Shutter
Market Review 2005
No Sign of Slowing
With a very strong year behind it, the U.S. shutter
market looks to a good 2006.
by Howard Shingle
Can U.S. shutter sales,
already considered among the fastest growing product lines in years,
continue growing at a pace of 20 to 30 percent year-to-year? Apparently
so.
Draperies & Window Coverings tapped the industry’s leading
manufacturers and suppliers and found sales increases of 20 percent
and more in 2005. Other commonalities: Product innovations make
shutters more versatile and installation easier, consumers are willing
to pay more for quality they can see and value they understand,
and styles and options expand the market for shutters. Perhaps the
most important theme seen here is that 2006 looks promising, too.
Here are their replies:
CONSUMERS KNOW,
SPEND MORE
Dix Jarman
CEO
Sunburst Shutters
At Sunburst Shutters, we have seen an increasing demand for shutters
across the country. In fact, our stores report an estimated 20 percent
growth in sales in the past year over 2004.
The single biggest factor driving this growth is product quality.
Consumers are becoming more informed about shutters and what makes
a superior (as well as an inferior) shutter product. They have become
discriminating and won’t settle for low-grade materials or
substandard workmanship just to save a few hundred dollars.
Consumer education of quality materials and workmanship is driving
shutter sales. Companies that can only sell shutters based on price
will definitely lose out to companies with quality shutters.
Homeowners realize that shutters add lasting value to their homes,
and they will pay a premium for a top-quality product that will
truly last forever. High quality, low maintenance and a look that
complements any décor are paramount to the consumer’s
buying decision. Shutters aren’t just for the high-income
families any more. It’s not that prices have dropped, but
that customer priorities have changed—they are willing to
spend more for top quality.
We have also noticed a growing interest in buying “green”
products—materials that don’t destroy our environment.
When customers learn that our signature Polywood® shutters are
made from a recyclable wood substitute, they have been even more
eager to buy.
In order to meet this growing demand, window treatment companies
must include a high-quality shutter in their future product mix.
QUALITY, SELECTION INTERRELATED
Viken Ohanesian
ShutterSmart
US Polymers Inc.
ShutterSmart’s business is strong, with year-on-year growth
of more than 28 percent.
We find that price, turnaround time, quality and selection all influence
the shutter buying decision. As competition gets heavy, price is
becoming important. Naturally, we intend to remain highly competitive.
Turnaround time is another factor. We’ve reduced ours lead
times to seven days.
Quality and selection are interrelated. Selection is important for
dealers, but many lower quality products are flooding the market
and confusing the homeowner with wood imitations using materials
we consider inferior such as fiberboard (MDF). They tend to have
poor surfaces and are very heavy, yet fragile.
At ShutterSmart, we keep expanding our offerings but we prefer to
stay true to our reputation for quality. We’ve improved our
award-winning vinyl-clad wood shutter and introduced a painted and
stained wood shutter line. Our wood lines are helping dealers close
sales but our true winner is the new ShutterSmart vinyl-clad wood
line.
We use solid vinyl cladding over hard poplar wood, producing the
most durable shutter combination available today. Our newest design
hides all the endcaps and tones down the sheen of the vinyl, making
it look identical to wood but with the durability of rigid vinyl.
This combination can’t be beat and dealers love our improvements.
CONSUMERS PAY MORE FOR ADDED FEATURES
Tom Connell
Executive Vice President
Gulf Coast Window Covering
The demand for vinyl, composite and wood shutters continues to grow
and is up approximately 25 percent from 2004. Today’s savvy
consumers continue to invest in their homes and demand products
that provide a comfort level for their homes.
Price, quality or selection? All of the above! Consumers continue
to trend toward a branded, made in the U.S.A. shutter. While price
may sometimes be a key factor in the decision-making process, they
are willing to pay more for differentiation and the added features
a shutter may offer including quality construction, quick turnaround
times, decorative frame options, operating configurations and systems,
specialty shapes, unique finishes, a strong warranty and retailer/installer
professionalism.
The custom shutter collection from Hunter Douglas Window Fashions
makes it easier than ever for consumers to find shutters that match
their tastes and budgets. Three collections, Heritance® Hardwood
Shutters, Palm Beach™ Custom Shutters and new NewStyle™
Hybrid Shutters, each comes with unique and patented features, made
in the U.S.A. quality craftsmanship, quick production times and
a lifetime limited warranty.
The newest collection, NewStyle Hybrid Shutters, is part of a new
class of home furnishings known as affordable luxury. NewStyle shutters
combine the great style of wood with the strength, stability and
straightness of advanced modern day materials at an economical price
point. In addition, the Express NewStyle Program offers the same
quality and beauty as NewStyle but with a simplified selection and
even faster manufacturing times.
CONSUMERS WANT OPTIONS
Christine Kane
Custom Shutter Division Brand Manager
Hunter Douglas
There has been significant demand and growth in all areas of our
shutter business over the past year. We have filled Journeyman and
ExpoSM training classes and there has been a marked increase in
Web site hits where consumers are looking for dealers who sell shutters.
We find that arches, French door cutouts and other specialty offerings
are particularly strong.
Price and selection all affect the buying decision but more than
anything we find that consumers want quality and value for their
money. They like to cover all the window shapes and have options,
but they need a brand name to back up their investment. Many consumers
and dealers also want their products faster now and are not willing
to wait the traditional six to eight weeks.
We are also finding that to meet market demand, shutters are becoming
more versatile in material. Launched this fall, our NewStyle™
shutters are made of a hybrid material that is priced 35 percent
less than our Heritance® hardwood shutter. The award-winning
TruView™ rear tilt option also gives a whole new dimension
to shutters by removing the tilt bar from the front to blend perfectly
in the back. Heritance hardwood shutters offer the ever-popular
warmth of real wood, Palm Beach™ shutters are the best alternative
for humid environments and NewStyle for those price-sensitive consumers.
NOTHING IS OFF LIMITS
Alexis Logan
Lafayette Interior Fashions
The demand for custom shutters has definitely seen an increase in
recent years. The popularity of faux wood shutters has enabled consumers
to use them in areas that may have been “off limits”
before. Innovations in shutter materials allow faux wood to stand
up to heat and humidity where real wood could not. Consumers are
also more interested in home renovation with up-scale products than
ever before. Shutters by Lafayette Interior Fashions are able to
answer these demands.
The average shutter consumer is looking for a high-quality product
with an array of stylish finishes and practical options. Another
key to enjoying shutters lies in great service and installation.
Installation by a Lafayette professional will ensure the shutters
a perfect fit and with complicated upgrades like motorization, a
professional will offer the necessary expertise.
Essentially, shutters are “furniture for the window”
and are permanent additions to the home, therefore, increasing its
value. Shutters provide great light and privacy control, require
little maintenance and are versatile in shape, color and texture.
Shutters allow the room’s décor to change around them,
as they work with any style or taste.
MARKET EXPANDING IN EVERY DIRECTION
Shannon Hodges
Business Unit Manager
Vinylbilt Shutter Systems
The demand for shutters has certainly grown over the past year.
This is evident by the influx of shutter products that has entered
the marketplace. The market is expanding in every direction as shutters
appeal to more consumers, fit more applications and are embraced
by more designers than ever before.
Quality and selection are the driving forces behind most consumers’
purchasing decisions. Homeowners always want the latest trend; but
more importantly, they want a quality product that will fit their
individual styles and needs. Shutters are an investment and consumers
want to feel confident that this investment will improve the overall
appearance and value of their homes for years to come. Vinylbilt’s
Polyresin 3® design is guaranteed to provide beauty, strength
and durability by ensuring that the shutter will not warp, chip,
peel, crack or fade.
Consumers are also responding to a more extensive shutter selection.
The development of fresh colors, new frame styles, larger louver
sizes and unique design options, such as Vinylbilt’s Clearview
option, has increased the versatility of shutters.
Dealers and designers have also played a key role in the marketing
of shutters. Product enhancements, greater profitability and valuable
training programs have made dealers and designers more motivated
to sell shutters. As quality, selection and product knowledge continue
to improve; the shutter market will maintain healthy growth.
SHUTTERS MOVE TO MAINSTREAM
Peter Wattiker
ITA, Inc.
Shutters have indeed moved beyond traditional Sunbelt markets and
into the mainstream of taste. Fueling this growing popularity is
the search by consumers and decorators for ways to express individual
style in their choices of window treatments. They are moving away
from monolithic fashion dogma and embracing a wider range of window
treatment options. The quality, diversity and uniqueness of shutters
today enable consumers to make a definitive, individualistic design
statement in any room in the house.
Another driver behind the shutter explosion is the advent of advanced
composite technology, as represented by the LaPlaya® Shutters.
These shutters are engineered with MikronWood™ XTR, a durable,
solid-core composite, plus a specially hardened PVC cap stock. This
technology makes them exceptionally strong, light and stiff, with
high resistance to moisture, heat and UV rays.
They also keep their beautiful appearance for years with minimal
maintenance. This easy maintenance factor enables LaPlaya Shutters
to conform easily to modern lifestyles that can be on one hand casual
and carefree, or on the other, hurried and time-pressed.
All together, these characteristics make LaPlaya Shutters extremely
versatile, able to retain their beauty and performance in environments
as varied as elegant living rooms, moisture-prone kitchens and baths,
and even the garage. Evidently, the broader the range of suitable
applications, the more expansive is the market for this window treatment.
Just as important is the ease of fabrication built into LaPlaya
Shutters. Because they are fabricator-friendly, it is easier to
bring them into a greater variety of markets at attractively low
prices while remaining profitable. They are thus seen as an affordable
alternative for a wider demographic range of consumers.
Finally, shutters today are now available in a wider range of decorative
styles and colors than ever before, and thus become attractive to
more designers in their perpetual search for elegance, fashion and
value.
QUALITY BECOMES NO. 1
Shane Brunell
Shutter Product Manager
Comfortex Window Fashions
Demand continues to grow rapidly as shutters gain popularity in
regions where demand has historically been minimal. Most notably
the Northeast and Midwest.
Price is always the customer’s initial concern; however, once
the consumer is educated on the value of quality workmanship and
various features they better understand what they are paying for,
and then quality becomes No. 1.
In order of importance at the time of sale:
• Quality (Because shutters are so expensive, consumers must
feel they are getting what they are paying for.)
• Selection
• Price
New application-specific attachment methods that cater to architecture
in various regions of the country are an important innovation making
shutters more versatile and marketable, as are new frames (face
mount) and methods that make installation easier. Our units come
ready for quick easy installation (magnets, hinges, etc. come pre-attached)
A recognized brand name—one known for quality—makes
dealers more comfortable selling the product, and lifetime warranties
make the consumer more comfortable.
CONSUMERS MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS
Lewis Saunders
Sales Manager
Vista Products
The demand for shutters has increased every year since 1995, which
was the year we began to fabricate the Sonesta Shutter. This year
will be the strongest sales year we have ever had at Vista Products
and 2006 looks promising.
The price of shutters will always be a factor, but by combining
quality, service, production time and education along with competitive
pricing seems to reflect that today’s customer wants to make
an informed decision on which company they will purchase from. At
Vista Products we have an entire shutter department that is designed
to service and help educate customers from start to finish.
Our hidden tilt bar feature, Cleartilt, has risen in popularity
over the last few years. This feature provides an unobstructed view,
cleaner lines and a more modern look to a classic product. Our seamless
louvers have now eliminated all caps to louver lines and provide
that wood look on the overall product.
The vinyl Sonesta Shutter has many marketable and versatile features
such as being completely waterproof and totally fire retardant.
This allows our shutters to be placed in areas never thought possible.
This also means safety and piece of mind for our customers, the
owner of a commercial establishment, or the residential homeowner.
LONG-TERM VALUE
Paul Shih
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Norman International
Demand for shutters has absolutely grown from just last year! We
have seen double-digit sales increases for the last four years running
with no signs of a slow-down. We feel that industry-wide increases
in shutter sales are due to shutters being viewed as the only window
covering that results in home value appreciation. Consumers are
looking for high-quality products, professional service, selection
and value in their shutter investments. More often than not, their
search leads them to Norman Shutters because of our unique product
quality attributes, which include quarter-sawn louvers, mortise-and-tenon
joinery, Prescription Wood Conditioning™, engineered stiles
and our labor-intensive hand finishing process. Trade and consumer
customers recognize the matchless quality, durability and long-term
value inherent in a Norman Shutters investment.
When it comes to shutters price, quality and selection are all important.
Shutters are considered a long-term investment that will be part
of the home for years to come. So customers want to ensure that
the shutters they select will add value far into the future. At
Norman Shutters, we offer shutters at more price levels, with numerous
features and levels of customization. This provides more choices
in price, quality and selection from which homeowners can make their
important shutter purchasing decision. |
