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Patio & Hearth Products Report is a bimonthly trade publication for specialty stores, retailers and dealers of patio, hearth, barbecue, grill, outdoor kitchen and outdoor living products. Each issue includes feature articles and departments on successful retailers and dealers. The new products section (Product Profiles) features new products such as fireplaces, wood-burning fireplaces, gas fireplaces, electric fireplaces, fireplace inserts, wood-burning stoves, pellet stoves, coal stoves, fireplace mantels, fireplace surrounds, outdoor fireplaces, barbecues, grills, outdoor kitchens, outdoor furniture, patio furniture, outdoor fabrics, patio heaters, patio umbrellas, firepits and outdoor rugs.
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May/June 2013 Patio & Hearth Products Report 41
“Consumers going to the restaurantsee that,” Willoughby says. “Theythink, wow, that’s being used commer-cially, so it must be built to last. Wesee the same phenomenon in the park
benches that we are selling to golfcourses. They had wooden benchesthat they were replacing every fewyears. Now, they put our product outthere and just forget about it.”
Willoughby sees a huge opportunityon the commercial side of the business.“Eon is the natural choice for the hospi-tality industry, where beauty and dura-bility need to coexist in one product,”
he says. “We break the replacementcycle that so many restaurant ownershave dealt with, over the years. Eon hasdeveloped an expanded line of commer-cial products to go after this business.”
ILLUMINATING 2013Sparkling white has been a welcome
color addition to Eon’s deep seatingcollection this year, complementingthe familiar shades of teak and espressothat dealers have already embraced.Willoughby calls the white a vibrant—and admittedly traditional—additionthat fits in with the brighter colorsthat are trending nationwide.
This year has also seen the additionof counter-height dining, a classic din-ing bench, a square 40-inch coffee table,and four additional Sunbrella fabrics. In2014, new frame colors—including
gray and additional earth tones—arealso on the agenda.
An outdoor-lighting line is the latestoffering from Eon, compliments of thelighting division at Gracious LivingCorp., Eon’s parent company. “We havetable lamps and floor lamps specificallydesigned and approved to be used out-doors,” Willoughby says. “Our out-door-lighting collection transforms
every outdoor space into an outdoorroom. We include a nice variety ofwicker and wrought-iron items, andthey are priced right.”
Tracking public tastes can be diffi-cult, but Willoughby is convinced thatspecialty dealers can overcome miscon-ceptions and successfully sell Eon’smidrange/high-end products. As astarting point, they must correct themistaken belief that patio furniture isalways less expensive than interior fur-niture. Instead, consumers can graspthe concept that “something left out-side 12 months of the year has got tobe built really well—and out of a high-end, high-quality material—to with-stand those elements,” Willoughby says.
He is hesitant to name any oneproduct as the company’s best seller,estimating that so far, every producthas essentially pulled its weight. Whileconceding that Eon is undeniablyknown for its Adirondack chairs, hebelieves that many more options canbe explored with the company’s mate-rials. “This is just the beginning,”Willoughby says.
The Banff collection in white, with Capri blue cushions
Circle Reader Service No. 41
46 Patio & Hearth Products Report May/June 2013
and it’s time to capitalize on that.Brown Jordan International is invest-ing in a new paint system, new ovens,and robotic welding machines for theHaleyville plant, with the goal ofbringing 25% of the company’s man-ufacturing there by 2014.
“Now, we will have the ability tomeet the increased demand we’reseeing by putting operations backinto Haleyville,” he says. “Webelieve this will give us the opportu-nity to introduce a quick-ship pro-gram, for our retailers, around keyselling items.”
As far as transit is concerned,Brown Jordan is consolidating mul-tiple shipping points at one central-ized FOB point in El Paso, Texas,where the company recently pur-chased a distribution center. “Webelieve consolidation will providegreater truckload capability, simplic-ity for our customer base, and fasterturnaround of orders,” Moriarty says.
Advanced manufacturing capabili-
ties would also benefit BrownJordan’s sister brand, Winston—which has been seeing its owndemand uptick, according to SteveHerenlip, Winston’s vice president ofsales and marketing. Accordingly,Herenlip says, Winston has bolsteredits customer-service staff to accom-modate the increased demand. “Thisis an industry of relationships: This isa people business, and we have well-seasoned, loyal representatives withstrong relationships in their respec-tive territories,” he says.
The spike in business has beenfueled by Winston’s new Savoy andVeneto introductions, as well as itsSouthern Cay modular, a first-quar-ter debut that has been well receivedin both specialty-retail and hospitali-ty marketplaces, Herenlip says. Headds that Winston has also expandedits palette of fabrics to 550, support-ing a special-order business (drivenby deep seating) that has progressedsteadily, over the past few years.
Looking toward the 2014 sea-son, the company plans new intro-ductions in the woven category.“We’re looking at mixed-mediaconcepts and are in the process ofdeveloping compelling designs thatare focused on value for the cus-tomer,” Herenlip says. “Winstonhas always had a good-better-beststrategy, and these new designs willbe incorporated into that model.”
Winston’s design direction,focused on versatility and value, sup-ports what the brand represents toits dealer base, according to TommyMoore, Winston’s director of prod-uct development and marketing. Hesays that customers have alwayslooked on Winston as a meat-and-potatoes brand, so the company hasembarked on a new advertising cam-paign that highlights its fresh, value-added approach.
“The theme of our campaign thisyear is We Build—as in yes, we buildfurniture, but we also build value for
our dealers, and we build versatilityin product design,” Moore says,adding that an example of this is anew wood-burning firepit, intro-duced this year, that doubles as acocktail table. “We’ve gotten goodfeedback and leads from the cam-paign, and I think we’ve had a suc-cessful year of reinforcing who weare,” he says.
Like Brown Jordan, Winston isoffering retailers more value viamore options—a strategy that isguiding the company’s directioninto 2014 (and beyond). “We rec-ognize that Winston is at animportant point in time, rightnow,” Herenlip says. “It’s the righttime for us to offer mixed media,it’s the right time to go intowoven furniture, and it’s the righttime to go back to Haleyville. Atthe end of the day, though, it’sabout value, execution, and per-formance, and we feel we’reprimed and ready for this.”
corporate profileCP
product innovation continued from page 42
whether they are freestanding kitchens; com-plete, built-in outdoor kitchens; or somethingmore modular (such as our Liberty product).”
DCS also has its ear aimed toward the con-sumer. “We spend a lot of time studying out-door-cooking behaviors, cooking patterns, andthe needs of the outdoor consumer, as well asdesign trends in all regions of North America,”Lathrum adds.
Knowing whether a trend has real stayingpower or is a passing fad isn’t easy. You have to“understand the growth of the outdoor segmentin the past five years and know that the outdoorlifestyle is constantly evolving,” Lathrum states.“All we can do to remain relevant is to continueto have open dialogue with our dealers and con-sumers: truly to listen to what they say, howthey cook, what they need, and what theywould like. It is not about creating a productthat is clever today. It is about creating a productthat solves customers’ needs or provides an expe-rience in their outdoor lifestyle.”
While DCS tracks trends, however, it won’tact on one unless it fits the brand’s feature setand honors its integrity. Describing outdoorproducts that shine and sparkle merely for the
sake of appearances, Lathrum says, “We under-stand consumer perceptions of bling, and weunderstand that sometimes consumers want tosee bling or glowing lights on products to helpcreate ambience. These items look great andhelp capture consumer attention, but they arenot necessary for premium performance.”
She adds, “This does not fall on deaf ears atDCS. We cannot say we will never respond tothis consumer trend, but we can study and con-tinue to speak to chefs, consumers, and design-ers—and perhaps, one day, we can combinefunction and fashion to solve a cooking problemor enhance a cooking experience.”
Helping dealers sell DCS products is a con-sumer-promotion package that includes outdoordemonstrations offered to any participating out-door dealer. These are no ordinary cooking demon-strations, Lathrum suggests. They will be “a culinaryexperience that helps communicate the true powerbehind the DCS products that separates them fromthose of any other manufacturer,” she says.
NEW FOR 2014This year, the products and categories offered
by DCS remain the same. The differences for
the brand, for 2013, are about really communi-cating the depth of the DCS outdoor offering.Meanwhile, DCS is focusing on its next productrelease: additional built-in outdoor-storage solu-tions. These new products will still be focusedon the premium segment and all will comple-ment the quality, durability, and function of theDCS brand, Lathrum promises. They will beready in time for the 2014 season.
“When it comes to outdoor-cooking options,DCS is a key player for consumers,” Lathrumexplains. “When you get into this DCS segmentof cooking products and the commitment togrilling differently and truly offering the samecooking power outdoors that an indoor kitchenoffers, it is important that the investment be alifetime investment—not just in the lifestyle,but in the product.”
It all comes down to protecting and distin-guishing the brand; after all, DCS has a repu-tation to uphold. DCS is “the pioneer of out-door kitchens,” Lathrum states. “There are nobetter commercial-born products than DCSproducts. This is the brand that chefs, bothindoors and outdoors, prefer.” DCS intends tokeep it that way.
