Futon furniture is broadening its base like never before. Here are some facts: Most futon furniture retailers who have been selling futon furniture are up to speed with the latest trends and designs. As reported in a recent Futon Life survey, futon furniture specialists are selling more $100 retail futon covers than any other price point with heavy upholstery as the fabrics of choice. Many futon furniture retailers entering the market for the first time are now moving in the same direction. Futon furniture specialists are covering their floors with as many as twenty different frames.
Traditional retailers seem to be catching on to the fact that this approach works. While some new companies are carrying only two or three frame units, others are making the move to a more comprehensive program that is working. As a futon furniture specialists, we are believers but some of the new retailers are not. It is therefore clear that some traditional dealers have failed in the past not because they couldn't get goods but because they were not committed. Some even believed that they needed to carry the product merely to fend-off consumer requests. Their salesmen would sell-up, using the futon as a prop to demonstrate poor quality or a less than comfortable seating surface. Bottom line: At this stage of the game futon furniture is a known category, but it is a category that is still misunderstood by a large segment of the trade.
