HIGH POINT, NC— At the Fall High Point Market, Sauder Woodworking expanded on key initiatives targeting Millennials and reiterated its positioning as a more trend-oriented resource for retailers serving consumers who have more diverse tastes and are more confident in their style choices.
A key introduction was the prototype Harvey Park collection. The new group builds off the earlier introduction of Soft Modern, a Scandinavian-influenced line that specifically targeted Millennials. Sauder also developed Harvey Park with younger consumers in mind. However, in this case, the company employed a different manner of styling but one that has proven popular with Millennials: mid-century modern.
Still, Sauder’s approach to Millennials was more expansive than might be driven by a single collection. For example, Sauder extended its offering in modern farmhouse, another style that has proved popular with Millennials. Although furniture from several collections fall under the style theme, including Dakota Pass and Carson Forge, New Grange was a modern farmhouse collection that Sauder decided to emphasize for the fall market, adding fresh mixed material pieces in the group.
As is often the case with mass market vendors today, Sauder used the modern farmhouse style as a template and came up with its own specific design approach, one that puts a refined spin to the look, according to the company, in part by using a wood grained vintage oak finish and matte materials. However, at the same time, the company determined to boost the rustic quality of the look with a sliding barn door feature available not only under the New Grange but Dakota Pass and Carson Forge collections as well.
Furniture in the New Grange Collection start at a suggested retail price of $59.99 for an accent stool and also include, among the newest pieces, an accent chair at a $229.99 SRP, two consoles, at a $199.99 and a $279.99 SRP respectively, and a pair of coffee tables, at $119.99 and $199.99 SRPs.
The company pointed to studies indicating that 60% of consumers describe their home décor look as “relaxed.” The expansion of modern farmhouse, with its comfortable, casual sensibility, is a way for Sauder to satisfy that preference across the range of consumers purchasing furniture in the market today. Another way Sauder has been broadening the range of choice it offers consumers has been by adding new finishes to existing popular collections and establishing alternatives that can speak to a greater extent of mass market consumers.
In its Palladia collection, for example, Sauder refreshed the look, “with updated hardware and a new finish, vintage oak,” said Sauder designer Rachel Whitaker. The new, lighter finish debuted at the market to provide a more casual look than was the case with its initial darker coloration and so widen the group’s potential customer range.
Fresh and featured designs in the Palladia Collection included a lift-top coffee table— an electronics-friendly format Sauder is expanding across collections— at a $199.99 SRP, a corner entertainment credenza at a $249.99 SRP, a dresser at a $269.99 SRP, and an executive desk at a $399.99 SRP.
That being said, Harvey Park was a critical part of Sauder’s presentation at the fall market
Presented in a grand walnut finish, darker than the Soft Modern natural wood look, Harvey Park previewed in new silhouettes and diverse applications in the office, accent, storage, entertainment and seating segments. Harvey Park furniture construction incorporates wide-panel wrapping and lightweight panels to improve the design aesthetic and consumer experience, Sauder maintained. Engineered lightweight panels replace heavier particleboard and MDF, making pieces lighter, stronger and more stable, the company added.
To satisfy the trend of living in less space among Millennials, the scale of Harvey Park furniture is relatively small although not so spare as to be out of place in a typical house. Sauder also designed the pieces in the collection to be versatile at a time when traditional home and apartment configurations are evolving to meet the needs of today’s multi-purpose domestic spaces, where many people live, work and play in the same environment.
The collection includes a high entertainment credenza, SRP $229.99, that could work in various rooms to multiple purposes. A Harvey Park multi-purpose storage cabinet with a matte black front that contrasts the grand walnut finish used in the rest of the piece carries a $249.99 SRP.
Detail is another important element that enhances the Harvey Park appeal, Whitaker indicated, such as the “implied texture” on a console front that looks to have been constructed of a carved or molded material but is in reality essentially smooth. Sauder has been using more implied and actual texture on surfaces whether composed of papers or other materials. In another example, Sauder employs its ArtaGraph advanced imaging capabilities in a Harvey Park coffee table with a colored-glass look on the top at a $139.99 SRP.
Other Harvey Park pieces include a side table, SRP $79.99, a narrow bookcase, SRP $189.99, a wide bookcase, SRP $199.99, a low TV-stand style credenza, SRP $199.99, and a sofa table, SRP $129.99.
While introducing the Harvey Park collection, Sauder also expanded Soft Modern with, for instance, an accent chair clad in pink velvety upholstery with a $239.99 SRP.
Sauder featured prototype pieces in its International Lux glammy, contemporary collection built with mixed materials along clean lines in two styles. The collection as presented in High Point included an entertainment credenza, SRP $219.99, and storage cabinets, desks, a bookcase, a console, round and rectangular side tables and a round coffee table.
In addition, Sauder reintroduced the global-style Viabella collection, which had been a prototype in the spring, which is preparing to ship.
Sauder debuted more than a dozen new accent pieces at the market including cabinets and end tables across the Palladia, Shoal Creek, Carson Forge, Barrister Lane, Cottage Road and Harbor View collections. The company emphasized striking colors in its accent furniture such as sunshine yellow, emerald green, moody blue, candy apple red, matte black, indigo ink and desert coral. Accent piece SRPs start at $54.99.
The company also spotlighted a group of sitting and standing desks that mount an easy glide mechanism that makes for simple worktop operation.