China is one the world’s most attractive export markets, and few British furniture brands have tapped into the potential of its burgeoning consumer base better than Duresta. Paul Farley sat down with CEO Clive Kenyon-Brown earlier this year to discuss brushes with high society, overcoming today’s economic challenges, and why people are dressing like children …
It may be 75 years old, but Duresta is a name that gets about. According to CEO Clive Kenyon-Brown, the upmarket upholstery brand sells consistently in 40 countries worldwide and, of these markets, it’s the notoriously awkward China that is seeing Duresta achieve its fastest growth.
With six stores now open, Duresta is becoming increasingly well placed to meet demand for high-end sofas amongst China’s new consumer elite – and having the privilege of accompanying the Prime Minister on a trade mission to Beijing last year certainly didn’t hurt its prospects.
“David came to Duresta back in April last year,” says Clive, “and he spent a whole half day at Duresta, which was a massive coup. And when the phone call from Number 10 came through asking me to join this trade mission, it was a real compliment. In actuality, it turned out that he spent more time visiting us in Long Eaton than he did visiting a whole city of 15 million people in China!”
Rubbing shoulders with bank chairmen and Cabinet ministers, Clive found the visit an exhausting but invaluable boost for his relationship with associations including the CBBC (China-Britain Business Council) and UKTI, as well as a great networking opportunity for Duresta’s Chinese distributor. “It was pretty full-on,” says Clive, “but very interesting.”
“Wealthy buyers in China don’t go to shops as you and I would – they’ll have a whole house designed with all the furnishings in place”
The mission also helped the company launch a national design competition, which challenges entrants to create interior design schemes around Duresta furniture, in conjunction with its distributor.
“Wealthy buyers in China don’t go to shops as you and I would – they’ll have a whole house designed with all the furnishings in place,” says Clive. “The competition is about engaging the interior designers who carry out these projects to consider and understand the Duresta brand better, so they’re more likely to specify us to their wealthy clients.
“Remember, we’re a luxury brand. By the time our product gets to the consumer, it’s seen a minimum multiplier of four – it could be as much as five and a half in some areas. That’s an expensive piece of furniture! It’s crucial that we work with our customers, educating them about the quality and craftsmanship that goes into each piece of Duresta furniture.”
While Duresta’s export drive in China has proved slower than expected – structural changes designed to arrest the speed of the country’s growth muted consumer demand for some time – the last year has seen the newly-refined economy enjoy rocketing inward consumption, on the back of a wealthier, more discerning populace.
The last few months in particular have yielded encouraging results, Clive enthuses: “We’ve noticed a massive change in attitude. To start with, business through our distributor – a Hong Kong stock exchange-listed manufacturer – was a little slow getting off the ground. But when we went out there in September, it was quite heartwarming – our distributor had put a whole structure of events together in terms of marketing, exhibitions, and, of course, the competition.”
Running until October, the contest is being promoted alongside Duresta’s new store openings – a further six are planned this year.
The company’s efforts in China have been further bolstered by the addition of Jade Blackburn to the team. Having studied at Beijing University, Jade brings vital language skills to Duresta’s excursions.
“I think you can export successfully to China without being able to speak Mandarin or Cantonese,” says Clive, “but if you want to progress as a business, you then have to be able to deal with the next tier down from the manufacturers – the people selling your products in the marketplace.”
If dealing directly with retailers is the only way to gauge a brand’s performance, it’s an approach that merits universal application. While Duresta may be performing well in China, Russia, Japan, Australia and the Middle East, the UK still accounts for about 70% of its business, and thus remains the cause of most of Clive’s concern.
Exhibitions are vital to the client communication that takes place in and around Duresta’s Long Eaton showroom, and Clive was certainly not alone in noticing an upswing in the industry’s mood at this year’s Interiors UK at the NEC.
“The top of the triangle has the least amount of people in it. And when those people start to get a bit shaky and nervous, or they’re not moving house, it dramatically affects us”
He attributes this optimism to “an emotional move to ‘get out there’” and find new properties and jobs, which in turn is making people feel better about going out and buying furniture. “I don’t think the deals or products are any better,” he adds. “It’s just a state of mind. And, as customer confidence grows so does spending – and this has been reflected in our own strong sales.
“While there’s been a number of false dawns since the crash at the back end of 2007, life hasn’t changed that much since,” Clive reflects. “We’ve all just had to get used to it, and adjust accordingly.”
Despite Duresta’s healthy export activity, the company has been keenly affected by pressures facing most businesses over the last few years. “Our business in France has virtually evaporated, and our trade in Ireland has reduced by two thirds,” says Clive. “In addition, you’ve got companies in the UK that have just disappeared – retailers that were doing hundreds of thousands of pounds in turnover have just shut up shop.
“You’re constantly trying to develop and win new business to replace what’s been lost – and it would be crass to suggest that it could be easily replaced. Every year, new tastes and styles come into the market. If you make clothes, and you don’t change your styles to respond to the changing seasons and market tastes – whether in terms of colour or design – and just carry on making Crombies, well, I’m afraid you ain’t got a business!
“Yes, we’re keeping our business ahead – but at the same time we’re fighting the fact that, through no fault of our own, we constantly have plates crashing down in other areas.
“I have to say, we’re lucky that we’re in the position we are in the marketplace – but, let’s not kid each other, the top of the triangle has the least amount of people in it. And when those people start to get a bit shaky and nervous, or they’re not moving house, it dramatically affects us.”
Duresta’s answer to these pressures is Domus, an ‘entry-price’ range targeting younger professionals – architects, solicitors, doctors, etc – who previously found the Duresta brand inaccessible, whether due to its price or styling.
“Maybe it was too baronial, too glamorous or too casual, or even too classic or traditional. We developed Domus for a new Duresta customer who wanted the brand but couldn’t get it. Of course, our entry-price range is the equivalent of most mid-markets’ top-end, but we are offering the best for less.”
The Domus collection comprises three sofa designs in multiple sizes, a collection of occasional chairs which are, says Clive, “a bit funky and wacky, but still with classic roots”, and two ranges of unit seating, all of which can be purchased with solid oak, limed oak or walnut legs.
Duresta is by no means the first premium-end manufacturer to widen its appeal in such a way – yet, I ask, surely it’s such an exclusive brand that introducing Domus posed some risk?
“I think, in fairness, we’d have damaged the brand more if we hadn’t reacted,” responds Clive. “As a company, we’ve had to be fleet of foot – but in our area of the business it’s much more difficult to respond to economic changes because we have a number of constraints. We’re not prepared to compromise the quality of the product, the craftsmanship and detail that goes into it, the quality of the components that go into it.
“It’s what’s inside that counts – the construction that creates a model’s longevity. Domus is less expensive than the core Duresta range, but that’s not because it’s more cheaply made. We’re not taking anything away from the integrity of the product – it becomes less expensive because it’s using less materials, not because it’s less difficult to make or we’ve ripped out its guts.
“In Domus, features such as the solid wooden legs are expensive additions, but we’ve been able to keep the price down in various ways – by negotiating deals with our suppliers, and by offering the models mostly in plains and stripes, with which you get much better fabric utilisation.
“We designed the pieces to be really audience-appropriate as well – we went for high back comfort, sprung, hand-made … the whole thing was beautifully done.
“Yes, it was on lower margins, and yes, it was really a needs-must exercise, but when you’re in that situation you’ve got to make sure you’re creating as much opportunity for the company as you can.”
As well as the audience of young professionals for which Domus was originally intended, the collection has attracted attention from customers simply seeking a little more practicality than glamour in their purchase.
“We designed the collection really for a younger professional, but – it actually dawned on me a few weeks back – the reality is that, historically, we buy furniture that our parents aspired to own, perhaps to get some recognition of our success,” says Clive.
“Yes, it was on lower margins, and yes, it was really a needs-must exercise, but when you’re in that situation you’ve got to make sure you’re creating as much opportunity for the company as you can"
“But, actually, what I think has happened now, is we’re tending to buy furniture that our children aspire to own. If you think about it, our generation wanted our parents to think we were cool, so we subconsciously aped their styles. Now, as older people are getting ‘younger’, we actually want to show our children that we’re not fuddy-duddies, and we know what we’re doing!
“Look at the way we dress – I’m not wearing a tie right now, but five years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing that. We wear jeans to go out to dinner at night – who stimulated that? It’s our children, who look so much happier in their clothes than we do. We look like ironing boards most of the time!
“I think we do all this, subliminally. It’s why you go back to your wardrobe and, while there’s a load in there, you have this little area which contains the stuff you actually want to wear.”
Clive also attributes some of Domus’ success to a general movement towards modern interiors, from the traditionalism of Victorian or Georgian homes to the fresher, neater, more natural feel of today’s modern homes.
And it’s by no means just a UK trend. “We’ve just launched the new Domus collection in Japan,” says Clive. “They really like the style and design of it, so we’re hoping for good things.
“It’s true – we live in a global village, with global tastes. Luckily for us, around 70% of our business is still in classic, and there’s still a huge market for it. But you also can’t ignore, in our 75th birthday year, that we have a responsibility to continue the battle of the brand, and we have to keep passing it forward – we must make sure that we produce appropriate products for the marketplace.
“Since 2007 it’s been a constant battle, and, just when you think you’ve got it absolutely sorted, bang! – something else comes along!”
This article was published in the March issue of Furniture News magazine.
