(Ms.) Romy Schafer
Executive Editor
Furniture Style, Home Fashion Forecast, The Retail Experience
400 Knightsbridge Parkway
Lincolnshire, IL 60069
Phone: 847-415-8031
E-mail: rschafer@vancepublishing.com
Web site: www.furniturestyle.com
Outer Limits Manufacturing Inc.
Tricia Bellocchio, President OL
Retailers need to reinvent themselves to attract customers in (2008),
according to Tricia Bellocchio, President of Outer Limits Manufacturing.
They need to always look fresh. Too many retailers are just sitting back,waiting for the economy to get better. The end users are ready for something new, and they are looking.
Bellocchio cautioned that retailers who don’t stay on top of trends will lose in the end. Remember you have to spend money to make money, she said.
And that means buying more American-made, quality goods. The biggest challenge our company will face in 2008 is getting retailers to stimulate their sales by depending less on Chinese imports and more on productsproudly made in the United States, said Bellocchio. (They need to refocus ) on bringing in quality and choice (products), while creating jobs for U.S workers, who, by the way, are their customers.
A weak U.S. dollar, however, undoubtedly will prompt some midrange retailers
to continue to buy more Chinese, South American and Asian products in the
coming year. To lessen the impact of a weak dollar and the influx of imports
on its sales, Outer Limits has re-examined its target market. We have
targeted the high-end, design-oriented customer who understands the value of
quality and that furniture is an investment and not a disposable product,
Bellocchio explained.
But heightened consumer awareness about product safety, specifically
regarding imports, may negatively impact retailers that sell imported goods
in the coming year. The mere fact that these products that are made
inexpensively using cheap labor and without professional oversight (shows
that theres) no real history of product knowledge, Bellocchio said.We
feel as though we have only seen the tip of the iceberg (when it comes to)
product recalls and inferior products that endanger our children and health.
Sooner or later, there will be a global backlash. We, as a country, should
be prepared to pick up the pieces, get moving again and bring safety and
quality back to the industry.
CIRCLE 252
Company Name: Outer Limits Manufacturing Inc.
Headquarters: North Hollywood , CA
Year Founded: 1994
Executive Staff: Tricia Bellocchio, President; Michael Bellocchio, Vice
President