Daily News Archive
Brought to you by Home Furnishings Business
January 29,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Furniture Retailing on January 30, 2012
Home furnishings retailer
Big Sandy Superstore has tapped supply chain and retail technology provider
RedPrairie Corp.'s RedPrairie Merchandise Management system to optimize core business operations including merchandising, inventory management, customer service, warehouse management, point of sale and more.
As one of the nations top 100 furniture retailers with about 20 locations nationwide, Big Sandy Superstore was looking to replace its legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) system with an application capable of accommodating future growth.
Big Sandy Superstore partnered with RedPrairie based on its track-record of providing solutions to big ticket retailers since 1974. By leveraging RedPrairie Merchandise Management, Big Sandy Superstore will be able to make informed decisions to optimize inventory, employee productivity, and vendor relationships; while improving customer relationships and margins.
After reviewing all of the leading industry players, I chose RedPrairie because they were best positioned to provide cutting-edge solutions that will meet our needs now and in the future, says Robbie Van Hoose, chief executive officer at Big Sandy Superstore. RedPrairie was by far the most aggressive and accommodating in figuring out exactly what our needs were and then presenting a proposal that showed us they were serious about growing and maintaining their leadership position within the home furnishing industry.
Through RedPrairie Merchandise Management, Big Sandy Superstore will be able to access up-to-the-second inventory information on sales, returns, shipping notices and cycle counts to help determine which products are right for each store at the right price points.
RedPrairie understands that to receive the maximum return on merchandise spend, big ticket retailers need to control costs, drive revenue and constantly meet the needs of savvy shoppers, says Tyler Owen, general manager, Merchandise Management at RedPrairie. RedPrairie Merchandise Management will further enable Big Sandys to be a customer-centric and nimble operation as they increase their competitive advantage in the home furnishings market.
We are in the early stages of implementation and RedPrairies performance to date has proven to me that I made the right choice and now have a very capable partner that will only enhance our business opportunities going forward, Van Hoose said. Their new point-of-sale application, RedPrairie Point of Sale Plus, is a game changer.
January 29,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Rugs on January 30, 2012
Linon Home Decor Products is opening a newly expanded showroom for this week's Las Vegas Furniture Market.
The new 9,700-square-foot showroom, World Market Center, Building A, Suite A-726, increases the indoor and outdoor furniture, wall decor and area rugs importer's space by almost 65 percent.
"Linon continues to see a strong multi-channel value in Las Vegas Market," said Demetrios Ziozis, president of Linon Home Decor Products. "One of the reasons for expanding and improving our showroom is that a lot of our mass merchant customers consider this to be their primary market and we currently have appointments with many of our major customers for the upcoming market. While we continue our commitment to the High Point Market, Las Vegas has become a major opportunity to show Linons products and capabilities. We will have approximately 200 new samples for the show. That is in itself is a major investment and shows how important we feel this market has become."
Linon is a family business that started more than 40 years ago selling Flokati Rugs from Greece. Linon still has a successful Flokati business but now also has a full line rug business in addition to ready-to-assemble furniture and a strong wall art business.
January 29,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on January 30, 2012
The Specialty Sleep Association will distribute copies of its new environmental guide at this week's Las Vegas Furniture Market.
In addition, SSA praised the establishment of a new Global Organic Latex Standard to establish the true meaning of "organic latex" claims in mattress and bedding sales.
SSA created the 14-page guide, "Glossary of Terms Frequently Used in Environmental Marketing Claims," with the assistance of sustainability consultant Vicki Worden of Worden Associates. The updated guide is available as a free download at the SSA Web site, and a limited number of printed copies will be distributed at Market in the SSA Showroom, WMC-C1350.
"This is the well-researched and defining guide for the entire mattress and bedding industry, which now has a common reference for product identification and communication to the consumer," said SSA President Dale Read. "It's the first glossary of its kind for the industry, it is a very comprehensive and useful reference tool, and it will be the go-to guide for 'selling green' and understanding published guidelines from U.S. government agencies like the FTC and USDA."
During the Las Vegas Market, Worden will lead "Making Green on 'Green,' a bedding retailer seminar on winning over today's conscientious consumers with accurate product claims on Tuesday, 11 a.m.-noon in the SSA showroom (C-1350). The seminar, presented by the SSA, is open to all market attendees and will explore best practices for promoting green sleep products in ways that eliminate consumer confusion and solidify a purchase decision with documented claims.
Worden is a sustainability consultant working with manufacturers, retailers, and trade associations on the development and launch of sustainable and environmentally focused products and services. Her expertise includes environmental standards and green building, and she is a former a judge of the White House Sustainability Awards.
The new Global Organic Latex Standard from Control Union Certifications, which is based in Zwolle, the Netherlands, was developed with support of the SSA in reference guidelines for describing organic latex.
In announcing GOLS, Control Union Certifications singled out the support of the Specialty Sleep Association in helping improve the standard that informs consumers about the content of internationally sourced latex products, which builds upon existing standards for organic latex produced within the United States.
"This is another important step towards truth in marketing in the mattress and bedding field," Read said. "The goal of the Specialty Sleep Association is to pursue full transparency and to embrace accepted worldwide standards as part of full consumer disclosure."
Control Union officials said the new standard will enable producers to showcase a product of organic origin, "a product that is socially justifiable and a product that also ensures certain environmental aspects during processing."
Two categories of label grading are available with the new standard. With GOLS, product labeled as "Made with Organic" or "Contains Organic" should contain minimum 95 percent or more of certified organic latex and other certified organic raw material in the final product, from its total weight. Product label as "Made with 70 percent of Organic" should contain a minimum of 70 percent of certified organic latex and other certified organic raw material in the final product.
Read said the new latex standard has been created by Control Union, the same organization that inspects and manages the widely accepted Global Organic Textile Standards for textile products that are 95 percent certified organic finished products. The standard also has provisions to ensure that environmental and labor standards are adhered to in manufacturing.
GOLS certification will be valid for one year and its procedure will be similar to that of organic textiles certification. The conformity to the standard will be verified through an audit (documented and on-site). Certification will be granted when all the compliance criteria are achieved.
January 29,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Special Events on January 30, 2012
Women's furniture industry network WithIt will hold its first Celebrity Fundraising Gala, Saturday, July 28 at the Parisian Palace in Las Vegas.
The event celebrates the 15th anniversary of the organization, which champions women in the furnishings and home furnishings industries, and nurtures the careers of female leaders.
"We're pulling out all the stops for our inaugural Gala," said WithIt Regional Vice President and Gala Chairperson Kassie Smith, Kassie Smith Lifestyle Group. "Parisian Palace is a luxurious setting for honoring WithIt and its members and supporters. This is a not-to-be-missed event that will feature wine tastings and food pairings by celebrity chefs; a champagne VIP room with casino gaming; featured celebrity designers; a silent auction and much more."
Sponsorships are available. For more information, contact Sara Lyke at 336.880.2188; or Kassie Smith at 702.378.2276.
Other events this year include WithIt's 2012 New York Design Tour, May 19-21; and the annual WithIt professional conference will take place Aug. 14-16 in Raleigh, N.C.
For more information, visit here; WithIt tweets @withit; or Facebook.
January 29,
2012 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Bedding on January 30, 2012
Major bedding vendor Simmons Bedding Co. will now be branded throughout its product line as Beautyrest, the company announced Jan. 30 during a press conference at Las Vegas Furniture Market.
Moving forward, all of the companys offerings will become Beautyrest products. The manufacturer also announced a new marketing focus, Living Life Fully Charged, that will be carried throughout all product lines and will be the basis of the companys new consumer outreach and point-of-sale efforts.
The company announced three revamped lines that will be offered to retail under the Beautyrest banner:¨TruEnergy, which features the companys Recharge Sleep System combining AirCool ventilation and memory foam with BeautyRests proprietary Pocketed Coil. Select models will add Gel Touch for enhanced pressure relief. This line will retail from $1,599 to $2,799 in queen.
Beautyrest Black, a new iteration of Simmons high-end Black line, which also incorporates the Recharge Sleep System and GelTouch foam, as well as the lavish stylish and striking design that are the hallmarks of the brand. This line will retail from $1,999 to $2,999 in queen for the four Beautyrest Black models and $3,999 to $5,999 in queen for the three top-end Beautyrest Black Beyond products.
Comfor-Pedic from Beautyrest, which adds the Recharge Sleep System (minus the pocketed coils) to the companys popular line of foam beds. The lines five models will retail from $2,499 to $4,599 in queen.
At retail, these models will be marketed using the Fully Charged concept, along with accompanying battery-focused graphics and marketing materials. The Simmons brand will still be connected to the beds, but more as an endorser. The company showed new logos for Simmons (losing the earth design for a simpler, easier-to-reproduce graphic) and the three new lines, and also showed the new merchandising station that will enable consumers to demo the TruEnergy beds as they watch Beautyrest videos.
According to company President Tony Smith, the re-branding stemmed from extensive marketing research that showed Beautyrest to have strong consumer identification, and also informed the companys new focus on daytime health and wakefulness instead of sleep-time.
This initiative will be marketed via an aggressive $29 million advertising campaign that will push hard in the first three quarters of 2012, downsizing in the fourth quarter due to consumer attention turning to the elections.
The company plans to have completed the brand transition to Beautyrest by mid-2013.