Parker House COO Doug Townsend spoke to Furniture Today about the company’s recent price drop.
EASTVALE, Calif. – Parker House implemented a significant reduction in its ocean freight surcharge percentage last week due to lower ocean freight costs.
Doug Townsend, the company’s chief operating officer, told Furniture Today that the company is monitoring the situation weekly to further reduce the surcharge and eventually plans to eliminate it altogether.
“Demand has slowed considerably, especially since the second half of last year,” he said. “The slowdown in demand combined with the lasting effects of the global supply chain crisis is not good. Lack of labor and high freight rates…it’s all bad.
“Factories are shipping things that were ordered nine months ago. There’s a tsunami of inventory out there,” he said.
But Townsend remains somewhat optimistic.
“We’re optimistic people will need furniture forever,” he said. “We will just have to pull ourselves out of the recession. Hope it’s just a sweet one. We fight it by entering new product categories.
Details on the new product categories were not released at this time, but he said the new products are currently in the design phase, with development expected to begin soon. The company expects to make an announcement in 60-90 days. New categories should be ready for the next High Point Market.
Parker House provides furniture for the living room, dining room, entertainment, office and library categories.
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