Bringing value, quality, color to the table; manufacturers dish out higher-end products and promote open-stock presentations - flatware and dinnerware

Discount Store News, Jan 15, 1996 by Joseph Dobrian

NATIONWIDE DSN REPORT -- The trends in dinnerware and flatware are as much about presentation as they are about design and color.

Particularly popular this year will be open-stock programs that will permit shoppers to better view the offerings and select desired pieces. New introductions include richer colors and more outdoorsy patterns, with a tendency toward upscale casualness.

Several manufacturers are adding upgraded lines (featuring heavier weight and higher percentages of nickel and chrome) to flatware offerings being unveiled at the Housewares Show running through Jan. 17 in Chicago. Some manufacturers are reinforcing the middle of the spectrum. The low end of the market seems to be lagging.

The best sellers, at present, seem to be expanded sets of flatware and dinnerware at value prices. In flatware, demand is growing for hostess sets, featuring pieces such as serving spoons, ladles and spreaders. In dinnerware, sets and open-stock pieces geared to specific dishes (such as pasta-serving sets) are looking like winners.

Specialty retailers such as Homeplace and catalog showroom operators like Service Merchandise are particularly tuned into these trends. Both types of retailers display their dinnerware and flatware programs in groups so customers can inspect the patterns, colors and weights. In fact, last year Service Merchandise began merchandising various tabletop products, such as pasta bowls and tortilla makers, by theme in some of its stores to assist customers and to encourage add-on sales.

Open stock, however, is still a rare commodity at discounters. The preference has been towards boxed programs, such as services for eight or 12 in both dinnerware and flatware. Flatware is usually displayed in a box with an open front so shoppers can examine the merchandise. Target is probably the most advanced in the open-stock portion of the dinnerware business at discount, offering shoppers smaller packages of items such as cake plates and bowls in a limited run of patterns.

At least one retailer, however, claims that sets continue to be the backbone of her dinnerware business.

"People want expanded sets at value price points," the retailer said. "They want services for eight in dinnerware and for up to 12 in flatware. The issue is the ease of setting the table with a single purchase."

Despite the discount industry's follow-me attitude, it constitutes the bright. spot in an otherwise soft market for both dinnerware and flatware manufacturers.

However, for discounters to continue to gain market share in these categories, manufacturers suggest that chains will have to experiment a little more with merchandising, product assortment and fashion, and devote enough floor space to really show off the product.

For all of tabletop, which includes a broad swath of housewares products, including dishes and flatware, barware and glassware, 1994 sales were $5.1 billion or 9.5% of total housewares sales, according to the most recent data available by the Housewares Manufacturers Association.

Color, like in many fashions categories, remains a big component in this industry, crossing various product categories.

David Rubin, vp of sales and marketing for Roma Inc., said that color is the big story in dinnerware.

"We're doing well with the lighter color palette, and we'll expand on that," he said. "We'll also add new rich blue and yellow patterns for next spring. A few years ago, everyone was hotly in pursuit of hunter green and cobalt blue. These still do well, but there's a wider range of colors that people clamor for, more in the medium range, like dusty blue, moss and sage green. Cool colors do better. On the dinner table, people are looking for something with more spunk, something brighter, to bring pleasure to the dining experience. Earth tones do well in fabries, but fall flat at the dinner table."

In flatware, the weight and quality of stainless steel seems to be a more important factor in sales than the patterns. Heavy continental-style flatware is gaining, as well as gold-accented sets. Premium 18/8 flatware, which boasts a nickel content of 8% and a chrome content of 18%, is in very high demand. Some manufacturers are adding nickel, going beyond 18/8 to 18/10 and even 18/13.

"With 18/8 flatware, you really see the shine," explained Larry Forster, director of marketing, consumer products division of Oneida. "Flatware with a lower chrome content doesn't resist staining and pitting as well. The higher nickel content theoretically adds more color."

Utica Cutlery Co., known mainly as a lower-end supplier, is offering an upgraded 18/10 line this year, sales manager Joe Joy said.

"Fashion-wise, these new patterns are somewhat trendy, very heavy-weight, which is key if you're getting into step-up merchandise," Joy said. "We've never, until now, had a presence in the higher end. The initial response has been great."

"This category has been a plus for many retailers," noted Harmon Stein, president of Excel Marketing (RetroNu). "The country has some lack of faith in the economy, and people seem to be working at home more now. Therefore, ready-to-wear, which is the traffic builder, has been weak, but tableware has been doing particularly well.