Rise of the Machine-Made Area Rugs
- Thomas Lester -Furniture Today
- Feb 11, 2015
- 2 min read
HIGH POINT — In terms of quality, the $299 machine-made rug in the market today trumps what consumers could get at that price just a few years ago — one reason the machine-made category continues to gain ground in the area rug sector.
Today’s machine-mades can nearly replicate the look and the feel of their hand-made cousins at a price that appeals to large swaths of shoppers. According to a survey of more than 1,500 consumers conducted by Furniture/Today and Furnituredealer.net, 62% of the respondents said they prefer machine-made constructions versus 38% for hand-knotted products and 32% for hand-tufted rugs. Manufacturers recognize this and are doing what they can to get better machine-made products to their retail customers.
When the economy tanked in 2008-2009, price became the driver at retail, which meant consumers placed an emphasis on cost first, second and third. Today, a consumer first finds the right look and then determines whether or not she can afford it. Better quality power-loomed rugs often give the consumer the best of both worlds.
“A consumer will look for something they really love, how it looks,” KAS Rugs’ Reiss said. “The second piece of that is going to be price. You combine both of those things and you’ve got a home run.”
Tiwari echoed those sentiments, noting that a consumer likely won’t ask how it’s made when asking for a rug. He said value and style come into the picture long before construction comes into play.
“The way customers buy a product, they’re not going into a store and saying ‘I want a hand-made rug’ or ‘I want a machine-made rug’ — they want a good rug,” Tiwari said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s hand or machine.”
To that end, manufacturers realize there’s value in investing in the machine-made category and say it continues to represent a larger presence in their product introductions.
Read the full article at: http://www.furnituretoday.com/article/516542-rise-machine-made-area-rugs
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