As a rule, furniture manufacturers and importers play it fairly safe with new introductions. Companies, especially those owned by corporations and run by accountants, generally minimize risk by waiting until the public reacts to new products from companies that are either driven by a fashion impetus, or are trying to carve out a niche for themselves by making a bold statement.
If those products catch the public's eye, and sell, then the bigger guns step in and start producing similar products using similar colors, patterns, motifs, etc.
Clever little gecko lamps
In clothing, it's always about what is this year's "black". The same is true for the furniture industry. Last year orange was the new black, or maybe that was two years ago. Three years ago it was chocolate (not brown, chocolate) and pink. This year it appears that blue and silver are the new black.
Quite a bit of blue was in evidence, especially paler blues. However, history shows that the industry is always a little late to the ball with color. The tendency to bide time rocking on heels while a color or pattern emerges as a sales winner limits the big players in the furniture manufacturing business to being also-rans in their own race.
The larger manufactures seemed to have abandoned creativity.
It's readily apparent the furniture industry sets promoting original designs fairly low on the agenda. The "inspiration" for new designs currently seems to be mid-century modern. It would seem that particular term (or similar: mid-century style, mid-century inspired, mid-century silhouette, mid-century contemporary, mid-century heritage, etc.) has it's own button on the keyboards of the in-house writers of the home furnishings trade magazines.
Somebody has been watching MadMen, or was watching it five years ago when it's first season was set in the late 1950's.
Bold color, bold patterns make for attention grabbing rugs that do not assault the senses
Last years hot button topic was the green revolution, Everybody was going green, and the furniture industry was going to get with the program. Going green in the furniture industry boiled down to using renewable natural resources, recycled, re-used, re-purposed. That was and is commendable.
it was good to see that going green is still being pursued by the industry. At this market the International Sleep Products Association hosted a seminar on mattress recycling, addressing the concern that legislation being proposed by various state governments to regulate mattress recycling in their states will lead to many costly, fragmented programs and that instead a national mattress recycling program should be implemented.
This is a sound idea, being as how mattresses consume quite a bit of space in landfills, and the last thing the furniture industry needs is every state in the union having it's own set of rules for recycling mattresses to deal with.
Simple solution: Mimic the system used by the oil change industry. You get your oil changed, you pay a recycling fee for the old oil. Consumer buys a new mattress, $25.00 is tacked on to haul the old mattress to a facility that will strip it down and recycle the steel, foam, fill materials, etc.
This is already being done in several states, shouldn't be too hard to get the nation on board.
One of the more interesting accessory displays
This years hot button topic was social media. Utilizing Facebook, Pinterest, search engine marketing, email, websites, etc., to promote and sell your company and product.
In light of all the interest in building and maintaining a web presence, it was very telling that an advertiser accused Facebook of fraud yesterday, alleging that bots were used to generate up to 80% of the clicks they received, and not actual users.
Social media is good for one thing and one thing only. Getting your name out there. Selling furniture online has not worked, despite over a decade of effort by some pretty big players.
Know who the biggest online furniture retailer is? Ebay, followed by Craigslist.
Online shoppers are generally looking for either a specific product (Hence Ebay's success with antiques and used furnishings) or price (hence Craigslist's success).
Online sales account for about 6% of the average furniture store's annual sales. If the cost of maintaining an online presence exceeds the margin on that 6%, how can a furniture store afford to hire a staff to head up an online presence?
Furniture is a product that has to involve all of the senses, not just the eyes and ears. People have to get tactile with furniture, they have to fall in love with it.
More boldly colorful carpets
Furniture shopping should be a fun adventure. If furniture shopping acquires the reputation that it is a dreaded necessary evil similar to purchasing a car, then the furniture industry will face the same fate as the auto industry - distrust of sales staff, intense scrutiny of product, and constant bickering and haggling over price.
Anyone who thinks the furniture industry is already like the auto industry has never worked in auto retail.
Fun colors and fun patterns make for fun furnishings
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