Furniture industry to face the challenges ahead (April 2, 2009-2060)

The list of challenges to the accent furniture segment also was broad, ranging from economic ones to the need to help independent retailers. Again, the push to stay ahead of design trends repeated.

"The biggest challenges at the high end are to continually develop product that is fresh and relevant to today's environments," Gailbraith said. "whether that be in contemporary or more traditional styles. Even traditional furniture cannot be 'your grandmother's traditional'."

Although vendors find it tempting to follow the path of least resistance and engineer in cost savings first, McFadden said they can't lose sight of the design elements that make each piece attractive and meaningful to retail customers. "I think the value of creativity will prevail," he said. "Items that are the result of strong design work at good value will be successful. Commodity products struggle.

"We are seeing pressure from interest rates," he added. "Customers experienced a real wealth effect refinancing homes over the last several years, and a lot of the equity that they took out in refinance went back into the home in furnishings. That binge is over. Fuel prices are also a worry. Another spike in crude could take dollars out of our customers' pocketbooks and add transfer costs to our products. We can't control these things, so we can only prepare by designing better products."

Skipper agreed. "I believe Habersham's sales have continued to trend upward as a direct result of fresh new designs and willingness to think outside of the box," he said. "Looking ahead, I see accent furniture becoming increasingly price competitive and margin restrictive at the medium- to low-end of the category. I believe the upper-end of the category will see the strongest growth as more unique designs and styles are introduced."

Cain views the niche's biggest challenge as staying abreast of the needs of its retail customers. "We are opening another showroom to better reach our customers, and, at the same time, we are stepping up in our efforts to travel to meet with them," he said. "Our focus remains where it has always been ¡ª to provide high design items with the highest quality. The price point pressure is always there and we continue to try to obtain the best prices possible while never sacrificing our primary focuses."

Meeting the needs of retailer customers was also foremost in Sumner's mind. "Retailers are going to be healthier in the third and fourth quarter than they are right now," he said. They'll have less inventory, less stress on them and be able to be in a stronger position to buy. I would expect just a slight increase (say 5¨C6%) in overall in sales in 2007 over 2006."

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