Lifestyle expands sourcing story in High Point

HIGH POINT — “Value” and “solid wood” are usually not typically phrases that one hears collectively when speaking about product improvement tendencies in case items.

Full line furnishings importer Lifestyle Enterprises is rolling into this week’s High Point Market with a concerted effort to change that equation, and in doing so, forged the widest attainable web with potential consumers.

At a time when worth propositions are being rewritten throughout the furnishings business by ongoing financial uncertainty, President of Operations Kevin Castellani stated giving sellers flexibility in how they worth product is a key benefit.

 

“Lifestyle has always been a value leader: a starting price point, promotion-driven company,” he advised Furniture Today. “That’s our history, but we are expanding the story lately. We still have promo pricing people can’t touch, but we’ve traded up to offer value at multiple price points.”

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Anchoring that technique is a stable wooden bed room line that consists of two collections: Dovetail, which made it’s debut final fall, and Lumber, which is being rolled out at this market.

“The quality workmanship is really something on these pieces,” Castellani stated.  “We’ve had really good success with this for the day and a half that we’ve been showing it.”

That flexibility extends throughout the corporate’s buyer base and working mannequin, permitting it to serve a variety of outlets whereas sustaining a targeted import technique.

“We serve both major retailers and smaller dealers with two or three stores. That’s where we really excel,” Castellani stated. “We’re strictly a container business. We don’t warehouse product; we’re only shipping containers.”

Sourcing power drives shift to Bangladesh

A key a part of that technique lies in Lifestyle’s sourcing infrastructure, which Castellani stated provides the corporate each management and adaptability because it navigates shifting world provide chains. “We have about 130 sourcing agents in Asia; they’re our employees. We work with around 40 factories across China, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Vietnam.”

That mannequin permits Lifestyle to each management design and keep a detailed relationship with its provide chain.

“We control materials — we buy them ourselves — then contract labor with factories,” Castellani stated. “Factories like working with us because we pay quickly. If there’s a mistake, we own it. We have people living on the ground, not just QC.”

It additionally permits the corporate to shift manufacturing geographically primarily based on functionality somewhat than being tied to a single nation or manufacturing facility. Castellani famous that Lifestyle is just not tied to 1 manufacturing facility or one nation. Rather, it sources from completely different areas: China for glass and steel, Bangladesh for stable wooden.

“Vertical integration has advantages, but sourcing lets us move faster and chase opportunity.”

That flexibility is more and more evident in Lifestyle’s rising funding in Bangladesh, significantly for its new stable wooden packages.

President of Case Goods Derrick Ng stated the corporate’s sourcing footprint has developed over time in response to each commerce coverage and manufacturing capabilities.

“We started in China, then moved to Malaysia and Vietnam due to anti-dumping,” Ng stated. “We’ve been sourcing from Malaysia and Vietnam for about 20 years. Now we’re expanding into Bangladesh, especially for solid wood programs.”

He stated earlier makes an attempt to develop stable wooden product in Vietnam proved difficult, prompting the corporate to look elsewhere.

He famous that the services in Vietnam have been both too busy or not set as much as execute it the way in which Lifestyle wanted it to do. By distinction, Bangladesh presents structural benefits that make it higher fitted to that class.

“I think the labor cost is lower; that’s why they have more time to properly treat the wood,” Ng stated. “Then they can do solid wood the right way.”

Lifestyle started introducing Bangladesh-produced product in latest markets, with early outcomes encouraging additional growth. Last market, the corporate introduced in stable wooden with “very unique designs,”  Ng stated. “You’ll see more and more Bangladesh product in our showroom.”

Castellani added that the transfer displays the corporate’s broader sourcing philosophy: Go the place the aptitude exists. “That’s the advantage: You’re not locked into one way of doing things.”

Focusing on controllables

While tariffs and commerce coverage proceed to create uncertainty throughout the furnishings provide chain, opting to give attention to what it may possibly management.

That strategy, each executives stated, simplifies inner operations whereas sustaining transparency with clients.

“We treat the tariff as a tax. Whether we like it or not, that’s what it is” stated Castellani. “We put it on our billing as a tariff tax.”

He additional defined that the corporate additionally is avoiding hypothesis round potential refunds or coverage modifications, selecting as a substitute to react solely when outcomes are clear and specializing in controllables.

Despite ongoing uncertainty, each executives indicated tariffs have develop into extra of a recognized variable than a disruptive drive.

“We’ve already lived through higher tariffs,” Ng stated. “If it goes to 25%, so what? The industry has dealt with 25% before.”

Instead, Castellani stated, conversations with retailers at market have centered much less on macro considerations and extra on product.

“Everybody wants to talk about tariffs, the economy, the war — everything negative,” he stated. “But what we’re seeing is retailers are focused on product. They want to know what’s new, what’s different, what they can put on their floor.”

In that surroundings, he added, newness — not price pressures — is driving engagement. “It’s not about the fear. It’s about having something fresh.”