NEW YORK— The last several years have witnessed unprecedented change in the mass market furnishings business from an operational perspective, as retailers and suppliers evolved to function online. But changes also have come from a market perspective as consumer preferences have become more central to how the category thinks about product, marketing and merchandising.
Both retailers and vendors have responded with initiatives they hope suit consumers who have encountered enhanced furnishings style and function over the past several years, and whose expectations have been raised.
On the retail side, that has included the development of new initiatives, such as the introduction of Target’s Project 62 furnishings collection, and formats, such as the furnishings-oriented version of the HomeSense store concept that TJX developed and the refined version of AndThat! Bed Bath & Beyond has debuted.
Among the e-tail operations acquired by the Walmart e-commerce platform, Hayneedle.com sees opportunity in consistently honing operations to pace furnishings and housewares markets in constant transition as evolving consumer preferences and technology continually create new opportunities and challenges. Hayneedle has spent the past year refining its approach to the customer.
Jeremy Podliska, vp/marketing at Hayneedle, noted, “This year we’ve made investments in improving the user experience and making shopping for home furnishings online easier. For example, we saw more of our customers shopping on mobile devices so we launched an iPhone app to simplify the experience: mobile optimized, visual search, various ‘shop by’ options. And shifting the business away from being so transactional in nature and focusing more on providing inspiration and design ideation through compelling content, curated assortment stories and expert design advice.”
The experience retailers offer consumers has become as critical an issue as new products, particularly online. Overstock.com recently launched an iOS app with an augmented reality feature designed to give consumers a realistic view of how furnishings would work in their room settings.
Moving & Shaking
• Walmart appointed Scott Doughman as Hayneedle.com president and Anthony Soohoo as svp/general manager of the Walmart.com Home Group.
• Wayfair appointed Keith DuFresne as head of product design. Before making the move to Wayfair, he was head of design at Priceline and vp/user experience and design at LivingSocial.
• Patrick Bahil joined Office Star Products as national e-commerce sales manager. He had been president and COO of Home Styles Furniture.
• Twin-Star appointed Lori Gonzalez CEO. Prior to taking the Twin-Star helm, she spent 18 years with Newell Brands, formerly Jarden Corp., most recently role as general manager of Jarden Consumer Solutions.
• Andy Bush returned to Bush Industries as svp/business development and global sourcing. He was svp/sales until he left the company in 2009.
• Dorel Industries named Nicolas Duran president and CEO of its Dorel Juvenile division. He had been acting as interim president of the division since 2016.
• Linon Home Décor Products announced that Jim Schmidt had joined the company as vp/marketing. Prior to joining Linon, Schmidt was svp/marketing and merchandising for Southern Enterprises Inc.
Brand News
• Wayfair launched its Perigold luxury banner as a bridge between its consumer- and designer-oriented operations, even as it brought more technological capabilities online including visual search.
• Office Star Products launched Curia & Co., its new case goods brand, at the winter Las Vegas Market. Intended to provide value merchandise for furniture store retailers, the brand launched three initial collections under the label including Skylark in
a mid-century modern style.
• Atlantic debuted its new Millennial-focused ürb Space furniture collection. The multi-functional products feature storage and other benefits to better fit urban lifestyles.
• Cheyenne Products opened a Las Vegas Market showroom in January to showcase its expanding product line, with, in addition to portable lighting, a focus on headboards, bar stools, living room tables, consoles, small accent tables and bar carts, much of it in mid-century modern and rustic-industrial looks.
• Dorel launched a new business-targeted product group, AX Commercial Office, under Ameriwood Home, and refreshed the Cosco brand earlier in the year after a reorganization at the company took the label’s furniture business out of the juvenile and put it under the home division.
• Furniture industry veteran James Dardashti launched the jamesdar line of urban-oriented furnishings centered on small-scale pieces with refined styling.
Product Pipeline
• Adesso became one of the early adopters of an emerging technology with its addition this year of lamps with wireless charging capacities. From the retail perspective, Ikea has been working to add wireless changing capabilities to its furniture assortment.
• Dorel is applying design to meet consumer lifestyle needs, pacing demand for color in the updated Franklin collection, where it added painted finishes in hues such as blue, black, yellow, ecru and Pantone color of the year Greenery.
• In the health and wellness dimension, Twin-Star has been boosting its sit/stand set lineup and placing those items in the context of its broader furniture collections.
• In addressing another trend, Southern Enterprises Inc. focused its recent product introductions on products designed for small-space living in scale and multi-functionality, such as the Kempsey convertible console to dining table.
• Sauder Woodworking continued a strategy of introducing prototype collections, evaluating them and, later, rolling out finished lineups. It previewed the Anda Norr group at the Fall High Point Market, building on its Soft Modern style theme.
• Linon Home Decor has continued growing its seating collections, adding new frames and finishes to create more sophisticated appearances, while developing fresh upholstered accent seating, office chairs and settees. The company also introduced various outdoor and indoor/outdoor furniture.
• Z-Line Designs has been building up its collection of electric fireplaces but also has unveiled a range of new accent furniture.
• Powell Home Fashions has been advancing some core segments including accent chairs, dining and mirrored chests while growing more peripheral categories such as kitchen carts and islands.
• Walker-Edison focused on expanding accent furniture, dining and media furniture this year, including consoles that can work in more traditional application but as TV stands as well.
• LumiSource continued to expand dining and seating, where it has used successful design elements, and developed a particular class of seating, say accent chairs, to introduce fresh looks in other segments, such as stools.
• Office Star Products, which debuted the Curia & Co. furniture lineup earlier this year, has continued working to become a broader based supplier, rolling out an array of new products this year, everything from bookcases and benches to modular ottoman groups and cocktail carts, while maintaining a trend-oriented approach in finishes, upholstery and constructions, incorporating.
• At J. Hunt/Jimco, new products besides portable lighting, where glass body lamps were especially strong, included a variety of chests scaled for flexible placement especially in small or secondary locations and enhanced with unique hardware.
