at the High Point Market on October 2.
“We are targeting leaders who have made notable contributions to the health and wealth of the American furniture industry,” said Hickory Springs President J. Don Coleman, who was recently named president of the AFHF.
Only members are eligible to participate in the nomination and voting process. To make a nomination, members should submit a biography of the nominee (500 words or less), along with a nomination form and a photo of the nominee. All nominations must be seconded in writing by another AFHF member. There is a one-time nomination fee of $500. Organization members will receive nomination forms in the mail or my request one by contacting the organization via email, info@furniturehalloffame.com .
July 1,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on July 2007
Retailers ordered 12 percent more merchandise from furniture manufacturers and distributors in April 2007 than the same prior-year month, but there’s no reason to get too excited, according to Furniture Insights, the monthly industry report from the High Point-based accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard.
While this year’s April numbers looks like great news, they compare to a 13 percent decrease last year when comparing April 2006 to April 2005, and Smith Leonard credited those swings to High Point Market dates: In 2006, the April market dates were April 27-May 3; and the 2007 April dates were March 26-April 1. It appears that April 2006 market orders were captured in May 2006 while the April 2007 market orders were recorded in April.
That led to a revision to some prior months’ numbers that were previously reported on the year-to-date orders and shipments. The first-quarter orders were down 7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2006. With April’s increase, new orders were off only 3 percent but Smith Leonard expects a decline in May if assumptions about market orders are correct.
Shipments in April were 4 percent lower than April 2006 continuing to reflect lower order rates. Shipments were 12 percent below March levels, a fairly normal number.
Year-to-date, after reflecting the revisions noted above, shipments were 7 percent lower than the first four months of 2006, which is fairly in line with the reduced orders through March.
Similar to last month’s report, shipments year-to-date were lower for 72 percent of the participants. Backlogs were 3 percent higher than last April and 1 percent higher than March 2007.
Receivables were 5 percent lower in April compared to April 2006 but were even with March levels even with the decline of shipments from March to April. April over April, shipments declined 4 percent.
Inventories were 9 percent lower in April 2007 versus April 2006, compared to 6 percent last month. Inventory levels dropped 1 percent from March. These levels seem to indicate that, at least at the manufacturer/distributor level, inventories remain in reasonably good shape.
Factory payrolls were 8 percent lower than April 2006 compared to an 11 percent decline in March compared to March 2006. The number of factory employees dropped 15 percent from April 2006 levels. The 15 percent decline was the same as the decline reported in March.
July 1,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on July 2007
The Western Home Furnishings Association and National Home Furnishings Association announced a new branding campaign last week for the Retail Resource Center at the World Market Center in Las Vegas.
The campaign, titled “The RRC is … Access, Educate, Connect,” is part of an effort to educate the industry about the mission of the RRC and the essential link between WHFA, NHFA, which sponsor the center, and the RRC.
The “access” aspect of the campaign refers to the more than 50 industry service providers in the 6,500-square-foot RCC. Those companies provide business support tools and advice from industry experts with a focus on improving retail operations and profitability.
On the “education” side, the RRC provides complimentary seminars focused on timely topics and trends designed to keep retailers on the cutting-edge of industry information.
Another RRC goal is to “connect” retailers to a community of value where ideas and information are freely exchanged. Industry themed events provide opportunities for face-to-face networking, providing in turn a connection with people, best done in person.
To meet growing demand, the RCC will have an additional 4,000-square-foot satellite location at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, the temporary exhibitors area at this summer’s Las Vegas market.
“‘The RRC is…Access, Educate, Connect’ is a simple expression that brings the connection between the RRC, WHFA and NHFA to light,” said Sharron Bradley, WHFA executive director. “Our mission for the RRC has always been to offer the same knowledge, people and resources for home furnishings retailers that the WHFA and NHFA are known for.”
For more information on the RRC, please contact Cindi Williams, director of events, at (800) 422-3778; or click
here for information online.
June 30,
2007 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Retail Technology on July 2007
No matter what report you read, e-Commerce sales are rapidly growing, including sales of home furnishings. And 2007 numbers promise to be even larger.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), 2006 e-Commerce retail sales were $114.2 billion, up from $87.8 billion the year before. Of that amount, Home Furnishings Business estimates $10.2 billion was spent on home furnishings, up 8.5 percent over 2005’s estimated sales of $9.4 billion.
For the first quarter of 2007, the DOC estimates retail e-Commerce sales, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $31.5 billion, up 18.4 percent over first quarter 2006 sales. That compares to an estimated increase of 3.2 percent for all retail sales.
Market research firm Forrester Research, in its study
The State of Retailing Online 2007, projects online sales, including travel, will reach $259.1 billion in 2007, up 18 percent over 2006 sales of $219.9 billion.
According to the Forrester survey of 170 retailers, for the first time in history, consumers spent more on apparel, accessories and footwear in 2006 than they did for computer hardware and software. 2006 clothing, accessory and footwear sales were $18.3 billion, compared to $17.2 billion for computer products. Forrester projects online sales of clothing to reach 10 percent of all clothing sales this year.
Sales of autos and auto parts were next in line, with sales of $16.7 billion, followed by home furnishings at $10 billion.
“As consumers flood the Web to purchase merchandise and research projects, online retail is moving full speed ahead,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research senior analyst and lead author of the report. “This strong growth is an indicator that online retail is years away from reaching a point of saturation.”
As yet, online sales of home furnishings represent only a tiny portion of total U.S. sales of the category. In 2006, the DOC reported home furnishings sales of $404.6 billion, up 7.3 percent over sales of $377.2 billion in 2005. Figures from the DOC include home furnishings products excluded from Forrester’s home furnishings category, such as consumer electronics.
Why are online apparel retailers at the forefront?
“Apparel retailers have overcome a number of hurdles to encourage shoppers to buy clothing and accessories online,” according to Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, the network for retailers online. “Retailers are doing such a great job online that in some cases it’s easier to find and buy clothing on the Web than it is in a store.”
According to the Forrester report, many apparel and accessory retailers are integrating new technologies onto their sites, including rich imaging, where customers can zoom and rotate merchandise or see the item in different colors before buying, all of which eases the mind of a customer who is hesitant to purchase apparel online.
Would such tactics work for the home furnishings retailer? Maybe. It’s a simple fact that it’s easier to package and return a blouse that was the “wrong blue” than it is to return a sofa or dining table. The complexities of delivering large items are vastly different than arranging for a vendor to drop ship shoes or even a lamp.
The Forrester study indicates that e-Commerce is coming of age, as profitability throughout the sector has stabilized. According to the report, 83 percent of respondents to the survey were profitable, with 78 percent reporting they were more profitable than in 2005. Apparently gone are a lot of the “e-tailers” of the late ‘90s who based their success on the number of site visitors rather than making money.