Goodbye to '05

By all accounts, it's been a tough year with hurricanes, rising gas prices and an unsteady economy. For those involved in the home accents industry, new trade shows, changing market dates and a less-than-stellar retail climate pose their own set of challenges. However, a certain resilience marks the industry as lighting vendors reported normal or increased sales coming out of the October International Home Furnishings Market despite a downturn in overall traffic. Still, leaving 2005 behind will not be a cause for sadness as vendors look forward to a more stable, prosperous new year.

"I think 2006 will be a good year, a better year than 2005," said Mac Cooper, president and CEO of The Uttermost Company. "There was a lot of uncertainty with fuel prices and natural disasters — all these things worked to lower consumer confidence. 2006 will be a more solid year, not robust growth, but solid."

"2005 had a ripple effect and everyone wishes '05 would be gone," said Michael Yip, vice president and general manager of Oriental Accent. "I think the industry is going to have a lot of fun in 2006 with lots of color and new designs coming onto the market." The company, which debuted the licensed Oscar de la Renta Home Collection of lamps and accessories this past October struck a chord with reinterpreted traditional looks, bold fashion colorations and large-scale forms. "It's going back to classical in a clean-lined way."

"The price wars that have been going on in the past few years don't seem to be as prolific," said Dan Finley, national sales manager for Quoizel's home furnishings division. "People are looking for quality in both price and materials."

To that end, Quoizel has introduced lamps that feature alabaster, jade and agate, touching on the hot naturalistic trend. "Coming up in January, you will see more of this hand-crafted, handmade look that will set us even further apart."

At Murray Feiss, the lighting manufacturer will end 2005 with a strong sales increase and is predicting the same for the next year. "We're geared for 2006," said chairman Murray Feiss, in part due to the high growth of the company's home decor division (table lamps, floor lamps, torchieres, wall brackets), averaging increases between 30% and 35% per year. Keeping the lid on pricing will be a key challenge for 2006, he said, based on the high costs of petroleum. "The key to market will be coming up with the right designs, the right product and the high quality that the consumer is looking for."

Now that prices have bottomed out in the lighting industry, Cooper says that Uttermost's biggest challenge is to hold pricing on old items and create the same perceived value with new designs. Overall, he said, rising prices are a good thing for the industry as whole. The Uttermost Company will continue to upgrade fabrics, metalwork and the complexity of the finishes to add value to new designs.

Mark Moussa, president of Arteriors Home, said his biggest challenge as a manufacturer is to transition "from where we are today to the trends that we see for tomorrow." Retailers as well face their own set of challenges for 2006. "Keeping the retail floor fresh with on-trend merchandise is going to keep the customer coming in," Moussa said. "The American economy is a giant and there's business to be had in any retail environment — it's a huge machine."

Oriental Accent's Yip agreed. "Lighting retailers face the same challenges as the rest of the (home accents) industry. They can outperform big box and home improvement centers with better selections in their stores."

While good design, value and customer service are a given for success, manufacturers are looking at new ways to differentiate themselves in these all-important categories. Murray Feiss sends its design staff to different segments of the United States to investigate new home construction, looking at the ceiling height and other elements to determine the scale of their lamps. Additionally, they question their retailers about not only what is currently selling, but about what consumers want that they don't have available in-store. Whether it's a color, size or shade, this information becomes the basis for their design program. "We ask these questions and it's amazing what the consumer is looking for," Feiss said.

Arteriors Home launched a new Web site last April targeting retail buyers which allows the user to sort product by color, style, price, size, materials and so forth. The user-friendly Web site, which also includes a retail locator for consumers, was a huge success, according to Moussa. "In terms of opportunity, we are so excited."