Struggling hard to survive at expos

Struggling hard to survive at expos

I. Christianto, Contributor, Jakarta

Most people want to find their dream home complete with all
the amenities they have always wanted, including furniture.
That's why the furniture sector always has good prospects,
despite various challenges from domestic and international
crises.

Check various places favored for exhibitions like the Jakarta
Convention Center (JCC), Kemayoran, shopping malls and other
locations. They have a full list of events, including frequent
furniture expos held by different event organizers.

Homes can be charming, but need to be revitalized every now
and then to maintain their beauty - furniture significantly
contributes to this revitalization and is a proven solution for
most homeowners. Therefore, there is always a market for
furniture, according to Dwi Karsono of PT Debindo Multi
Adhiswasti, a private events organizer.

He said many people preferred to visit furniture expos rather
than coming to showrooms. "That's why many furniture makers join
expos to introduce their latest products and
models," he said.

Joining exhibitions has become common practice for most local
furniture retailers, wholesalers and even producers seeking new
buyers either from home or overseas.

According to him, selling through an exhibition has become a
more effective way of finding new customers nowadays due to the
availability of more exhibition sites that meet international
standards.

"As most exhibitions are held during weekends, many people
have much more time to spend at the expo," he added.

Debindo, set up in 1987, has organized furniture expos in
Jakarta every year since its establishment. The company mostly
organizes exhibitions for the real estate and furniture
industries. But in 1993, it focused most of its activities on
furniture exhibitions.

"We hold furniture exhibitions three times a year," Dwi said.
"The only challenge we face is that we can't have the same fixed
schedules every year as the JCC is the only popular and
appropriate venue in Jakarta for holding exhibitions," he added.

At least three major furniture exhibitions will be held at the
JCC before the end of this year. Another nine similar events will
be held at the same building next year.

Furniture models displayed at the expos mostly include
antique, classical, contemporary, modern and futuristic styles.
Furniture can also be categorized by its raw materials including
wood, rattan, bamboo, plastic and iron.

Some furniture retailers and producers display particular
furniture products during the expo. With the wide range of
products and models displayed, buyers have many choices to suit
their taste and preference.

"A homeowner sometimes wants to combine different styles of
furniture, just to make the home more interesting or colorful.
Say the living room has modern style furniture, and a country-
style touch for the dining room and so on," Dwi said.

The buyers' selections are quite varied and therefore it is
difficult to determine what styles of furniture are likely to be
most popular. But people from the high income bracket usually
prefer to buy furniture items that conform to the latest
fashions.

"Most buyers tend to choose mass-produced items," he said in a
reference to common furniture products, which are produced by
factories in large volumes.

In addition to Jakarta, Debindo also holds similar events in
Bandung and Surabaya, three times annually in each city. In
Jakarta, each event attracts around 100 participants.

Dwi said that at the end of this month, Debindo would open a
furniture expo at the JCC, the third and possibly the last to be
held by the company this year.

There are usually some 80,000 visitors who attend the event in
Jakarta. Average sales may reach between Rp 30 billion and Rp 60
billion (about $6.3 million) at each expo.

The majority of expo participants display locally-made
products, and they mostly use the exhibition as a venue to meet
prospective buyers from overseas.

"By joining the expo, local producers can reach foreign
buyers. So in this sense, the exhibition has an important role in
promoting the country's furniture exports," Dwi said.

The Indonesian Furniture Club is confident the country's
furniture exports will reach US$1.8 billion this year from $1.6
billion in 2000, despite a low growth of between 2 percent and 3
percent in the first half of the year.

Chairman of the club Yos S. Theosabrata said furniture exports
would continue to grow as long as the government could provide
stability, and keep the volatile rupiah more stable against
foreign currencies.

Without political stability, it would be difficult to increase
exports from last year's level, he said, adding that the
political uncertainty in recent months had been a major blow to
the country's exports. The instability has also had an impact on
production and shipment activities.

Many buyers had postponed their orders for Indonesian
furniture because they feared they would not receive them.
European nations including the Netherlands, Germany, Britain and
Belgium, are Indonesia's major markets for furniture. The other
important markets for Indonesian furniture exports are the U.S.,
Japan and Singapore.

The slump in the furniture market in the U.S, one of the main
buyers of Indonesia's exports, could also affect the Indonesian
furniture industry, he said.

According to media reports, the manufacturers' association in
the U.S. has projected that wholesale shipments of residential
furniture will fall 6.7 percent to $23.862 billion this year from
$25.579 billion in 2000. It forecasts shipments will rise to
$24.727 billion next year -- leaving them still below their 1999
level of $24.972 billion.