The Power of Retail

Walmart and JCPenney’s new lines of furniture, Canopy and Linden Street are not well known or branded products, but they are all the same targeting the customers who shop at branded stores such as Pottery Barn and Ikea. Walmart mailed its shoppers a catalog of 33 pages detailing its line of products of the Canopy line, which also has it’s own website at www.canopyliving.com. As a competitive move, all items that are shipped to Walmart stores will have free shipping. With this new brand, the company is hoping to create a different feel and look for its customers. The Walmart name or brand does not appear on the website unless you really go and dig for it, which is an intended move.

JCPenney on the other hand, created its new brand Linden Street, as it realized that its customers were going in for the simpler designs in furniture, bedding and window dressings. Consumers were more interested in everyday furniture, that focused on function and form first and only then fashion, but nothing that was too ornate.

Even before the housing downturn put home furnishings retailers in a spiral, Americans were migrating to a more casual style and lower prices for furniture. Penney’s and Wal-Mart’s moves signal a recognition that the furniture industry has to “find ways to attract a new generation,” said Jerry Epperson, a longtime furniture analyst for investment banking firm Mann, Armistead & Epperson.

“They aren’t going to do it selling $5,000 to $10,000 dining room and bedroom suites,” he said. “Younger people are buying items, not suites, and they want them to be practical and functional.” Smaller living spaces, younger households and the desire for everything to be both functional and fashionable have led consumers to ready-to-assemble furniture and modestly priced pieces that will move from first apartment to family room.

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