Daily News Archive
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November 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Internet on November 23, 2010
Toray International America has launched an interactive Web site for its Ultrasuede brand of products for upholstery and other applications.
The site offers B2B support features for the brand's diverse customer base, including upholstery manufacturers and interior designers. The site's new features include the Ultrasuede B2B Center, where memo swatches may now be ordered to streamline the request and fulfillment process.
Additionally, furniture consumers visiting the new Ultrasuede Web site will be directed to Web sites of upholstery manufacturers that offer Ultrasuede covers on their products.
November 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in High Point on November 23, 2010
Winter Showtime 2010 has set the schedule of events for its Dec. 5-8 fabric market in High Point.
Social events, all with free admission, include:
* An opening night reception, the "Ohh Mama Mia, Come Have Sangria" social, Sunday, Dec. 5, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at The Factory in Market Square.
* The "It's Only Real When Its Dark" social, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 5:30-7:30 p.m., Suites at Market Square, Level One, sponsored by Merchandise Mart Properties.
Educational events include a breakfast and panel discussion themed "What are manufacturers and their suppliers doing to prepare for the upturn?", 7-8 a.m., String & Splinter. Fabrics & Furnishings International Publisher Eric Schneider will moderate the discussion, which features special guest Jim Ennis, CEO of J. Ennis Fabrics; and panelists Parks Neisler of Dicey Fabric Corp.; Brian Rosenstein, Synthetics Finishing; Steve Piersal, Huntinghouse Furniture; Cathy Smith, De Leo Fabrics; and Allen Smith, Unifi.
A limited number of seats are available, so RSVP to Eric Schneider today via e-mail or 917.251.9922.
WithIt will give a trend presentation at 10 a.m., Monday, Dec. 6; and at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 7.
A second educational seminar titled "Assuring Product Quality: The Importance of Testing" will be presented by the American Association of Textile Chemist and Colorists at 2 p.m., Monday, Dec. 6; and at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 7.
Further information about Showtime Sponsor the International Textile Market Association and Showtime is available here; or via e-mail or phone at 336.885.6842.
November 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on November 23, 2010
My daughter Sidney is a junior at N.C. State University. Their biggest rival is University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You may have heard of the Tar Heels.
Sidney is also a rabid football fan. Shes never missed a home game and shows up hours early to get a great spot in the student section. She knows every word and hand motion to every cheer.
When the college football schedule was released for this year, she immediately called and said, Can I get an early Christmas present and get tickets to the N.C. State vs. Carolina game? Chapel Hill was hosting the game this year, so we couldnt play the student ticket route for this particular challenge.
So, I found myself Googling around looking for tickets to a State vs. Carolina football game. I clicked to one of hundreds of ticket sites, paid $185 for two tickets, and had the tickets sent to Sidney. I then sat down in the Moms a Hero chair for a little while.
This was literally months ago. Then it happened. A couple of weeks ago on an otherwise peaceful Sunday night, I received a frantic call that said she had looked for the tickets and they had been lost. Horror of horrors, Batman! Sidney is UBER-organized. She remembers all, she knows all, she meticulously color codes.
I now had a non-existent Christmas present for my daughter, and she had the biggest school rival football game coming up and no tickets.
I didnt even remember where Id bought those tickets from. I had to go to a previous bank statement to find the name of the pretty much anonymous company I gave $185 to for tickets months and months ago. Now I needed their help.
I promised Sid I would call the company, although in my heart of hearts, I knew it wasnt going to work. I had already moved on to trying to decide if I would replace the tickets OR make this a hard lesson for Sidney in the art of not losing things.
That is when something quite unexpected happened. I called Ticket City. I got a live person on the phone. They were actually helpful. They said they could help. They actually did.
What happened was some good old-fashioned customer service. Id forgotten what it felt like to be treated like a human being where someone actually gives a crap that youve called.
It was revolutionary. Like, seriously.
Tickets bought on the Internet are a commodity. As long as the ticket isnt bogus, theres not really any difference.
Heres the furniture angle: I bet most retailers reading (price point not withstanding) have product that looks awfully darned similar. Now we all know its not really, but to the consumer, its not as different as we may think.
How do you stand out in the sea of sameness? How on earth do you communicate your difference to a nervous, jaded consumer whos had one too many bad experiences?
You gotta give her something she wont expecta stellar experience. Because frankly, shes expecting mediocre and most times that is what she gets. Exceed her expectations. Delight herin store, online and especially when something goes wrong. You have to be better these days. You have to be sparkly and refreshing. If youre not, shell start on Google and go from there. Is that where you want to place your fortunes?
Next time I need a ticket, Ill go to TicketCity.com. It matters.
The question is, do you?
November 22,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in on November 23, 2010
For years, many U.S. consumers have said they want to buy U.S.-made goods, but voted with their pocketbooks for imports in most cases, especially where price was an issue.
Thats changing according to some retailers. Chris McCall, furniture buyer and a partner in Carthage, Tenn.-based retailer D.T. McCall & Sons, said his customers are targeting domestic goods for their purchases.
In the last year, year-and-a-half, made in America has come to be on the forefront of our consumers minds, he said. With what they see in the economy and a shrinking U.S. manufacturing base, they dont even mind spending a little more if its higher quality and made at home. In the next couple of years that will change even more. When you get out of that price-point-only consumer, 99 percent (of our shoppers) want an American product if they can get it.
As a retailer, McCall noted that his container freight cost has risen from $3,800 to $5,600.
In China, theyve created something of a middle class, and thats driven some prices up, he said. ... If China shifts its monetary policy well see even more movement.
Some of thats going to places such as Vietnam, but McCall believes the trend could make American manufacturing stronger: And as a retailer, the logistics are a lot easier.
D.T. McCall & Sons was among a number of retailers who asked Vaughan-Bassett for more help at the point-of-sale in promoting domestic goods. The Galax, Va., case goods manufacturer introduced such a Made in the U.S.A. gallery program and signage at the October High Point Market.
This is a fast-growing trend in the marketplace and may be partially related to the recession and the fact that everyone wants to see job growth in the United States, said Vaughan-Bassett Executive Vice President and COO Doug Bassett in announcing the program.
McCall thinks other vendors might place more of an emphasis on their domestic efforts.
I see a little bit of that with some of the higher-end companiesThomasville built a couple of groups in America in the past year and a half, he said. Vaughan-Bassett has set the bar for a lot of furniture companies to follow suit.
CCI, Furniture Index Compared
Year-to-Date Comparison: Consumer Confidence Index, Furniture Buying Index
The Conference Boards Consumer Confidence Survey is based on a representative sample of 5,000 U.S. households. For the Furniture Buying Index, in a typical month, 80 percent of the 5,000 to 8,000 consumers interviewed can name a specific furniture item they intend to buy. The Indexs mark signifies what percent of the benchmark 80 percent actually have a particular item in mind.
Month CCI FBI
January 56.5 62
February 46.4 65
March 52.3 67
April 57.7 69
May 62.7 70
June 54.3 72
July 51 70
August 53.2 67
September 48.6 70
October 50.2 70
Sources: The Conference Board, Americas Research Group
November 21,
2010 by in UnCategorized
By Home Furnishings Business in Las Vegas on November 22, 2010
World Market Center Las Vegas has launched a reps award program for buyer referrals to the Jan. 24-28 Las Vegas Furniture Market.
For every new qualified buyer or store referral to the January show, WMC will give representatives $50 and enter their name for a $5,000 drawing.
Download information about Rep Awards here.
Referral forms should be submitted by Dec. 15.
To help reps attract buyers, WMC also is offering a Gift Card incentive reps can share with buyers. Gift cards are available for the Las Vegas Furniture Market and the Gift+Home show.