Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
September 3,
2013 by in Industry, Web Retail 
Net revenue in the web-dominated direct-to-consumer channel at Williams-Sonoma Inc. increased 15.3 percent to $477.66 million in its fiscal second quarter ended Aug. 4, accounting for nearly half of total net revenue, which rose 12.3 percent to $982.21 million, the retailer of kitchenware and other home furnishings said.
Executives at the retailer said in a recent conference call with stock analysts that e-commerce sales grew by more than 20 percent in Q2 and accounted for more than 90 percent of direct-to-consumer sales, which also include telephone sales placed through paper catalogs.
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Source: InternetRetailer.com
September 3,
2013 by in Business Strategy, Industry
Swedish furniture retailer Ikea plans to accelerate store expansion, a part of its strategy to double sales to around $66 billion by 2020.
The announcement came from Ikea veteran Peter Agnefjall, who became CEO last week. Agnefjall aims to generate 5 percent annual sales growth in existing stores, while another 5 percent sales will come from new store openings.
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Source: Retail Business Review
August 30,
2013 by in Furniture Retailing, Industry
Houston's furniture king Jim McIngvale , known to his fans as "Mattress Mack," tweeted on Thursday after undergoing a heart procedure at St. Luke's Hospital.
Well wishes flooded his Twitter page after he tweeted, "I had a procedure on my heart today @ the TX Heart Ins. @ St. Luke's for a condition called PFO. Looking fwd to getting back to work soon."
McIngvale has more than 3,000 followers on the social networking site.
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Source: Houston Chronicle
August 30,
2013 by in Economic News, Industry
Consumer purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, rose 0.1 percent after a revised 0.6 percent increase the prior month that was larger than previously estimated, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington.
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 0.3 percent rise. Incomes increased 0.1 percent, down from 0.3 percent the previous month.
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Source: BusinessWeek
August 30,
2013 by in Industry, Legal
Tiffin, Ohio-based Ameriwood Inds. has been fined $50,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Adminisration for unsafe equipment.
OSHA said the company failed to use energy-control procedures on foam cutting machines, putting workers at risk.
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Source: Toledoblade.com
August 30,
2013 by in Executive Changes, Industry
A Furniture Brands Internatinoal board member has resigned after a 15-month stint on the furniture maker's board. Kent J. Hussey has resigned as a director.
Furniture Brands said in a regulatory filing today that Hussey resigned last Friday. His decision to leave the board was not a result of disagreements with the company or with matters related to company operations, the filing said.
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Source: STLtoday.com
August 29,
2013 by in Green, Industry
California took a step toward updating flammability standards, when a state bureau last week proposed new rules that could reduce the amount of toxic flame retardants in furniture and other consumer goods.
The new standards - proposed by the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation - would overturn a 1975 state rule that required furniture foam to withstand an open flame.
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Source: U-T San Diego