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ORLANDO, Fla. — Furniture and bedding continue to set the growth pace for Nationwide Marketing Group, which gave the categories prime exposure at its PrimeTime event here.
The March 13-16 show, themed “re:imagine” at the Orange County Convention Center, drew more than 3,000 people, according to Dave Bilas, president and CEO of the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based furniture, electronics and appliance buying group. That included more than 720 member retail companies and more than 175 vendor partners showing in the 198,000-square-foot show space.
Roughly 40% of the floor was dedicated to the furniture and bedding category, noted Jeff Knock, chief commercial officer, up from about 32% at the group’s previous PrimeTime in Dallas.
“It’s the first thing you walk through and see,” Knock said, indicating that this was by design since the category continues to appeal to and perform not only for Nationwide’s growing furniture store base, but its appliance and electronics retailers looking for better margins and increased traffic.
Bilas suggested looking at it this way: “If you’re an appliance store, you might see a customer every 24 to 36 months.” Add electronics and that customer may be back every 18 months.
“If you have bedding, you might start seeing the customer every six months because you have the durables they need,” he said. “That increase in foot traffic and the stickiness to the store is what we’re trying to give them.”
The shrinking size of some products (such as flat-screen TVs) and the elimination of the poor performers means some dealers have more space now for other products, including home furnishings.
In addition, Nationwide is in the early stages of evaluating virtual and augmented reality services, said Frank Sandtner, executive vice president, member services. It’s part of a broad initiative, he said, that “will enable our retailers to showcase a lot more product … with less square footage.”
On the show floor, 35 of Nationwide’s home furnishings and bedding suppliers and related service partners exhibited, including new source partners Leather Italia USA, Feizy Rugs, Furniture of America, Moe’s Home Collection, D&W Silks and Capital Marketing Concepts, the latter a provider of gift-with-purchase, travel giveaways and other marketing programs.
The Leather Italia display of 16 stationary and leather motion groups was one of the first things retailers could see upon entering the massive show space, and the response was “amazing,” said Mike Campbell, CEO.
“In the first three and a half hours we probably saw about 250 dealers, some existing (customers) and quite a few new,” he said. With 10 to 12 people in the small space at any given time, Campbell said the company was writings orders “very aggressively.”
Leather Italia’s mix here included traditional, transitional and casual lifestyle looks and all performed well, he said. The price points on stationary sofas ranged from $899 to $1,599 while power motion sofas ranged from $1,199 to $1,499.
“We’ve received a great amount of interest in our quick-ship program,” he said, adding that company ships from its warehouses same day any order that it receives by 3 p.m.
Bill Bazemore, Nationwide’s senior vice present of furniture and bedding, said the group’s new partners — including Leather Italia and Moe’s — reflect the group’s effort to offer “more variety, moving into lifestyle (looks that can appeal to young consumers), and stepping up price points, which is where the members need to go.”
Educational sessions during the show, part of the new Learning Academy, included a “2016 Bedding Town Hall,” led by Furniture/Today Executive Editor David Perry, and more on diversifying product assortments, the economic outlook and tips on selling increasingly popular adjustable bed bases.
A Furniture Summit held just before the show floor opened, was headlined by Brian Carter, social media expert and author, who humorously outlined the benefits and pitfalls of social media marking, and proclaimed Facebook the most cost effective way to engage consumers if used properly.
Steve Rotman, owner of Worcester, Mass.-based Rotmans, was among the retailer members here taking advantage of both the educational sessions and the PrimeTime show deals, calling PrimeTime “an education.”
“They are extremely proactive in many different areas — whether it’s insurance, credit, warehousing or marketing and advertising,” he said. Often, Rotman said, it’s the retailer, who has to become the aggressors in order to get a handle on these services, but “Nationwide has a way of doing the work for you,” he said.
“It gives the retailer the edge in each category.”
Likewise, Vesna Telalovic, vice president of merchandising for Lombard, Ill.-based The Room-Place, called it “an excellent show.”
Telalovic was representing RoomPlace as well as Easyhome, its sister rent-to-own franchise business. She said she was impressed by “how well the Nationwide group presents what they have to offer, whether it is furniture, electronics, appliances or the plethora of services they offer.”
“In one day I was able to attend three seminars, put together our new TV program and make some new furniture finance and marketing-related vendor connections,” she said.
