Molding a market: ergonomically designed chairs are at the cutting edge of design and comfort - sales of office chairs at office supply warehouse stores - Home Office Marketing

Discount Store News, Jan 8, 1990 by Laura Liebeck

The office chair market has been driven by demands for basic seating but has been butressed in recent years by increased interest in upgraded models. This is particularly true for home-based office workers and executives who take work home with them. The core of the chair business still rests in the task chairs, seating designed for specific tasks such as computer and VDT operators and secretaries. These chairs generally carry price tags of between $39 and $199 with the most popular price point between $69 and $99.

Executive chairs, units with high backs and broad seats, are on the rise, too. And prices no longer peak at $200 but now are in the $300 to $400 range.

What is increasingly clear from retailers and manufacturers is that basic seating is out. Consumers are interested in pneumatic lifts that make the chair easier to adjust, wider seats for greater comfort and leather chairs for style. All of these factors raise the cost of a chair and consumers appear willing to upgrade for quality and comfort.

Meeting such request has challenged retailers to adjust merchandise selections. Some are also devising creative ways to merchandise chairs.

For example, Office Max presents its 60 chair sku's corral style, said Feuer. The department looks like a minitheatre and customers can try the chairs musical chairs style. Office Max also presents chairs in grouping for aesthetic purposes like most retailers.

Office seating is a big business for Office Max, and chair sku's have increased by 15 percent in the last six months.

Office World, which carries six sku's in ergonomics and 100 total, maintains a sales staff that is trained to sell the advantages of ergonomic chair design, said Stephen Appel, co-owner of the seven-unit chain based in Great Neck, N.Y.

Although ergonomics isn't a big factor at Office World right now, upgraded chair sales are on the rise. Office World maintains a large furniture department and chairs are merchandised in furniture groupings for maximum appeal.

PHOTO : Office Max, Detroit, makes its 60 chair sku's look like a minitheatre so that customers

PHOTO : can try all the chairs.