Navigating Markets
Lael Thompson
Broyhill Home Collections
Aurora, Colo. The Market’s too big for one or two buyers to cover in a few days. So, it’s great to hear when somebody says, ‘You have to go see this new vendor. I got a ridiculous deal.&#
March 2008
By Jo Fleischer
Every few months, thousands of retailers race off to the next furniture
Market—whether it’s High Point, Las Vegas or elsewhere—to navigate through hundreds of showrooms to find the products that will fill the needs of their stores—and generate profits—for as long as the next six months.
Each buyer takes an almost singular approach, because when it comes to buying furniture, there are no textbooks, no courses and no firm rules for success. Instead, furniture Markets are a sink-or-swim proposition. The only preparation is to be guided through the corridors of the industry’s vast showroom buildings by a seasoned retail veteran—usually a father or a mother—who can help a novice buyer identify possible pitfalls and make the most of a lengthy buying trip.
In conversations with Home Furnishings Business, retailers agree that shopping a Market is more an art than science. Often, retailers say, the most obvious path is not always the most effective.
MARKET DEFENSE As an example, some retailers said that no matter how limited their time is at a Market, they must still make time to see long-time suppliers whose product lines are as well known to the buyer as the Starbucks menu is to anyone with a serious Latte addiction. Paradoxically, several retailers said they also must allow time to visit vendors they’re not likely to buy from, even though they’ve visited those showrooms numerous times before.
Why visit longtime vendors who aren’t showing new product? “In a way, I think some (retailers) go to some Markets for strictly defensive reasons,” said Gary Braden, who operates three Braden’s stores in the Knoxville, Tenn., area. “You want to be sure you’re there so you’re protecting your turf. ... Unless you’re doing a certain volume, you’re not always going to get protection (from nearby competing stores) unless you have a relationship with the rep,” he said, adding that reps can get reassigned—or move to a new company—from one Market to the next.
Nelle Carroll, an owner of Whitley Furniture Galleries in North Carolina, said she makes a point to visit the single store’s most important vendors at every Market, if possible. “Whether we need to see their product or not, we feel sometimes we need to go by to make a connection and to tell them, ‘You’re important to us and we want to be important to you.’ I think when a retailer doesn’t go by a (vendor’s space), the rep thinks you’re not putting a lot of importance on that line.”
Market—whether it’s High Point, Las Vegas or elsewhere—to navigate through hundreds of showrooms to find the products that will fill the needs of their stores—and generate profits—for as long as the next six months.
Each buyer takes an almost singular approach, because when it comes to buying furniture, there are no textbooks, no courses and no firm rules for success. Instead, furniture Markets are a sink-or-swim proposition. The only preparation is to be guided through the corridors of the industry’s vast showroom buildings by a seasoned retail veteran—usually a father or a mother—who can help a novice buyer identify possible pitfalls and make the most of a lengthy buying trip.
In conversations with Home Furnishings Business, retailers agree that shopping a Market is more an art than science. Often, retailers say, the most obvious path is not always the most effective.
MARKET DEFENSE As an example, some retailers said that no matter how limited their time is at a Market, they must still make time to see long-time suppliers whose product lines are as well known to the buyer as the Starbucks menu is to anyone with a serious Latte addiction. Paradoxically, several retailers said they also must allow time to visit vendors they’re not likely to buy from, even though they’ve visited those showrooms numerous times before.
Why visit longtime vendors who aren’t showing new product? “In a way, I think some (retailers) go to some Markets for strictly defensive reasons,” said Gary Braden, who operates three Braden’s stores in the Knoxville, Tenn., area. “You want to be sure you’re there so you’re protecting your turf. ... Unless you’re doing a certain volume, you’re not always going to get protection (from nearby competing stores) unless you have a relationship with the rep,” he said, adding that reps can get reassigned—or move to a new company—from one Market to the next.
Nelle Carroll, an owner of Whitley Furniture Galleries in North Carolina, said she makes a point to visit the single store’s most important vendors at every Market, if possible. “Whether we need to see their product or not, we feel sometimes we need to go by to make a connection and to tell them, ‘You’re important to us and we want to be important to you.’ I think when a retailer doesn’t go by a (vendor’s space), the rep thinks you’re not putting a lot of importance on that line.”
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