There was substantial anxiety prior to the recent High Point Market. After all, it had been more than two years since we have enjoyed a normal market in High Point without COVID-dictated restrictions and travel regulations.

Most of those who attended agreed it was a very pleasant, well-attended market and generally much appreciated.

Retailers were mostly pleased with the assortment in terms of new products, styles, designs and finishes or colors/ textures. Satisfaction with delivery time expectations was mixed, although most retailers were empathetic with vendors given the extraordinary circumstances all are facing, such as raw material and labor shortages as well as the container and port challenges, both here and overseas.

It will come as no surprise that everyone was displeased with the higher prices on almost everything except leather upholstery.

Speaking of higher prices, the price increases just seemed to come again and again, with few having any ability to predict or control the next price adjustment.

Do you risk pricing yourself out of the market or the sale to the end consumer being unprofitable?

Everyone welcomed the opportunity to discuss the unusual and extreme issues faced since 2019, now perceived as the last time things were “normal,” and to speculate on what the industry can expect over the remainder of the year.

Name your topic for discussion and speculation, we have it all: inflation, the invasion of the Ukraine, COVID here and more recently reappearing in China, energy prices and availability, labor issues and costs, government actions and lack of action, shortages and delays that are almost everywhere, and the weather, which has been quite challenging of late, too.

And then there is the economy …

Source: https://www.furnituretoday.com/