by Jan. 29-31 online sales event seeks to cut costs out of the market equation and offer exclusive product at aggressive values
HIGH POINT — Later this month, full-line furniture resource Lifestyle Enterprise is hosting what it calls a first-of-its-kind digital trade show event for the residential furniture industry.
Hsieh Days, named for company founder William Hsieh and his son and current CEO Michael Hsieh, is a three day-digital furniture buying event that runs Jan. 29-31.
The company has partnered with its extensive network of overseas factories to develop product exclusively for the event, including primary and youth bedroom, dining room and living room furniture including motion and stationary upholstery.
“This event represents a unique partnership across our supply chain, enabling us to offer values never seen in the industry,” Michael Hsieh said. “It’s an incredible opportunity for our retail partners to stock up on high-quality products at exceptional prices. This event will help retailers with promotions in 2025, driving traffic and generating sales on the retail floor or online.”
This is not the first time that Lifestyle offers another opportunity for dealers to buy product at extreme values. Starting in the mid-2000s, the company held private Forbidden City shows in High Point and later in Las Vegas in January that drew buyers from around the country to see new product developed specifically for the event. The last of these took place in January 2020, right before the global pandemic.
A key difference with Hsieh Days is that it takes major costs out of the equation, including the setting up and/or renting a showroom space, plus the cost of flying dealers in for the event, for example.
By removing these costs, the company said it will offer values that the industry has not seen as the savings will be seen across various price points in the good, better and best segments of its line. The company estimates that the savings involved in showing everything digitally will reduce product costs by 30%.
“You have seen a lot of Lifestyle promotions over the past 20 years, but this is probably the best,” said Derrick Ng, president of the company’s case goods division.
The concept — down to the name of the event — is similar to Amazon and Wayfair prime days that offer customers special deals on select merchandise. In a similar fashion, Lifestyle customers have an incentive to shop and take advantage of the deals offered only during the three-day event. Reps will be on hand to answer questions and place orders for participating retailers in the U.S.
The concept does not replace or diminish the importance of the company’s permanent showroom in High Point. However, it aims to place the company on the cutting edge of the industry in terms of how it develops, shows and sells product to the industry. Most importantly, it aims to do all this at even sharper values than it’s been able to offer in the past.
Unlike attending a show in person, buyers will not be able to see the finishes up close or sit on a sofa, for example. But officials don’t view that as a deterrent. For one, there will be photography offering 360-degree views of the product. Those shopping the line, they say, also are familiar enough with the company’s quality and construction story to be able to make buying decisions on the spot.
“Lifestyle has a reputation for bringing out quality and value product, and we are going to live off that in a digital way,” said Kevin Castellani, company worldwide associate. “Our customer will understand that when the product arrives, it is going to be quality product.”
He also noted that the values will be seen throughout the product mix.
“These include some of our better goods and medium-priced goods,” he said of the products available at reduced prices. “We are going to have the good, better best … at the values that customers will understand.”
He also noted that while Amazon and Wayfair have offered similar online sales events of their own, the concept is new to the furniture industry, particularly as Lifestyle has developed product specifically for the event.
“We don’t think we are the only ones in the industry that can do it, but in this industry, nobody is doing it,” he added, noting that the company’s manufacturing partners have completely bought into the idea and have helped develop product specifically geared toward the event. “We feel this will be transformative and a bit disruptive. And if there is a natural transition to do something different, we want to take a leadership role in that.”
The company believes the event also will strengthen its presence at High Point as more customers will want to do business with those they believe are moving forward in ways that will benefit them and their consumers. Lifestyle officials also note that the physical showroom continues to support programs for new and inline product that customers can see at the spring and fall markets.
But they also believe the digital event is well timed in that it introduces a new way of buying product as the industry anticipates a turnaround starting in the new year.
“It’s been a stagnant industry and there’s been no excitement, especially in the past few years,” Michael Hsieh said. “Now we are starting to see an upswing on the business side. Consumer confidence, especially after the election, seems to be coming back and people seem to be more willing to spend. So we are getting some positivity back into the business. We want to build off that and offer some excitement back into the industry with something that no one has done before. How it’s going to turn out, we don’t know, but we are optimistic, especially with all of the values that we have. We just want to create that buzz in the industry again.”
The company said the event is open to Lifestyle registered dealers or new dealers that register with their local sales representative before or during the event. For more information on how to register and participate in the event, dealers can contact their Lifestyle representative.
