ALLISON ZISKO

from HFN October

by Forty One Madison

A fall feeling

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from the editor TAKE STOCK

Allison Zisko

Home furnishings is in its heyday right now, buoyed by consumers’ enthusiasm for all things home since that is where they have been spending most of their time this year. While no one wants to appear crass about a public health crisis, the fact is that is the pandemic has been good for the home furnishings industry’s bottom line. Even mature categories like tabletop have gotten a boost. The biggest problem many home furnishings manufacturers have is keeping up with retail demand, staying in stock and juggling overnight fulfillment requests. Continued success, particularly during the critical fourth quarter, depends on them getting that right. But what happens after that? Sooner or later business will start to settle down to more normal, pre-pandemic levels—according to the Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, annual expenditures for home improvements and repairs is expected to shrink by the middle of next year, for example—so it helps to think ahead and be prepared so that when consumers become focused on other spending pursuits, home furnishings can continue to thrive.

That means cultivating the new home-based habits consumers have developed, honing clever marketing strategies, embracing new, tech-based models of business and seizing market share opportunities others have ignored or have been too busy to address.

Several furniture companies are skipping High Point Market this month because they either exhibited at a busier-than-usual Premarket and don’t feel the need to come back, or because they are overwhelmed with the business they have, leaving opportunities for competitors to scoop up business and acquire new customers, Furniture Today recently reported. Other companies, in furniture as well as categories such as housewares, are focused only on their biggest accounts, leaving their smaller independent business to wither. This, too, leaves the door open to competition.

We know how important e-commerce is. But so are its off-shoots, like social selling, content marketing and direct-to-consumer marketing. Explore them, if you haven’t already. One marketing expert is urging tabletop companies to consider DTC for building brand equity and getting in front of consumers. It cannot and should not replace retail partnerships, but it is an important marketing tool. Be creative. Pay attention to how consumers change their daily routines, in big and small ways, as they adjust to pandemic life, and offer them products that make their lives easier, healthier, safer and more enjoyable. NPD’s Joe Derochowski recommends leveraging their life moments—like those impromptu backyard weddings or drive-by birthday parties—with products that make those events more meaningful. The fall and winter holiday season, starting with Halloween, is a prime opportunity to do that.

I understand that for many companies, particularly those that are struggling through bankruptcy, closing factories, furloughing employees and stretching their remaining workers to the near breaking point, these recommendations may be out of reach. But for those with a little extra bandwidth, careful strategizing now can reap benefits later.

Ethnicraft

First Floor, IHFC

InterHall, a juried collection of design-driven, lifestyle-focused home furnishings, is the premier destination for fresh, new and exciting resources representing all styles – from traditional to contemporary. Buyers and designers fl ock to InterHall for one main reason: to fi nd The ext Big Thing. DISCOVER IT.