Vendors court indy retailers

Introducing programs and products to help independent retailers

Cinde W. Ingram -- Home Accents Today, 4/28/2006 9:02:00 AM

Manufacturers are introducing programs and products here to help independent retailers, whether with merchandising their stores or providing more places for buyers to rest while reviewing their overwhelming options.

To narrow the search, Interlude Home created lifestyle collections and merchandised its High Point showroom windows along those lifestyle themes, demonstrating ways to bring focus to different looks.

“It saves the customer time at market if they come in with a concept, which makes the selection process easier,” said Sean McFadden, Interlude Home vice president, sales. “I think the pressure is on buyers more than ever. Buyers want special, unique, wellthought- out product and a lot of look for the money. Our feeling right now is that nothing is as important as new product with strong design so we’re introducing 1,000 new styles.”

To help independent retailers offer styles that are distinguishable from competing retailers like Target and Pier 1, Interlude stays on-trend and provides more complex products.

Another way Interlude Home helps ease pressure on buyers here is by opening its showrooms at 7:30 a.m. and not closing until the last buyer leaves, McFadden said.

Bob Eller and Chad Turney, coowners of Shadow Mountain, draw on their past experiences as retailers when they develop product. “Probably the biggest thing we do is concentrate on that retailer,” Eller said. “While we do have some Top 100 accounts, we differentiate the product we sell to them from the product we sell to our independent retailers, who typically have a 3,000- to 5,000-sq.-ft. store.”

The Statesville, N.C.-based manufacturer also offers a gallery program combining its dining room, bedroom, occasional and upholstered furniture along with complementary lighting and accents. “We make it so you can showcase in 800 square feet literally an entire store’s worth of merchandise,” Eller said.

Point of purchase material is designed so not only retail customers but consumers can understand the products, he said. Shadow Mountain also warehouses $3 million worth of products, knowing the constraints of their dealers’ space.

“Our showrooms are done in such a way retailers can replicate our designers’ ideas in their stores,” said John Haste, Imax vice president of sales. “We give independent retailers product that is on-trend and has a great price-quality-value equation but we also give them merchandising ideas for their stores. We can tweak our assortments to fit their region, hit the price points they want and make the margins retailers need to make money. If retailers come to market and all they are doing is walking away with product, they have not gotten the maximum benefit.”

To encourage retail buyers to relax and absorb the new products and ideas around them, Imax is among a growing number of manufacturers who offer a café setting. “High Point is usually such a hustle and bustle rush, this allows retailers to slow down, collect their thoughts and maximize the High Point market experience,” Haste said.

Imax produces catalogs twice each year with no prices listed so retail customers can show catalogs to consumers when needed. The company’s online catalog, introduced in August, includes features intended to simplify processes for retail customers.

“One of the new things we’re kicking off in High Point, is a consolidated containers program so the customer can buy products from our multiple factories and take advantage of pricing without having to buy massive quantities,” Haste said.

Carol Deady, president, Napp Deady, said her attitude changed about the need for providing customers and spouses places to relax within her rep showroom.

“We are putting in a big flat-screen TV where we make key account presentations, but also where husbands can check on ball scores or watch programs while their spouse shops,”

Deady said. “The one thing High Point has to offer is the whole Southern hospitality experience — being welcoming and charming.” Similar to its Atlanta showroom,

Napp Deady’s showroom here is wired as a WiFi hot spot and an email kiosk. Another TV screen is set up to show product information.

“One thing we’re doing here that we did not do in Atlanta, is provide a space we’re calling our ‘design center’ so furniture stores, contract businesses and big design firms can sit around a table to plan,” Deady said.

Retailers can apply custom coloring to rug designs in the Abbyson Design Center, a unique computer program the Chatsworth, Calif.-based company developed. Abbyson had a prototype of its interactive DVD at the Las Vegas market in January, but now presents the complete version.

“The DVD not only holds a catalog of all our collections, but also includes a six-minute video that shows our rugs actually being made by hand in our Tibetan factories,” said Sarah Rahall, director of marketing and sales. “The response from our current resellers has been fantastic.”

Abbyson debuts six collections of hand-knotted area rugs here and brought three new catalogs: the Park Avenue Classic Furniture catalog, 2006 Rug and Full Line catalog and the Hospitality Furnishings catalog.  “Basically everyone is excited about seeing all the new introductions,” Rahall said. “All the buzz has been that they’re expecting it to be a great market.”

NDI President Mabry Cook also came to High Point with high expectations, based on sales reps’ discussions with customers. NDI had encouraged reps to visit with retail customers, listen to what their needs are and make sure their botanical products are displayed in the intended shapes and configurations.

“Everyone is talking up the expansion of our showroom in the (IHFC) Green Wing,” Cook said. “Again, we’re trying to help retailers who sell our product, give them a fantastic place to shop and create excitement.”  NDI also offers retail support by making its Web site user-friendly so answers are easily available after hours.

Its new brochures, updated each quarter, replace the company’s 400-page catalog and can be kept updated. “It gives the opportunity to keep it fresh and rotate it out quickly,” Cook said.

Tiffany Olsen, Barclay Butera, national sales manager, meets with in-store designers and retail managers when requested. “When one of our retailers has an event, like a trunk show, I or my assistant will go out to participate and create a buzz about the line,” Olsen said.

At market, “everyone expects our booth to look dramatically different each time,” Olsen said. She noted various color combinations used over the past few markets, ranging from orange and brown to red, black and white.

“We change up our look so often that customers sometimes don’t recognize our booth right away,” Olsen said.

“First, in terms of the product itself, we’re really cognizant of offering unique designs,” said Andy Cymrot, Austin, senior vice president. “Everything we do is created by us; it’s not anything that you’ll see on another store’s shelves unless it was knocked-off from us. We try to be very much a design-oriented line.

“Our customer base is the independent retailer; we don’t sell to any big box accounts,” Cymrot said. “We also are trying to provide them with programs such as our fixed freight program. For orders of a certain size, we basically have a set freight so a customer knows up front what the freight will be. There are no surprises for them.”

Most of Austin’s sales force has been with the company a number of years. They are aware of which products, price points or finishes have performed well and make sure Austin products are merchandised correctly for maximum effectiveness,  Cymrot said. “So many customers want that expertise in selling our accessories and our furniture as well. We’re not order-takers. We’re basically sales professionals who offer a whole realm of service.

“We want the goods in the store,” he said. “The only way it benefits us, the retailer and the consumer is if the goods are at the store level. A lot of the direction we have as a company is determined by the comments we hear from our customers. They are our lifeblood; we want to hear what their needs are. Everything from the product to the design, things such as freight or the process of the receipt of orders, are things we strive to get better in based on the comments of our customers. They’ve also mentioned other things, such as the Web site we started (about a year and a half ago). They wanted to at least be able to view online.

“The other thing is anything you see in High Point is in stock,” Cymrot said. “When a customer comes in, they’re excited about what they see and we want to be able to get it in their hands. We don’t get caught up in games with the customers about prices; we try to be as fair as we can and very straightforward.”