By Andrea Lillo
Announcing that this could be a company’s most profitable year ever is unusual in a year already filled with news of numerous bankruptcies and widespread cutbacks, but Jeff Siegel, president and chief executive officer of Lifetime Brands, said that sales at all of the company’s divisions are up, and the company overall is well-positioned to weather the economy.
Though the year had a slow start with retailers keeping their inventories low, Siegel said February fared better and March is “spectacular.” While the high-end market is hurting, areas such as gadgets and other kitchenware—a category Lifetime has well covered—do well in a recession, he said, and that division is up 10 percent. “Overall for the first quarter, it looks like we’re up from last year,” he said. “Every one of our businesses make money.”
And for Mikasa, its newest addition, business is also good, Siegel said. After a transitional year bringing Mikasa into the fold, “I’m very happy with the tabletop division now,” Siegel said, which is divided between upstairs and housewares. Having hit his one-year anniversary as head of the tabletop division, Glenn Simon “really knows the business and it shows,” Siegel said. Though parts of the tabletop business—such as the upper end of tabletop and flatware—have declined, and sterling is the worst-performing business right now, the company is gaining market share at both the department store and mass level, with some private-label brands as well, leaving the company better off than its competitors, he said. Last year would have even been “terrific,” he said, if it weren’t for the economy.
In hindsight, the decision to shed the remaining 53 outlet stores may have been a mistake, he said. The stores were on track last year to make money, but then oil prices skyrocketed, he said. Within one week, comparable-store sales dropped from 15 percent to minus 25 percent, so Lifetime decided to close them. Siegel added that some of the leases were 20 years long. Afterward, oil prices reversed and people started going back to the outlet malls, so “maybe we shouldn’t have sold the division,” he said. Through the sale, however, the company reduced its head count by one-third.
“We’re doing what we can to be safe in this environment,” Siegel said, reducing its selling, general and administrative expenses when possible. It consolidated its warehouses, closing four, and the former Sasaki showroom will expire in August. “This could be our most profitable year ever,” he said.
The company will also roll out several thousand products this year. “We’re not slowing down on product development,” Siegel said. Two show introductions are from outside inventors: a splatter screen that absorbs odors through an activated carbon fiber filter, and, from a cook who also restores musical instruments, a one-handed mandoline. Other highlights are within the pressure cooker category, including a low pressure cooker, as well as an aluminum pressure cooker that is half the price of a stainless-steel version. Siegel added that Lifetime also planned to announce kitchenware news before the show, but after press time.
Like other exhibitors at the show, the company will focus on value. “Retailers are looking for deals,” such as getting three baking sheets for $10 instead of one, he said. “It’s much more than what we would have done before.”
In addition, Lifetime’s Design For Living division has been refocused and will have “a big splash at the show.” The division “does things that don’t go with the rest of our business,” and that includes a push into water bottles at the Housewares Show.
When asked about growing its cookware category, most of which is in the supermarket channel, Siegel said “to really be in cookware you have to be a manufacturer,” he said. “If our Mexican facility had the capacity, we could do it.”
And as for adding more brands to Lifetime Brands? For the time being, Siegel is happy with Lifetime’s product mix. “I think we have enough brands,” Siegel said, though he will look at opportunities as they arise.