Experts: Retailers Must Adjust to Cautious Consumers


3 Thu, 11/12/2009 - 3:06pm

By David Gill
Drastic reductions in employment, housing values, stock values and credit availability are all part of the “new normal” in retailing, according to Allen Questrom, former chairman of Federated Department Stores and J.C. Penney.

Full Maison


3 Thu, 11/12/2009 - 3:03pm

Editor’s note: This year HFN sent designer Sherri Mojica and photographer Richard Toonkel of the creative studio Go Figure to Maison Objet in Paris to report from perhaps the most influential home furnishings trend show in the world.

Bracing for a Bumpy Ride


3 Mon, 02/02/2009 - 5:41pm

By Barbara Thau
Merchants at the recent National Retail Federation’s annual show in New York said they are ruthlessly cutting the fat from their home assortments, pruning inventory levels since consumers are simply not buying.
While merchants have enjoyed a few bright spots in their home mix—from cookware and food storage to exclusive brands—the category will continue to feel the pain of the housing crisis, credit crunch and sour macroeconomic picture for at least the first half of 2009, CEOs said.

Best Tech 2008


3 Fri, 11/14/2008 - 11:42am

HFN Staff Report
When thinking of new technology, home furnishings don’t necessarily come to mind—but think again. Technology is increasingly being used by the industry’s vendors to differentiate their offerings—and in some cases, create whole new categories. Here are some of our favorite forward-looking products from this year’s trade shows.

Ikea Takes the U.S. Factory Plunge


3 Mon, 08/11/2008 - 10:56am

By Barbara Thau
CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa.–Swedish home furnishings giant Ikea opened its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Danville, Va.. this spring to support accelerated growth here and expedite merchandise shipments so that shoppers can get their orders that much quicker.
The 930,000-square-foot facility, which produces wood furniture, could be the first of several U.S. factories to come.
The facility signals Ikea’s investment in the U.S. market, “which is the second-largest market next to Europe,” Mona Liss, an Ikea spokeswoman, told HFN.

Four Companies Show Their United States of Assembling


3 Mon, 08/11/2008 - 10:55am

Greetings From Corning, N.Y.
Corelle dinnerware, with the exception of its mugs and cups, has always been manufactured in Corning, N.Y. The new Corningware Simply Lite bakeware line, which is made from the same laminated glass, is made in the same factory. Sister company Pyrex manufactures in Charleroi, Pa.

Build American


3 Mon, 08/11/2008 - 10:54am

HFN Staff Report
NEW YORK–Rumors of the demise of American home furnishings manufacturing may be greatly exaggerated.
With importing costs rising at an unheard-of pace while materials and transportation expenses skyrocket, domestic manufacturing is gaining more concrete economic benefits.
At the same time, retailers are looking to tighten their inventory belts and demanding shorter lead times, which plays in favor of U.S. manufacturers. And perhaps most importantly, the U.S. dollar is taking a beating in the international ring.

HFNdex Shows Executive Confidence Inches Up, but Remains Mostly Bleak


3 Fri, 07/25/2008 - 10:13am

By Nathan Weber
NEW YORK–Executive confidence among retailers and manufacturers of home furnishings inched up in the second quarter, but remained well below an optimistic level.
The HFNdex, a proprietary measure based on a poll of senior executives in the industry, reached 42.4 during the quarter, up from a revised reading of 41.3.
The rise, however, did little to dispel a generally pessimistic outlook, as any reading below 50 reflects a preponderance of negative over positive outlooks.

Deloitte Executive Sizes Up The Global Retail Landscape


3 Wed, 05/14/2008 - 2:03pm

By Barbara Thau
NEW YORK–Move over U.S.
Asia and other emerging markets, such as Russia, are beginning to steal the global retail spotlight as an engine of economic growth in their own right, said Ira Kalish, global director for Deloitte Research, during a National Retail Federation press briefing, entitled, “The Global Retail Picture: Today and Tomorrow.”
Stateside, even when the housing market malaise abates, it’s unlikely that home furnishings retailers will return to the heady days of the housing boom, Kalish said.

Retailers Catalog Biz Eclipsed by Web


3 Fri, 05/02/2008 - 3:03pm

By Barbara Thau
NEW YORK–Retail catalogs may be glossy and glitzy, but their revenue-driving power is diminishing.
The catalog arms of retailers such as Williams-Sonoma and J.C. Penney are steadily being dwarfed by their online businesses. And merchants are adjusting their strategies to shoppers to increasingly migrate customer purchases from catalogs to the Web.

Earth Day Inspires Green Efforts


3 Tue, 04/22/2008 - 11:09am

NEW YORK–To celebrate Earth Day today, a number of retailers and manufacturers have incorporated earth-friendly efforts both big and small to signal their dedication to the environment and help educate consumers on making eco-friendly decisions.
Macy’s has a number of events for the week, including the launch of its Turn Over a New Leaf campaign. The program is part of a collaboration with the
National Park Foundation to raise awareness and funds for parks across the country. At Macy’s stores and online, consumers will be able to find

Shades of Things to Come


3 Thu, 04/17/2008 - 1:39pm

By Andrea Lillo
NEW YORK–Consumers in the past embraced the boring b’s: beige, brown and blue. Fast track a few decades later, however, and colors are everything but boring as they insist on exciting choices.
From the smallest gadgets to large-ticket sofas, home furnishings have gained a spectrum of color over the past few years as consumers have no qualms with being adventurous with color in the home, as a reflection of their lives.

Bold Statements


3 Thu, 04/17/2008 - 1:38pm

HFN’s Color Report shows the hottest hues consumers are choosing for the home, as well as bright ideas for the future.

Le Creuset’s Cast Iron Cherry continued to place at the top of Le Creuset’s best-selling colors in cast iron, as it has for years. People simply love red, especially in their kitchens. The company also saw blues, running the spectrum, having a nice resurgence in the marketplace last year.

Covering All the Angles


3 Mon, 03/24/2008 - 2:36pm

By Jennifer Quail
It’s a jungle out there, no doubt about it. Executives in the business of buying and selling floor coverings are talking about working harder than ever to both bring in new business and keep that which they already have.
At the winter markets this year, vendors said they had no choice but to be optimistic, noting the only surefire way to fail in such economic times is to decide your business is doomed.

Rested Development


3 Mon, 03/24/2008 - 2:35pm

By David Gill
The slump that hit the U.S. econo-my brought the bedding-textiles industry to a standstill in 2007.
U.S. retail sales of all bedroom textiles finished at slightly more than $7.7 billion last year, virtually break-even with 2006. Looking further into the two major segments of the industry, decorative bedding and basic bedding, HFN’s research found that sales in these two categories also finished last year in a virtual dead heat with the prior year.

Spate of Bankruptcy Filings Hit the Retail Sector


3 Wed, 03/05/2008 - 4:50pm

By Barbara Thau
NEW YORK–It’s no secret that the recent spate of retail bankruptcy filings underscore Darwin’s survival-of-the-fittest theory: Only the strong merchants will survive in a weak economy.
But there is another common theme: All of the recently bankrupt retailers—Fortunoff, Lillian Vernon, The Sharper Image, Domain, Wickes Furniture and Levitz—are owned by private-equity firms, which tend to be highly leveraged and carry more debt.

Retailers at NRF Expo Speak On Business, Plans for 2008


3 Wed, 01/23/2008 - 4:00pm

By Barbara Thau
NEW YORK–Retailers are looking for a variety of ways to drive home sales the first half of the year: Crate & Barrel will go after the bridal market; Ethan Allen will beef up television advertising; and J.C. Penney is betting big on American Living, its exclusive home and apparel collection from Ralph Lauren.

Retailers Unwrap Promotional Ploys For Holiday


3 Fri, 01/04/2008 - 2:31pm

By Barbara Thau
NEW YORK–Retailers may not have done as much business this holiday season as they had hoped, but what they did do was driven by a mix of unprecedented promotional stunts layered on top of the tried-and-true merchandising strategies of the past.
Merchants, operating against the backdrop of a tepid economy and the housing market slump, intensified their efforts to woo consumers with everything from 24-hour shopping days to widespread free-shipping offers, starting holiday promotions earlier than ever.

Cyber Monday Pulls in Double Digit Gains Over 2006


3 Fri, 12/14/2007 - 12:19pm

RESTON, Va.--Shoppers have spent more than $13.4 billion online so far this holiday season--from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30--marking an 18 percent increase over the same period last year, according to ComScore.
According to the company, which measures the digital world, the biggest online spending day of the season so far was Cyber Monday on Nov. 26, the Monday following the Thanksgiving weekend.
Retailers generated $733 million in online sales on Cyber Monday, ComScore reported.

Weather, Housing Factor Into Limited Comp Growth


3 Thu, 12/13/2007 - 4:38pm

By Nathan Weber
NEW YORK-- The downward spiral of the housing market, the related increasing cost of variable rate mortgages and tightening credit availability, and the rising cost of gasoline all conspired to make consumers more cautious in October. That resulted in limiting the growth of the month's sales in stores open for at least a year.

Weathering Heights


3 Thu, 12/06/2007 - 12:12pm

By Barbara Thau
NEW YORK-- Take $100 barrels of oil, Chinese currency politics and a weak dollar. Put them all together and they mean only one thing: price increases for home furnishings products sold in the United States. And it's only going to get worse.
Retailers are bracing themselves for steeper increases from their vendor partners, scrambling to devise creative merchandising solutions to justify passing on inevitable price increases to consumers.