Decorative Overlay Manufacturers Struggle With Market Growth Due to Foreign Competitors

Business Wire, April 13, 2005

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Cheaper Asian imports entering the North American decorative overlays market are affecting the regional demand for domestic manufacturers. Chinese and Indian manufacturers make the furniture with decorative overlays at a fraction of the prices of Western manufacturers.

By slowly offering low-cost copies of furniture manufactured in North America, they are slowly taking market share from the original manufacturers.

However, North American manufacturers are working towards establishing closer relationships with furniture stores to increase market share.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://chemicals.frost.com), North American Decorative Overlays Market, reveals that this market generated revenue of $2.91 billion in 2004 and projects to reach $3.07 billion by 2010.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the North American Decorative Overlays Market, then send an e-mail to Tolu Babalola, Corporate Communications, at tolu.babalola@frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail. Upon receipt of the above information, an overview will be sent to you via e-mail.

"The predominant price competition seems to be coming from the Asian regions that seem to have a price advantage for their products," says Frost & Sullivan Research Manager Amit Tandon. "This is done with the motive of building market share due to an uncertain atmosphere of fluctuation dollar prices."

Another issue vendors must tackle is the end-user perception of decorative overlays. Vendors consider granite a luxury material, whereas quartz and engineered stones are labeled "smart" purchases. Since price dictates purchase decisions, manufacturers are unable to highlight product value and design.

To improve consumers' perception, focus ought to shift toward patterns offering a sophisticated and natural appearance. Factors affecting the design-related decisions are texture, dimension, and neutral colors.

Vendors are also directing their marketing efforts toward building a reputation in the marketplace. This involves working closely with retail customers and production builders to provide what is currently the market demand.

"Companies are also offering advice to customers based on their specific needs and are providing enhanced value-added services such as application technology support and tailor-made solutions," notes Tandon.

This change in the approach of companies -- from relying on product differentiation based on price to being more customer-centric -- is helping them to develop specialty offerings and thus broaden their product range.

The North American Decorative Overlays Market, a part of the Chemicals & Materials subscription, provides detailed revenue forecasts by region and end user. This enables manufacturers of decorative overlays to design strategies and position their products to benefit from the changing markets and obtain maximum return on investments. Interviews of analysts and executive briefings are available to the press.

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community, by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit http://www.frost.com.

North American Decorative Overlays Market

A900

Keywords in this press release: decorative overlays, cabinets, North America, raw materials, granite, quartz, engineered stones, furniture, research, information, market, trends, technology, service, forecast.