In 2018, Lorell® launched the Relevance series offering it in Mahogany and a new finish, “Weathered Charcoal”, which is a beautiful gray wood finish. After only 1 year, it is easy to see that the Weathered Charcoal finish was a big hit by out selling Mahogany (traditionally our #1 selling finish) nearly 9 to 1.
For 2019, we are excited to announce that we are rolling out Weathered Charcoal in our #1 selling casegoods series, Essentials. This finish will be exclusive to our Lorell® Quick-Ship Program. If you are not using the program yet, now is the time. Lorell Quick-Ship provides a deeper discount, ships in 48 hours, and has a $1,000 minimum order size. Be on the lookout for a new brochure launching the new finish in the next couple of weeks. This product is available to purchase now!
Link to brochure: http://www.activepoint.com/Weathered_Charcoal/
Furniture Training in Chicago
In December, 50 people including dealer owners, sales reps and SPR regional managers attended a second round of training at The Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The city was decked out in holiday cheer as we spent time at four of our FurnitureAdvantageTM vendors: Lacasse, Safco, HON and 9 to 5.
At Lacasse, we learned about their state-of-the-art laminate factory in Saint-Pie, Quebec, where over 45% of their custom products are produced. These custom products are tailored specifically to the end users exact needs. The Safco showroom was very interactive, allowing us to touch and feel all of their active office products. Today 50% of all workstations are height adjustable and as you know, having and using the correct tools within the office is key to a productive environment. Hon took us through their extensive product line, showcasing their new benching product that will be available soon. Hon then demonstrated their vast assortment of online tools to help make furniture selling and quoting easier.
Lastly, we learned about 9 to 5’s new factory in Union City, TN where they are producing almost all of their own parts, including pouring aluminum bases and bending metal. To complete our time there we were able to test drive all of their seating offerings.
We packed in a ton of valuable information but did allow for a little fun at Gino’s where we had some of Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza! This trip along with our first training in September allowed for a total of 75 people from 10 states to become more informed and better sellers of some of our top vendors. We are already seeing tangible success from the trainings, with a large chair order out of Ohio and a $50,000 benching project out of Illinois. Stay tuned for more exciting training opportunities in 2019!
Tariff Update: Holding at 10%
With the trade negotiations going on between the US and China we have been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride not knowing exactly what would happen with tariffs. On September 24th, a 10% tariff was implemented on about $200 billion dollars in goods, impacting many furniture manufacturers at varying degrees. On January 1, 2019, that 10% was scheduled to increase an additional 15%, moving the tariffs to 25%. However, after a sideline meeting at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina, President Trump and Chinese President Xi were able to call a temporary truce. This truce is set to last 90 days,
not removing the 10% increase imposed on Sept 24th, but delaying the additional 15% that was set for January 1 until at least March 2nd.
If you are working on furniture projects in Q1 make sure your customers are aware of the situation. More to come, as we continue to monitor the situation.
New Contact Information
In an effort to streamline the communication process we have updated our contact information: One Furniture Phone # (844) 387-6777
General Furniture Request: FurnitureSupport@sprich.com
Furniture Special Orders: FurnitureOrders@sprich.com
Interior Design: InteriorDesign@sprich.com
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