With The Giant Now Tamed They Settled into Their New Home

"We have two distinct futon cover programs at Burlington. One is a swatch program of reorderable futon covers," said Binkhorst, who added, "At the Futon Expo in Phoenix, we introduced our new and expanded collection of fabrics." Binkhorst points to three swatch books on the counter in the wholesale offices. "We start out with a promotional book where every full size futon cover wholesales at $44.50. If you apply the typical industry 2.2 markup, you end up with a retail price of $99 - a price point most specialty retailers feel comfortable with. The second book is a book of solids with a look and feel of quality. It includes brushed cottons, chenilles, and velvets priced 'competitively'," says Binkhorst. The third book is a designer book with a wide price spread ($52.50 to $112.50 for full size futon cover). "We are aware of the price sensitive nature of this product and have made a concerted effort to introduce the majority of new fabrics in the lower price categories. However, it is difficult to say no to a beautiful, yet expensive, fabric. Interestingly, these fabrics have become some of our best sellers."

"This expanded futon cover program is new for our company," says Binkhorst. "We have never carried so many fabrics before, but we are convinced this is the way to go." Binkhorst was very careful to express the fact that excellent quality does not have to mean higher prices. "Our image has been so well crafted that some futon retailers believe our prices must be higher than our competitors'. In reality, all of our pricing is very competitive. Our swatch books are often in good company with other vendors' books, and many retailers have realized the benefit of offering a large and comprehensive selection." Burlington also has a custom cover program that has grown considerably over the years. "We have created a department that only works on these special sizes. In addition, we are working hard to continue the progress towards standardization of sizes, as this will make our industry less complicated for everyone," he said.

The assorted program at Burlington is very different from the typical factory select program. The program is directed by Burlington's wholesale marketing department. "This program allows our dealers to get only the assorted futon covers they want and not have someone else decide for them. We take every fabric available for this program, cut six inch square swatches, and number them for easy identification," said Chris Van Genechten, the wholesale coordinator. "We then send out the swatches on a rotating customer basis to our over 500 wholesale accounts. Our dealers then pick out the fabrics they want, and we usually ship from our finished goods inventory in two or three days. This program has limited quantities of each fabric and is administered on a first come first serve basis."

All of the company's various programs are outlined and, along with a new point of sales tool, are available upon request. "To make our products more user friendly, we have developed a retail price list that is available to all our accounts, customized to their specific pricing structure. The retail price list is an easy to use laminated chart that allows both the retailer and customer to look for a specific fabric and determine its retail price. The retail price incorporates the retailer's markup factor and is rounded off to a retail price."

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