Stylish storage is in the house

DSN Retailing Today, Feb 23, 2004

Innovation and styling have become critical attributes for new storage products. Trends are toward products that provide solutions either in terms . of what they store or where.

Indeed, even as plastic goods are becoming more specific in application, a new generation of more generalized canvas, wicker and wood storage vehicles is growing because they are stylish enough to pass as decorative items.

The recently debuted Christopher Lowell office furniture line at Home Depot comes complete with accessories including storage baskets and bins meant to hide in plain sight. Work areas are intruding on living space, Lowell said, so storage has to be compatible with a wider variety of home environments.

Zellers today offers an extensive Cons selection of wicker storage baskets and bins. Bruce Dinan, senior vp of merchandising, said that the storage business is no longer simply about a tub, a lid and somewhere to hide it.

"In storage, the customer is going to fashion, but there has got to be some newness to it," he said.

Wicker, wood and canvas need to keep pace with fashion trends, but newness in plastic goods still is associated with functionality, and functionality can encourage consumers to accept goods at less than bargain-basement price, which is where the basic storage tub business has gone.

"Our customers like innovation along with function," said Robert Atteberry, Kmart's vp, gmm of home, through a spokesperson. "For our customers, the price/value/quality equation is the answer."

Wal-Mart is offering more eye-appealing product, but is tracking the trend for more specifically crafted plastic products, too. "Considering both categories have different applications, we are pursuing both," said Melissa Berryhill, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. "Wicker items for the laundry category and the totes for storage; we've had good customer response to both."

Vendors who specialize in plastic storage products increasingly are producing more task-specific products in a broad and narrow sense. Narrowly specific products include, for example, a new cereal keeper from Rubbermaid or Zevro's line--part appliance and part storage item--of cereal dispensers that operated something like gumball machines. Buddeez licensed the Kingsford name from Clorox to create a storage dispenser for 20-pound bags of charcoal. An "easy-lift" handle makes the charcoal simpler to pour, and the plastic container keeps it fresh as well as helping suppress unpleasant charcoal dust.

Other plastic products are more general in design, but still lend themselves to doing certain tasks better than generic tubs. Latches are one key to this, and most major vendors now offer more than one kind of latch depending on how important securing a lid is. Sterilite, for instance, has expanded its product line to combine multiple latch configurations with strap handles to hold items that need to move around a lot, as well as hinged lids that make it easy to add items that are thereafter secure.

Jean Rupar, licensing manager for Rubbermaid, said hot new technology segments, like DVDs, and the rise in crafting, have driven innovation in storage. Beyond that, consumers who can take care of basic storage needs with a few tubs want to see new products that address their frustrations and emerging challenges. '"We've created categories to freshen the business," she said. "The pressure is on us from retailers and consumers to come out with new and different and better storage solutions."