Hello All,
I am new to buying furniture online and am so glad I found this website. Researching the brands sold by The Keeping Room led me searching for Leathercraft chairs. Lo, and behold, several of their chairs are sold directly by Leathercraft on good ol' Amazon.com, and with FREE SHIPPING. Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=bl_sr_ho...t&node=1055398
Yes they are. My Leathercraft Rep told me just yesterday they were doing this and they made up WAY too many chairs in advance and are out trying to get their regular dealer base to buy the overstock.
They are building these chairs for Amazon and what it really does is set up a mail order massive discounter to go head-to-head with their dealer base. Big Mistake. Any time this sort of thing occurs, dealers bail on the line. It penalizes the brick and mortar store that stocks the inventory and has the swatches and the knowledge to help customers select the product line. Why should I as a dealer put my money into inventory when customers will come to my store and spend an hour or two with me, look at the samples, then order off Amazon?
In fact, while writing this reply, I just decided to drop the line from my store. This sort of thing really hits my Hot Button.
Effective immediately my remaining Leathercraft pieces have a clearance discount of 25 % off the marked price. Get 'em off the floor! I have two sofas, and two recliners, and one swivel chair in the store right now. When they're gone, that's the end of the line for my store.
Last edited by drcollie; 09-14-2012 at 12:15 AM.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
Well, I guess there goes my chance of getting a Leathercraft 1057 Recliner from you. Why do you think Leathercraft chose to go this direction? Are they hurting from the economy and want to see if they can branch out of the box, so to speak? It's unfortunate for I don't think many people know of them and this website was one of one that spoke of their products.
You can still order that 1057 if you like, it takes a while to close out the floor samples (I just marked down my 1057 in the store today).
Yes, all manufacturers are still reeling from the go-go of the 90's, it really happened in 2001, when the .dot-com bubble burst, that was the end of the good times for the domestic furniture industry. 2008 really rocked everyone back further, and they've not recovered yet - nor does anyone in the trade expect to any time soon.
I can't tell you what they were thinking when they decided to go Amazon. We dealers get these letters all the time that say we are FORBIDDEN to put up websites with prices on the product, and then there it all is on Amazon! Plus, we are required to have product on the floor to have a dealership and maintain a specific dollar volume per year to get sample and catalog updates, something Amazon is not going to be required to do as they have no showroom. Finally, I think it cheapens the product line to do this. My average customer takes about 2 hours to select a frame and cover in my store. As a dealer, why do I want to spend my time, and money in inventory, so that the retail customer can click into Amazon and order from them? Its bad business.
A manufacturer has to decide if they want to have a dealer base, or sell direct (or to operations such as Amazon). They can't have it both ways. When they try to do so, they lose their dealer base AND find out that the direct route rarely works either as customers want to see premium priced product prior to purchase. I've never seen a successful manufacturer operate in both venues.
Of all the leather brands I sell in my store, Leathercraft accounts for less than 5% of the total sales. By moving out of their brand, I'll have more room for Hancock and Moore and Bradington Young product, which are my two largest movers in that category.
Duane Collie
Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.
What about Royal Pedic, they sell through online stores and brick and mortar dealers.
I'll private message you about the 1057.
As for the industry I am by no means an expert, but in the small town where I live out here in Oregon, 14,000 population on a good day, first one furniture store closed, then another, then finally this month the 60 year old, same family owned store closed their doors in the five small towns they had built businesses in, this one included. Same with a clothing store of some 50+ years. I often wonder if these stores aren't suffering by carrying name brands that are now off shore junk. I once talked to one of the five brothers who owned the furniture store and he told me 60%-70% of their casegoods had to be returned due to defects and damage before they hit the floor, and one person worked full time processing these.
When I was a kid Jantzen and White Stag were Oregon made quality clothing. Now you can buy them at Wal-Mart often for $5-or less.
At the same time the internet has changed the way America shops. There was a time when there was no way in h*** I could or probably even would buy a chair from someone in Virginia when I live in Oregon. The internet has game changed all that. What once seemed impossible 20 years ago does not even seem odd today.
Somewhere in all this someone gets screwed. I think it's the middle man, the shop owner trying to make a living against increasing odds against him. My hat's off to people like Duane who undoubtedly puts in long days to keep what he's worked hard to achieve. He comes across as someone not willing to sit on his hands in a changing world, but one to take the bull by the horns and work in it to find a niche. People like him are the backbone of this country.
I'll get off my soapbox.
I understand you point, but does the average customer know there is a difference, especially when mattress manufacturers (Sealy,S&F,Simmons,Serta,etc.) have train the buying public to expect different labelling for essentially the same product. Also with quality bedding the brand name is what sells the product since it is almost impossible to discern quality difference within a manufacturers product line. While your mattress business is not significant, if it were your primary product line you might also feel the same about Royal Pedic as you do about Leathercraft.
I am an Amazon shopper, but I highly doubt that I would be willing to buy expensive furniture from them. It's one thing to buy the small stuff, but something big like that. I don't think so!! Leather furniture is a big investment and to not have choices in leathers would make this a no go for me.
Hi all... I've been visiting this site for a few years. I think this is my first time writing in though.
I've bought a whole lot or things from Amazon, especially since 2008. I have complete confidence in their customer service and return policy. Even on things like large flat panel HDTVs. On normal consumer products there are always tons of reviews, both good and bad, to help you make an informed buying decision. If you don't like it, sending it back is hassle free.
However, expensive leather furniture is another issue altogether. How can you select from just a photo and a half paragraph description with so many variables and options? There is likely to be no customer reviews for the exact chair or sofa you want, and what about the complicated world of leather? You almost need a doctorate degree in that area.
After a few year period of monitoring myfurnitureforum.com and emails with Duane, it became obvious that buying from his shop in VA was the next best thing to buying it from a trusted local dealer. I live near Portland, Oregon and there is one dealer within a few hundred miles. That dealer's prices are not even remotely close to what I expected to pay. And I seemed to know more about leather and their high end furniture line than their sales woman did. I have lived in Virginia and North Carolina (1990s) and know what kind of discounts from MSRP where available on a routine basis. I was shocked at what I was being asked to pay for quality leather furniture on the west coast.
I got a fair deal from Duane (H & M Evening Sofa and Robinson Ottoman) and tons of advice and support on a custom leather color combinations as well as leather grade choices...
It should be delivered next week. I will try to post photos.