Discounters chase fashion end of kitchen textile, tabletop biz

Discount Store News, March 18, 1985

Discounters are chasing sales in the fashion end of the kitchen textile and tabletop business, where margins are higher and the chance for multi-item purchases is greater than in basic offerings.

To that end, in recent months discounters have begun showing the same patterns in kitchen ensembles and tabletop items like tableclothes, placemats and napikins--a first-time approach for the domestics industry.

To coordinate these programs, chains have approached several manufacturers who have either worked with each other to design compatible patterns or have been willing to work with retailers to create desired programs.

Several discounters, including K mart, Wal-Mart, Jamesway, Venture, ShopKo, Roses and T.G. & Y. have picked up a program by Town & Country that is unique in that it offers matching patterned kitchen and tabletop items, as well as chair pads, all from a single source.

Buyers are also creating their own coordinated kitchen textile/tabletop programs in solid color stories by displaying related items together of fixtures by color. Several discounters are switching from price/item ads to ads featuring groupings of these related items to highlight the fashion appeal and encourage multiple sales.

Adding It Up

However, not all chains are swayed by the in-store coordinated looks, choosing to stock merchandise by category. Richway vp, dmm, John Vanden-Berge believes Town & County's four-sided fixture requires too much maintenance by store personnel to make sure the patterns on each side aren't mixed together.

In the focus on fashion looks, fabrics and texture have become more important, too; buyers report solid color placemats look fresher in woven and chintz fabrications, a switch from the more common quilted and ruffled items.

Apparent in these aggressive approaches is discounters' recognition that the strategies used to generate excitement in bed and bath are applicable to kitchen and tabletop.

Utility kitchen items are "the strongest percentage of our business right now," said Gold Circle vp, dmm, Steve Fishman. "What we call the fashion end has not been a growth area--and traditionally, the fashion end is more profitable."

Fishman believes that with better programs in coordinates, fashion could eventually account for 50% to 70% of total kitchen/tabletop sales.

The Ohio-based chain recently split its 32-linear-foot fashion kitchen run into two 16-ft. sections, with one section devoted to mix-and-match kitchen and tabletop looks.

The revamped 16-ft. run is comprised of four 4-ft. wooden fixtures, each 60 in. tall, with racks for kitchen ensembles--dish towels, pot holders, oven mitts above--and placemats and tableclothes below. Eight patterns are featured.

In addition to the 16-ft. run, Gold Circle also devotes 16 ft. each to fashion kitchen textiles, utility kitchen items, table linens and placemats.

The chain currently has plans to redo the table linen area. "We will key into solid tableclothes, placemats and napkins," said Fishman. "We will go very deep in what we do, but show breadth of color." Fishman believes the bursts of color will entice consumers the same way towel walls do. Previously, the chain merchandised the items by category.

Fishman plans to merchandise the items at middle price ranges, eventually adding higher price points if the program is acceptable, to create a good, better, best price structure.

Promotions, as well as merchandising, have been geared toward encouraging multiple sales, a departure from the price/item advertising for which Gold Circle is known.

For Easter, the chain will promote several items in tabletop instead of just tablecloths, said Fishman. The chain will "go down real low" on one item, and offer more moderate savings on the other items. "We want to encourage an increase in the average sales check, while getting a profitable return," he said.

Other discounters, too, are picking up on this strategy. This year the Oklahoma-based T.G. & Y., for one, began taking 25% to 30% off entire kitchen and tabletop categories and kitchen ensembles, before peak sales periods.

Before Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas, the chain will promote its entire assortment of fabric or lace tablecloths, regularly priced at $8.99 to $12.99, while saving promotions in vinyl tablecloths, priced every day at $4.99 to $5.99, for dollar days sales, said buyer Ken Shiplet.

Shiplet said the chain does 45% of its kitchen textile business in utilitarian items and 55% in fashion ensembles. Out of the 22-1/2 ft. devoted to kitchen textiles, only 7-1/2 ft. is given over to basics like striped and checked terry cloth over mitts and pot holders, although the utilitarian area garners more sales per square foot, he said.

Prices for utilitarian items range from 44^ for a potholder to $2.33 for a 2-pack of terry kitchen towels. Fashion kitchen towels are priced at $1.99 to $3.77. Fabric placemats, the key tabletop item, are priced at $1.99 to $2.88.

Along with their moves to match colors and prints to present complete packages, discounters are focusing more heavily on fabrics and textures.