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From Home Furnishing Business
La-Z-Boy Pursuing Deals with Amazon, Other E-Commerce Players
August 24,
2017 by Larry Thomas in Business Strategy, Industry 
La-Z-Boy (NYSE: LZB) is aggressively pursuing e-commerce business by, among other things, negotiating with Amazon to sell its products on the online behemoth’s site, La-Z-Boy’s CEO disclosed Wednesday.
During a conference call with securities analysts, Chairman, President and CEO Kurt Darrow didn’t elaborate on La-Z-Boy’s plans to sell on Amazon, but acknowledged the company has been in talks with the e-commerce giant.
“We are in discussions with Amazon -- about Amazon marketplace -- but don't have a final proposal that we're ready to go forward with yet,” Darrow said on the call, according to a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha.
Darrow said the upholstered furniture and casegoods producer also has enhanced its online profile on Wayfair, made additional investments in its own la-z-boy.com e-commerce platform, secured supply agreements with undisclosed third-party e-commerce brands, and made investments in some “early stage companies with strong brands and business models.”
“In short, our objective is to make the brand come alive online and ensure it is omnipresent, no matter which path the consumer takes, whether they click and buy on our site, on that of a distribution partner, or purchase in-store,” Darrow said.
The primary reason for the big e-commerce push, Darrow told analysts, is that La-Z-Boy needs to do a better job of connecting with Millennials and Gen Xers.
“While the La-Z-Boy brand is extremely powerful, it has a core demographic and we recognize the brand has not effectively reached all consumers, particularly millennials, and Gen X consumers who are looking for non-traditional brands and experiences,” he said.
He said the enhancements at la-z-boy.com and Wayfair already are paying dividends in the form of increased traffic and sales, and the investment in one online startup contributed to its earnings in the most recent quarter.
“We have enhanced our product displays on Wayfair in terms of description, photos, and videos, and we have seen an uptick in sales,” said Darrow.
The conference call came the day after La-Z-Boy reported earnings of 24 cents per share for its fiscal first quarter that ended July 29. That was below the projections of 29 cents to 31 cents per share by several Wall Street analysts, and the stock plunged more than 20% on Wednesday, closing at $24.95.