by Company unveiling a revamped showroom and product line that seek to change customer perceptions about the traditional castered dining set specialist
HIGH POINT — Chromcraft has its sights set on offering market visitors an entirely new experience when they come to the company’s showroom at next week’s High Point Market.
While customers will see the familiar dining table and chair footprints from the seating and dining specialist, they will also see a totally different presentation that highlights new and emerging product segments along with digital tools they can use to customize the product, including chairs with different fabrics or with or without casters.
Indeed, customization is a cornerstone of the company’s domestic story, as it offers many different fabrics and configurations for its dining chairs.
But so is speed to market, as the company is also touting its new Direct Express Program that ships what the company describes as an “endless aisle” of product directly to consumers from the company’s Sardis, Mississippi, warehouse.
Available for products throughout its custom domestic Chromcraft seating and imported dining table line and its Douglas imported dining line, the company said “this initiative is designed to expand product availability, streamline fulfillment and provide a competitive edge in today’s marketplace.”
At its showroom in Space 235 of Centers of High Point Hamilton, visitors will be greeted with a computer kiosk that highlights the offerings available through the Direct Express Program, shipped directly to the consumer.
Beyond this, the company will showcase four key product initiatives now underway. They are:
+ The Gathering Chair – Which the company describes as “a versatile seating solution designed for dining, studying and everyday living, emphasizing comfort and connection.”
+ The Stool Zone collection – This segment offers customizable, made-to-order stools that can be personalized, including options for name embroidery.
+ The Vintage collection – Which the company describes as “classic forms reimagined with a modern design approach.”
+ The Gamechanger Collection – These are multifunctional dining and game tables “designed to transition seamlessly between everyday use and entertainment.”
Customers can also shop Metalcraft, an updated seating line featuring contemporary metal frames and bases.
“It is a much more modern and advanced mixed-media look, where you are moving away from that all-wood base,” said Scott Kruger, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Chromcraft of the Metalcraft mix. “You get a much more defined modern look with that.”
The company also is showing its domestic modular upholstery line that is designed for indoor and outdoor use. In addition to its McKenzie and Newport collections, customers can see the new Hemisphere collection that “expands on the modular ‘your space, your way’ concept with additional hidden features. These designs offer consumers unique ‘flex back’ comfort while allowing them to easily refresh and adapt their seating with interchangeable components.”
Kruger said a key goal is to showcase customizable products and concepts such as the modular seating line that customers may not have associated with Chromcraft as much as the traditional castered dining sets. While some of those sets may still be among the company’s bestsellers, he believes the company is moving forward with products that address the needs of today’s consumer, thus representing the company’s future.
“ I am optimistic about some of the things we can do,” he said. “I just think if people walk in here and saw the showroom, they would think differently about the product.”
And with the Direct Express Program, the company can help the retailer on the logistical side of the business, shipping product directly to the consumer as needed.
While most retailers will continue to keep product in their own warehouses for immediate delivery, the Direct Express Program will allow Chromcraft to handle shipments for custom orders, plus orders for additional pieces as needed, such as chairs that may not be in inventory in the retailer’s warehouse.
“The entire line is available through Direct Express,” Kruger said. “And since we are a custom build house, and can give them 400,000 different options, then it would be nice not to have to bring that to their warehouse and have to have them deliver it. We can ship it directly to their consumer.”
