INDUSTRY UPDATES

Design Team Joins CottonBelle’s Kiosk

CottonBelle has introduced a design team that customers won’t be able to resist. Reaching 7 1/2 feet, the sleekly styled, hard-maple kiosk has joined with a new design team to elevate store profits and product to new heights.

The four-sided design team melds color, design and texture. On one side, the windoware designer coordinates velvet rod-pocket curtains, chenille elephant tab tops, faux silk tie tops and a fringed paisley scarf.

On another side, the pillow designer features 24-inch CottonBelle pillows in washable, piped faux leather. Choose among 13 colors.

The customize designer encourages buyers to consider style and comfort by using tassels, buttons, flanges and flaps to pillows in various sizes and shapes.

The fourth side, the fabric designer, organizes CottonBelle’s 170 fabrics in seemingly unlimited color, seasonal and decorating themes.

“Many customers are intimidated when choosing fabrics and accessories and don’t buy,” said CottonBelle co-owner Mary Lou Rath. “Sales staff also may face the same dilemma and not provide customers with the comfort and style that just the right pillows, for example, can provide.

“By adding the CottonBelle design team, customers can see for themselves what fabric combinations will look like and how piped and tasseled pillows can stylishly complement cover choices,” Rath said. It is this idea that compelled CottonBelle to intro the kiosk at the Futon Expo in April.

Retailers can easily incorporate this decorating concept into their stores without hiring expensive designers. And they needn’t worry about space needs.

“The kiosk takes the space of a chair and is incredibly more profitable,” said Deborah Smail, co-owner of Houston Futon. “We love the height.”

The 28 1/2-inch-square unit sits on casters making it a breeze to move or turn. “With shelving, hanging slats for fabric samples and a changeable signage section, the design kiosk will quickly become your most profitable square footage,” Rath said.

“The kiosk worked and made money immediately. We put it by the register and customers commented, ‘Oh, I didn’t see that fabric before’ and added several pillows on the spot,” said Smail, who bought two kiosks at the Futon Expo.

Smail also placed a kiosk behind a blonde-colored futon frame. Pillows that coordinated with the futon cover were placed on the kiosk, offering a decorating alternative.

“Customers always look at the kiosk before swatch books,” Smail said.

For further information or to reserve your new design team now, call CottonBelle at 573-859-6589.

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Night and Day Furniture showing New Products At High Point

Night and Day Furniture will make its debut showing at High Point this October and Mike Gallawa wants everyone to know he’s got a few things worth coming to take a look at.

“You haven’t seen a real rattan futon frame until you see what Night and Day Furniture has put together for our booth at High Point. This new rattan line is a must see,” said Gallawa.

“If you have been in this market long enough, you’ve probably seen many attempts at bringing rattan and wicker materials into the futon market. I think it is fair to say it’s been with pretty mixed success until now,” Gallawa said.

“The difference is that we came at this looking to offer the real thing – true, classic rattan furniture, in all its glory. Rattan furniture that just happens to be a futon frame as well.”

We asked ourselves, “How we can adapt this great product to make great futon frames?” In the end I believe we put together an excellent line.”

Night and Day’s rattan line has taken a flower theme for its product names. Their booth will feature both their Magnolia and their Rosebud models, complete with matching tables and ottomans.

The Magnolia is a grand, square arm covered in a broad weave rattan and mounted on solid, turned wood feet. It incorporates the time honored futon good sense of a lift-up storage space under the armrest.

The Rosebud is simply classic. Its warmly finished wooden legs frame a curving and luxurious herringbone pattern rattan panel. It’s the kind of model that is as much at home in a windswept beach bungalow as it is in a crisp clean urban dwelling. The luxury is in the details!

“And the imagination does not stop with the frames; the tables and ottomans are stand-alone stunners,” added Gallawa.

Along with the new rattan line, Night and Day will be showing their signature line-up of premium futon frames. The Premium line features their patent pending front-loading and quick-assembly mechanism known as SHOEFITTINGS (the all rubber SNAPPER™ and SEA HORSE™) that have been exciting the market since their debut in January in San Francisco.

“We’ll also be showing four mid-to high range oak frames, with tables to match. So be sure to come by and take a look,” Gallawa said.

Night and Day Furniture will be showing all their new lines at High Point in space #7G in the C & D Building.

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Present Economy An Opportunity Futon Leader Gold Bond Says

HARTFORD (CT)—Futon mattress leader Gold Bond reported increased summer season sales driven by double-digit growth in premium and ultra-premium mattresses during the recent “economic downturn”.

Gold Bond president Bob Naboicheck is encouraging futon retailers to create comparable sales successes this year and next year by clearly promoting futon’s value and benefits. “Futons have a strong story to tell. Let’s tell it,” he says.

“The current market is a terrific opportunity for futon marketers. In a so-called ‘down’ economy, consumers aggressively seek value and benefits. The futon is a tremendous alternative. It genuinely delivers price and value. Our industry’s $50 step-up takes shoppers to a top-of-the-line innerspring futon mattress, not the additional $200 to $300 charged by sofa sleeper retailers,” Mr. Naboicheck notes.

Sharp Retailers Making Headway

“Sofas and sleepers are being outperformed by aggressive futon retailers. Sharp retailers are making headway in the current business climate. A sofa sleeper dollar is better spent on today’s new futon,” Mr. Naboicheck, a futon industry innovator, noted.

“The business is opening up. We must remember our original successes with futons. Concentrate on what makes futons popular. Futons deliver a convertible lifestyle product with tremendous versatility and, most important, value. Successful retailers, we think, use Gold Bond product-training techniques. This foundation leads to retail successes in today’s climate,” he said.

The 101 year-old company saw modest growth of about 6% in its standard futon mattress product lines. Premium futon mattresses are fueling this year’s growth. “A compelling super premium retail presentation has proven to be the key,” he said. “Such a presentation stresses ‘value’,” he said.

‘Ongoing Excitement’

Last year, Gold Bond added to its already potent premium futon mattress product lines. The company introduced the industry’s first pure natural latex foam mattress and the futon industry’s premier individually encased heat-tempered coil mattress. Both were immediately successful in retail shops across the country. “The excitement these products generate is ongoing,” he said. Gold Bond added the two mattresses to the company’s successful line of Holland Maid‚ innerspring futons, its ultra plush SofTouch and newly enhanced Wool Wrap futon mattresses. Gold Bond manufactures a full line of futon mattresses.

The company is known for its award-winning point of sale retail support: sales brochures, banners, easels, posters, counter cards, hang tags and advertising materials. The company ships to 49 states and eleven countries.

Gold Bond is one of America’s largest independently and family-owned sleep product suppliers. It expanded into a new modern 115,000 square foot factory and dramatically upgraded its innerspring mattress production equipment.

For information, please call Bob Naboicheck, telephone 800-873-8498.

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SIS Adds Promotional Cover Lineup

SIS Covers’ new line of promotionally priced covers has been the most successful new product introduction in company history. The machine-washable grade “A” prints are priced at about half the cost of an average designer cover, yet have the same upscale style and high quality expected from all SIS products. The attractive price makes them easy to keep in stock, and your customers still have the ability to special order matching pieces. The easy care and fabric weight also make them perfect for bedding and window treatments.

For more information contact SIS Covers at 800-989-5435.

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New National Sales Manager for August Lotz

August Lotz, one of the foremost manufacturers of futon furniture and mattresses, has appointed a new national sales manager.

Shawn Whatley brings 14 years’ experience in retail sales, marketing, advertising and management to the Wisconsin-based company.

“I have received a thorough grounding for this position, having worked with my family in Washington to develop Futon Gallery, now Urban Space, into one of August Lotz’s top retailers,” Whatley said.

“Not only do I have a first-hand appreciation of the retailer’s concerns, needs and challenges but, over the years, I have been able to observe what the public is looking for in futon furniture, and August Lotz offers them everything they desire in quality of workmanship and style.”

Whatley said he will focus on point-of-purchase materials and solid training.
“I plan to produce quality displays and point-of-purchase materials to showcase the unique quality, construction features and the story associated with this company and what it manufactures,” he said.

Whatley said he has a sales-floor understanding of what it takes to sell the August Lotz product and is looking forward to passing that on to the company’s customers.

“Everyone in the industry recognizes how well it is made. My job is to demonstrate that to the public and make it easier for retailers to sell it,” he said.

For more information call Shawn Whatley at (800) 826-7326.

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