El Dorado woos youths
Staff -- Kids Today, 8/1/2006
Top 100 furniture retailer El Dorado is a third-generation family business founded in 1967 by Manuel Capo and his sons. His son Carlos is an executive vice president, buyer and merchandise manager for the eight stores and his granddaughter Maday is the youth buyer.
Carlos Capo has seen a lot of change in the youth industry in his 40 years in the business.
"Our youth sales represent about 5% of our business," Capo said. "Today's parents are much more willing to spend money on their kids than they were 20 years ago. The parents are wealthier and they're having fewer kids so they want them to have the best."
El Dorado carries furniture geared toward tween/teens in about 4,000 square feet of space per store. Furniture vendors include Renar, Lea Inds., Legacy and others and though the product is shown in vignettes, accessories are not a big part of the business.
Capo said girls' furniture always sells better than boys and they don't have unisex displays. "Though the furniture can be for either, there is no unisex, you're either a boy or a girl," he said.
Capo has seen changes in the category in recent years. Previously desks and twin beds were the staples, but today full beds are outselling twins and desks are becoming less popular.
"Desks were the icons of youth furniture but now they represent less than 50% of the business," he said. "Kids are using laptops and doing their homework on the floor or bed. The space once used for desks is now used for games and electronics."
Full beds are more popular because kids are bigger than they used to be and are more concerned about having a comfortable bed.
"Kids are making the decision about 75% of the time as to what's bought for their rooms," he said.
Customers shop El Dorado because of the selection, same-day service, name recognition and price; for example twin beds range from $199 to $599.
El Dorado enjoys a thriving repeat customer business, but it also gets the word out to new customers with ads geared toward youth and it hosts in store events like pajama parties. The retailer also is affiliated with Radio Disney and has tie-in events about four times a year.
Capo said one challenge with youth furniture is staying on-trend.
"We try to be fashion oriented, but that's difficult with youth and accessories because by the time we get it on the floor they've changed their minds," he said.
The biggest challenge, one not exclusive to youth, is knowing what customers want. El Dorado tried youth focus groups, but now relies on feedback from it's associates about what groups the kids are showing interest in, why they did or didn't buy a collection, etc.
"The issue for the youth furniture industry is getting into the consumer's mind," he said. "We need to understand how they're using their space; find out what they want and what they're interested in."
El Dorado hosts pajama parties and events in conjunction with Radio Disney to build its youth market. Capo said desks are lagging in sales, girls groups sell most often and the trend is toward more contemporary looks for boys and girls.
