How does Lenox decide to retire certain pieces? The decision to retire certain Lenox products is usually a natural process driven by sales. "Generally that is a natural process," says Timothy J. Carder,...
"Generally that is a natural process," says Timothy J. Carder, vice president of design at Lenox, Inc. in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.
"You will see a certain product begin to decline at some point in time and you know that in the second year, the sales will be half of that and so on and so forth."
"You will see a certain product begin to decline at some point in time and you know that in the second year, the sales will be half of that and so on and so forth."
To stay current with customer demand, Lenox closely watches the popularity of their different offerings and makes decisions about what to retain and what to discontinue based on that.
Carder continues, "We have to control the amount of products we have. We are always every year, twice a year, bringing new products to the market and so it is necessary to retire pieces when the sales begin to drop to certain levels, which makes sense really."
There is a method to the way that Lenox replenishes their products, though. They pay attention to what types of patterns and styles are going to be let go, but try to compensate for that change with another comparable item or collection.
Explains Carder, "People obviously do not want the piece after certain point in time and so we have to retire it. But, at the same time, we retire things and replace them with what we consider to be a better and newer modern version of the same thing."
He says to keep up with the trends, "We do have to rejuvenate ideas, which have been strong, but generally we are finding that the trade and our customers are always seeking newness. They are always looking for what is new and it is a necessary process that we go through."
Lenox does recognize that it may be difficult for customers to part with a certain style that they have a sentimental attachment to and listens closely to consumer feedback.
"Obviously, it is disappointing to buy an item and want to get it again, but generally we have been successful in replacing the business each time with better solutions or a more innovative product," says Carder.
Some folks are actually in favor of Lenox retiring pieces, because it may result in a better investment for them in the long run.
Carter notes, "There is also the collectable market to consider when retiring pieces. Customers do look for that if there is a series of 2000, it's very important to them, they would want, if they could, to have number one in the series."
In general, as with most collectibles, the earlier the number in a series, the higher the value.
Carder concurs, "Yes most definitely the value of the piece does go up if it is a fixed amount of addition. Those limited production pieces are often found in our catalogs as well our collectable catalog. In fact, we have some pieces that have been restricted to one,a limited edition of one."
What determines a creation of that stature? "We produce some very fine pieces of gold and silver, very elaborate vases in a $10,000 category. We make one; we have one craftsman, who could only make a certain amount. So we put one in our catalog and they sell almost instantly to a Lenox collector," confirms Carder.
