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Home office evolving with changing electronics, work habits

Time:2015/5/8 9:20:14　　　Views:6864

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  HIGH POINT — Vendors selling home office goods at the High Point Market were adjusting their product in reaction to how electronics and work habits are affecting the way consumers use the furniture they sell.
  

  
  

  Those adjustments relate mostly to scale, ergonomics and functionality. Buyers at market saw category specialists pay special attention to wiring accommodation and adjustable surfaces geared toward holding devices such as tablets and mobile phones at convenient angles. “Some of the bigger pieces are scaling down, especially in terms of depth,” said Karl Eulberg, Martin Furniture executive vice president of sales, marketing and merchandising. “With Bluetooth and wi-fi, you aren’t as tethered to a desk, so more people are opting for an open writing desk versus a closed box.”

  Martin now is finishing the backs of many office consoles, since some people use those as a shallow desk.

  “Stylewise, it’s trending toward raw, industrial, reclaimed looks and mixed media with metal as accents,” Eulberg said.

  The market for home office is looking up, said Turnkey Products CEO Richard Olmeda.

  “As an ex-retailer, I know it’s not enough to have good-looking furniture with nice finishes and unique features — there has to be a business case for a category in terms of the ROI they can expect from the floor space,” he said. “During the recession, retailers were conserving their floor resources to major categories like upholstery and case goods. As we saw sustainable improvement in the economy, they started to free up floor space for other categories, and it’s happening right here at market.

  “Retailers are telling me their VPs of merchandising are giving them more space for home office. They’re revisiting it if they abandoned it, and expanding if they’re already in it,” Olmeda said.

  At Turnkey, the concentration was on creating a full office environment, not just a desk, with attention to ergonomics and function. The vendor’s Smart Top concept, for example, resonated at market. The configuration gives its home office console/hutch combinations with a 27-inch high work surface the same leg room as a 30-inch high executive desk through eliminating a drawer under the top.

  Aspenhome also looked to create an entire office environment in the home.

  The Artisan Revival credenza from Turnkey features the vendor’s Smart Top with extra space beneath the surface.    

  
  

  “At the entry level there are writing desks, but that’s not where we’ve chosen to direct our business,” said Bryan Edwards, national sales manager. “We’re more system-oriented. We look at that room and see what the user needs. It really starts with work space, and ergonomics are very important there.”

  To that end, Aspenhome has incorporated an “ergonomic curve” — an in-cut in the desk that allows support for the arms and easy access to the entire surface — into five collections with four desk footprints.

  Credenzas got attention at many vendors, including Aspenhome.

  “Since it’s against a wall, the credenza is where the electronics are,” Edwards said. “We’ve added a quarter-inch of knee space to the credenza since more work’s being done there.”

  One new credenza features two electrical outlets and a USB port for charging on the surface. Aspenhome also put padded leather sides on its home-office chair frames to prevent scuffing the desk edges.

  Vendors also concentrated on ancillary pieces such as lateral files and bookcases.

  “Up to 35% of your home office business could be in bookcases, so all our collections have bookcases with open shelves and doors,” Aspenhome’s Edwards said. “If the consumer buys a desk and leaves the store without a chair or bookcase, that’s money left on the table.”

  Hooker Furniture’s dedicated home office presentation wasn’t as large as in past years, but the amount of product for the category hasn’t shrunk.

  “We’re showing home office more in collections,” said Hank Long, senior vice president of merchandising and design. “Whenever we do a full-home collection moving forward, we’ll include home office in some way, shape or form.”

  He said that while 50% of Hooker’s home office business remains in large executive configurations, there’s increasing demand for smaller scale goods. The Skyline whole-home collection’s executive desk, for example, is 64 inches wide.

  “We’re doing more smaller writing desks that work for people using tablets or small laptops,” Long said. “There’s not as much paper these days.”