One in Two Customers Inquire where it's made.

Online, May 10, 2010 (Newswire.com) - KENMORE, NY, April 30, 2010 - Contemporary Furniture, www.contemporaryfurniture.com, a national retailer of higher end contemporary and modern home furnishings, announced today that there is a growing demand by consumers for American-made goods, followed by goods made in North America and Europe.
"In 15 years, we have never seen such an interest by customers in where a product is made," said John Kenyon, VP National Sales for ContemporaryFurniture.com. "We started noticing it six months ago, and have been keeping close track of it. Easily, one out of every two customers asks us where the product is made." He began to ask random customers why they were interested, and the answer was they wished to avoid goods made in China.
In an email survey, customers cited numerous reasons for wanting to avoid Chinese goods including a customer from Florida who wrote, "I do my best to not buy Chinese products. The reason is that they are very often inferior products, massed produced." While a writer from New Jersey said, "[Chinese products] are known for being cheap, junky, and sometimes dangerous."
Intrigued, Kenyon took it a step further, asking customers if the price and style were what they wanted, would they prefer to purchase American-made goods, and were 100% yes - with one emailer from Kentucky saying she would pay "substantially more" for American products. Positive perceptions were directed to Canadian and European manufacturers as well.
This interest in where products are made has spurred ContemporaryFurniture.com to identify every product with the flag and country of its origin. Kenyon noted that some of the manufacturers are starting to promote the home-grown nature of their products as well.
"I haven't seen this type of 'Buy American' sentiment since the '80s," observed Kenyon. "And while the public craving is this information, none of the major shopping sites includes where a product is made. By providing this information to consumers on our site, we are hoping to help people make informed decisions before investing on products that have a relatively high ticket."

About ContemporaryFurniture.com
ContemporaryFurniture.com is the online retailing arm of Advance Furniture, an upstate New York boutique firm that specializes in contemporary and modern home furnishings. Advance Furniture was founded in 1955 and launched ContemporaryFurniture.com in 1995.