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Economy forcing lower price points

By Gerri Hunt -- Kids Today, 10/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

Kelly Kouture low end price baby bed set

Pearl, by Kelly Kouture, offers a high-end look for a low-end price, $370 for a 4-piece set.

Several manufacturers are fighting the tough economy by broadening their markets, and showed their new lines at the ABC Kids Expo in Las Vegas last month.

Kelly Kouture Luxury Linens, known for its high-end bedding, is now offering new products at lower price points, thanks to CFO George Thomson, who joined the company last year.

“I wanted to bring Kelly Kouture to the Midwest,” he said. “That's my mission.”

And the company's booth was a good start. While a $4,000 bedding ensemble took center stage, it was flanked by collections Pearl and Bayou, which retail at $370 for a four-piece set. There were two additional low price-point collections as well.

“With this economy, we are missing out with the rest of the world,” said Thomson. “But I think we're going to bring our market share back.”

But even with the lower price points, the new bedding still has a high-end look, achieved through manufacture in China, which Thomson said has cut out two thirds of his cost.

Sumersault has also ventured into lower price points, with four new four-piece bedding groups that retail for $79.99 rather than the usual $169.99-199.99.

The 100% cotton, 200 thread-count collections do not have appliqués, like the rest of the company's lines.

“We decided we would introduce two lifestyles, soft modern and fresh traditional,” said Patti Sumergrade, owner, who took into account what consumer response was to products already on the market.

“The very edgy modern has not done too well in big chains,” she said. “So our modern is more mainstream and less edgy, and at a lower price point… but we have a broad line of accessories. We wanted to offer fashion and design at a good price.”

Trend Lab has added a Modern Safari bedding collection at an opening price point of $120.

“We did a private label for someone else to hit that price point, and decided to do it ourselves,” said Audra Simmering, VP of business development. “With the economy the way it is, people may not be spending as much on bedding.”

But this market expansion in response to the economy is going beyond bedding.

Stroller manufacturer Valco's Matrix, available in February, will retail at $389.

Valco will release its Matrix stroller in February, a low-price alternative to its TriMode stroller, $389.

“Some people don't want to spend $500 for a stroller,” said Mandi Dana-Panzer, Valco West Coast representative. “The economy doesn't lend itself to that.”

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