Imported products favorites for discerning buyers

Sudibyo M. Wiradji, Contributor, The Jakata Post

The sale of imported furniture with up-to-date designs remains in the upswing, despite the public's growing interest in locally made products.

Showrooms throughout the capital display imported furniture, with regular customers who are mostly established, married couples with high incomes. Many of them are corporate representatives.

Readily available are sets of sofas, dining tables, chairs, beds and cabinets from Italy, Germany, Spain, the U.K., Canada, the United States, Australia, Singapore and Thailand.

The list of top brands includes B&B (Italy); Carpel (Italy); Cavinna (Italy); Keilhauer (Canada); Extensis (Australia), and Flexi Style (United States). In certain showrooms, buyers can also find products designed by world-renowned furniture designers like the late Lecor Busier, and Mies van Rohe.

Before the financial crisis that hit Indonesia in the mid-June of 1997, the country saw booming property sales, coupled with a high demand for imported furniture products.

Customers with higher incomes raced to purchase imported furniture to complete interior designs for their homes. Imported furniture was also in high demand by companies which needed to furnish their offices and lobbies. Furnishings were also needed for restaurants in luxury hotels.

The economic meltdown caused a sharp drop in the value of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar. This forced the price of imported products in the local market to increase by an average of 300 percent.

However, the demand from regular buyers, particularly from high-income groups and top corporate clients, remained stable.

An old player, like PT Decorama Mitra Selaras (DMS), for instance, could retain its market share, despite the surge in the price.

PT Vinotindo Graha Sarana (VGS), a company that specializes in the sale of imported furniture for corporate offices, can even see the relatively good sale because most of its products are under-licensed, with competitive prices.

"With companies selling imported furniture here in Indonesia, people no longer have to hunt for the products in Singapore or Hong Kong," said PT DMS's General Manager Hanne Dheli.

"This is the underlying reason behind the setting up of our company," he said.

"Thanks to the Internet, customers can have easy access to latest information on furniture from different countries. Thus, they have more options to buy," he added.

Established ten years ago, PT Decorama Mitra Selaras has a more segmented market, with products catering to residential and corporate needs. "Our clients are mostly well-to-do, married couples or five-star hotels," Hanne said.

Now in vogue are furniture products with an up-to-date, simple and less decorative design, called the "minimalist" style.

The prices of imported furniture are varied, depending on the size, products and the brand, all being sold in U.S. dollars.

One sofa set with a B&B brand at PT DMS is sold for between $7,000 and $8,000. A bed with Cavinna brand is sold for US$5000.

A dining table is sold for US$4,000, and a chair at $1,000. PT VGS sets the prices for a sofa set at between $200 and $4,000.

A chair costs between $200 and $3,000.

Despite the market being not conducive to the sale of imported products, the company can sell between three and four sets of sofas per month on average, Hanne said.

The modern design and high quality are two primary reasons why customers buy the imported furniture. "Furniture is like fashion in the sense that it keeps changing all the time," he said.

The superiority of imported furniture is made possible by the producers' active role in their research and development (R&D) team. "They continue to innovate every design, which is totally different from the previous one," he said.

To keep abreast of the latest in furniture design, the company sends a representative to see international furniture expos, which for producers, serve as the best ways to introduce and exhibit their latest design as well.

With their highly skilled research and development team, the durability of imported furniture can be guaranteed, he added.

Hanne conceded that the increasing quality of locally made products, especially those made from wood, has affected the sale of imported wooden furniture. "However, our real competitors are imported furniture shops in Singapore and Hong Kong," he said.

To have reserves of imported furniture, several shops buy directly from producers and others from sale representative offices in overseas countries, like Singapore.

"We usually buy directly from producers, especially when an international exhibition on furniture is in progress, from which we know the latest design," he said.

PT Vinotindo Graha Selaras, a subsidiary of Vinoti Group, enjoys the high demand for its imported furniture because most of its products with international brands are assembled in the country. The prices of these are adjusted to the purchasing power of local people.

Established in 1989, the company provides mostly imported furniture for offices. "Despite the products being assembled here, they have international quality standards. Producers of the respective brands send their team here on regular basis to monitor the quality of the products," PT VGS's Marketing Spokesperson Theresia Mareta said.

With corporate offices as its major customers, the average rate of sale of its products is unpredictable.

"It will all depend on the projects. There is a time when, in one month. there are many office projects that utilize our products.

"This means that our products are in high demand," she said.

Special discount is on offer for companies that order large quantity of its products, she said.

The company, also acting as an agent of international products, has begun exporting its products to overseas including to the United States and Singapore.

As a new player in imported furniture business, PT Malinda Furniture Gallery (MFG), sees the economic meltdown having no direct effect on the sale of its products.

"The demand for our products remains high," PT MFG's Interior Design Consultant Angela said. Set up two years ago, PT MFG provides imported furniture tailored to the needs of residence, such as sofa sets, dining tables, and beds. Its top brand FlexiStyle from the United States is a favorite, with the prices for a sofa set ranging from $5,000 to $1,7000.

Customers buy the products directly from the showroom, or by first ordering them based on the sample on display or a picture shown in a catalog. It will take between four or five months to get ordered products.

"Most often, the customers who find a product that fits their taste are impatient to wait for that long and they prefer to buy directly from the showroom," she said.