Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
June 28,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on June 29, 2012
John Gunter has joined the High Point Market Authority board of directors.
Gunter, president and CEO of Home Comfort Furniture & Mattress, based in Raleigh, N.C., represents the retail community on the board.
He is the founder of Home Comfort, a member of the buying group Furniture Marketing Group that has four locations and a distribution center in the Triangle area. Gunter comes from a furniture background: His father Gene Gunter retired as the president of Broyhill Furniture after a 20-year career at that company.
John Gunter graduated from Furman University in Greenville, S.C., and is married with one daughter.
June 28,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on June 29, 2012
High Point Furniture Market and Trade Only Design Library have created the High Point Market Residential Library.
This unique online database has interactive and branding capabilities to connect home furnishings industry insiders. All exhibitors at the Oct. 13-18 High Point Furniture Market will be included in the High Point Residential Library.
The trade-only home resource will be accessible to all High Point Market registrants, exhibitors, and media, providing access the industrys only product-level specification database.
The new partnership with TODL is yet another way that the High Point Market connects exhibitors with buyers and interior designers, said Cheminne Taylor-Smith, vice president of marketing for the High Point Market Authority. We are very excited to work with TODL to provide opportunities for Market exhibitors to create new relationships, maintain existing clients, and to grow their brands.
TODL is the design industrys largest product research and specification library online or in print, and is accessible only by trade professionals. As a source of detailed trade information, TODL requires fewer calls and clicks to get the specification information interior designers and retail purchasers need to make decisions quickly.
All High Point Market exhibitors will receive a free Interactive Brochure in the Library specifically designed to facilitate 24/7 interaction and commerce with existing TODL members and High Point Market registrants. The brochures include company description, logo, Web site, showroom location, product and installation images, and will be branded with a High Point Market badge to distinguish them in relevant searches.
In addition to providing exhibitors with enhanced visibility within the High Point Residential Library, the site can also be used to create interactive product brochures and to connect with TODLs 65,000-plus design trade members.
A High Point Market branded section will showcase every exhibitor and their showroom location, and every members Your Studio login landing page will feature the Markets tab leading members directly to the section. Display ads that promote High Point Market will directly link to the branded section and to Markets online registration.
Joining forces with High Point Market allows us to create an all-encompassing experience both during the show and after, said Stacey Tiveron, TODL founder. Attendees can take their in-person experience one step further by utilizing TODLs ability to provide resources for any stage of the design processplanning, execution, and beyond. The relationship between manufacturer and designer grows exponentially, while at the same time becoming increasingly simple and convenient.
June 28,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on June 29, 2012
Online press-kit service Voila has extended its reach to include Las Vegas Furniture Market exhibitors.
At voilapresskits.com, exhibitors can order trade show press kits, download new product images, and pay with a credit card, all for a seamless service that includes express delivery of press kits to the Vegas Market media center.
Leslie Newby and Carla Math-Sprinkles, who launched Voila at Spring High Point Furniture Market seek to help streamline market preparations for exhibitors. They designed the new service to make it easy, convenient, and affordable for manufacturers to have press kits that can lead to editorial exposure for new products.
We know that exhibitors are always running down to the wire in their trade show preparations, said Newby, who owns Brand Communications Inc. With 24/7 access to the Voila website, press kit orders can be placed in any half-hour window, up to the last week before show time.
During our spring launch, we had a long-time High Point exhibitor tell us that preparing his press kit was never easier, said Mata-Sprinkles, principal of Creative Communication Services. He had everything uploaded in 30 minutes and then only had to approve the proof via email. We take care of everything else, including delivery to the media center.
To meet the Las Vegas Market media center deadline for press kit delivery this summer, Voila will accept online orders for basic press kits through noon PST, Monday, July 23. All kits will be delivered to the media center by the deadline of Friday, July 27. For press kits needed in between tradeshows, orders will be accepted at any time.
Exhibitors may register at the Web site to place orders and to learn more about pricing and optional services.
Newby and Mata-Sprinkles intend to expand to other trade shows, beginning with the Vegas Markets July trade show. Newby and Mata-Sprinkles recommend that exhibitors order press kits for every trade show or as often as new products are introduced.
June 28,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in economic news on June 29, 2012
New orders for furniture fell 13 percent in April compared with April 2011, according to the latest Furniture Insights survey.
Orders dropped 24 percent from March levels. High Point accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard conducts the monthly survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors. Year-to-date orders are now just 3 percent ahead of last year at this point, versus 8 percent reported through March.
Smith Leonard Managing Partner Ken Smith attributed April's decrease in orders to at least two factors.
"The first and likely largest was the timing of High Point Market dates," he said. "In 2011, the Market dates were April 2 through April 7. This year the dates were April 21 through April 26th. So last years April results likely included at least some orders written after Market, while this years would likely include mostly orders only written at Market. April 2011 orders were up 16 percent over April 2010, somewhat else affected by the early Market dates.
"The second factor for the decline was some softening of business. Most of the Market talk was that business had slowed at retail in April (some mid-March) which was starting to impact orders in April. We assume May results may also be skewed somewhat when comparing May to May 2011 but we will see. At least by the end of May, we will be able to better compare year-to-date orders on a more comparable basis."
April 2012 shipments rose 7 percent over April a year ago as more shipments were made out of backlogs.
"Shipments were down from March but that is also somewhat normal, affected to some degree by Markets as dealers wait to order new things until they see Market products," Smith noted
Year-to-date shipments through April were up 10 percent, down from 11 percent last month.
Due to shipments exceeding backlogs for the month, backlogs fell 5 percent from March but remained 3 percent ahead of last year, despite the decline in orders.
Despite the increase in shipments, receivable levels remained even with April 2011 levels and fell 1 percent from March. We continue to be pleased with the control over receivables.
Inventories rose 6 percent from April 2011 levels, up slightly from the March over the March increase of 5 percent.
"Once we get orders sorted out next month, we think we will see that inventories remain in line with current business conditions," Smith said.
Factory and warehouse employment remained even with March levels and was up 6 percent over April 2011, the same as the March results. Payrolls were up 8 percent over last April but down 18 percent from March, perhaps due to the number of payrolls in each month. Year-to-date, payrolls remained 10 percent above the first four months of 2011, in line with the increase in shipments.
In summary, Smith pointed out that the change of Market dates can markedly change results of orders when comparing with the prior year.
"With last years April Market dates being April 2 to the 7th and this years dates being April 21 to the 26th, most likely very few post Market orders are reflected in the current year results," he said. "Year-to-date, new orders were up only 3 percent through April but that again was affected by Market order timing. We expect that by the time we report year-to- date through May, things will have smoothed out and we will have a better picture.
"Shipments on the other hand remained very positive with an April over April 2011 increase of 7 percent and year-to- date increase of 10 percent. This compared to a 3 percent increase year-to-date comparing 2011 to 2010. We do believe though that business at retail seemed to slow somewhat either in mid-March or early April. We heard much of that at Market and since then business at retail has seemed a bit sluggish."
He added that, according to the U.S. Census Bureau reports, sales at furniture and home furnishings stores were up 8.7 percent in May compared with May 2011 and up 9.4 percent year-to-date, the second highest increase among 13 categories covered in the report.
"Of course, last year at this time, sales were up at furniture and home furnishings stores only 0.4 percent and were near the bottom of the 13 categories," Smith said. "Based on our conversations with others in the industry, the furniture industry seems to be moving along about like the economy in general. Business is not as good as we would like, but it really doesnt seem too bad either.
"We really are not too sure what to expect the rest of the year. Some economists seem to be all doom and gloom, yet others are more positive. Consumers are also not sure what to do. Housing prices seem to be recovering somewhat, yet jobs are not being created at strong levels. And of course the election rhetoric will certainly not help consumer attitudes. But American people seem to bounce back over time. Lets hope that time starts to come sooner than later."
June 28,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Executive Changes on June 29, 2012
Industry veteran William Gibhardt has joined luxury furniture vendor Theodore Alexander in the new position of director, fabric merchandising.
Gibhardt, who joined the company June 1 and is based in Theodore Alexander's North American headquarters in High Point, is be responsible for fabric merchandising and upholstery showroom display for the Theodore Alexander, TRS, Althorp Living History and Keno Bros. collections. He also is overseeing the installation of the companys new 11,000-square-foot upholstery showroom. He reports to Thomas Woller, president of Theodore Alexander upholstery.
Prior to joining Theodore Alexander, Gibhardt had his own independent showroom design and installation firm catering to a number of finer furniture manufacturers. From 1999 to 2010, Gibhardt was the creative director for Hickory White Furniture.
Bills knowledge of the furniture business and his unique ability to use color and texture in imaginative ways are sure to appeal to a broad range of both our domestic and global customers, said Woller. We are extremely pleased to have him as an integral part of our new luxury upholstery division.