...and a fairytale about profits

Carole Sloan, founding editor-in-chief -- Home Textiles Today, 4/21/2003 12:00:00 AM

It's amazing how things can go along on a business-as-usual basis until someone wakes up, says "Eureka," and an entire marketplace can change virtually overnight.

A case in point is what is happening in the process called classification merchandising. Or more simply stated, understanding that if you put some "oomph" behind what customers want, you will truly benefit with incremental sales and profits.

This product phenomenon began to creep onto the scene about two or three markets ago when some suppliers felt the potential opportunities for more growth with products such as quilts and decorative pillows.

The problem was that unless the company was viewed as a conventional producer of the product on a classification basis, it was just viewed as making an accessory for another segment of the business. As a result, perhaps the classification would be picked up by a few brave retailers, more likely not.

What happened is typical of retailing today. Among the few brave pioneers were some who actually reported important success stories — even if the products and suppliers were not part of the corporate matrix.

With this most recent market, we saw major moves that involved pulling some of the so-called fringe products into merchandising segments of their own.

So now we can be looking for special areas dedicated to the accessory businesses. And until the price vultures get into it, some folks could actually make some money.