Butler Specialty Announces Strong Growth

Furniture World Magazine

An exceptionally strong fourth quarter has propelled Butler Specialty Co., a leader in accent furniture, to a record-breaking year and established strong momentum for 2004, the company announced. Bolstered by strong orders since the October International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C., Butler’s sales have soared during the year’s final two months, according to Dan Sumner, vice president of sales and marketing. “The response to new products we introduced in High Point has been very, very strong,” Sumner said, noting that orders since October have risen 14 percent. It will be April before most of the new product orders begin showing up on retailers floors. Butler went to High Point in October with the most aggressive introductions in the company’s 73-year history. Adding headboards and coordinating pieces for the bedroom; bathroom vanities; and a dining table, chairs and baker’s rack for the kitchen and dining room, Butler offered retailers a one-stop source for accent furniture for every room in the home for the first time. The company also surprised retailers with more transitional and contemporary looks in its new Masterpiece Collection. The headboards and coordinates have sold consistently since their October introduction, but with glossy photos just now becoming available to sales representatives and a new “Accents for the Bedroom” brochure due early next year, Sumner anticipates sales of the new bedroom pieces to accelerate. The new dining table and coordinates are also generating consistent sales. The bedroom and dining accent pieces are all part of the burgeoning Artists’ Originals Collection, the fastest-growing of Butler’s seven collections with approximately 200 pieces. Each piece is hand painted, and no two pieces are exactly alike. The recent surge in orders, however, hasn’t been limited to new products, Sumner said, as many of Butler’s best-sellers in a broad lineup of more than 600 accent pieces continue to do well for retailers across the country. “Retailers are reordering a lot of our existing product as well,” he said. Sumner said a survey of Butler sales reps indicates that recent good news about the economy, coupled with pent-up demand as retailer inventories have gradually diminished, bodes well for Butler and other manufacturers next year. “A lot of retailers are buying based on good economic indicators,” he said. “A lot of retailers are hopeful as they get ready for the new year. We were fortunate to have a lot of exciting new looks for them just when they were ready for it.” Butler has experienced six consecutive years of double-digit growth, and company sales have grown more than 500 percent since 1996. Butler focuses 100 percent of its design, manufacturing, distribution, customer service and marketing resources on accent/occasional furniture. It has emerged over the past seven years as the world's fastest-growing producer in this category.