Office furniture fit for a woman

When Jennifer Selby Long relocated from an office with leased furniture to an unfurnished one in February, her decorating problems began.

After shopping at different stores, all that the San Francisco resident could find was furniture made with a “5-foot-10-inch man in mind.” Long is 5-foot-6. “Everything is too masculine, edgy, too modern and heavy on the metal,” said Long, 43, who runs a management-consulting business.

With female-owned small businesses’ growing almost twice as fast as all small business nationwide, retailers - from Swedish furniture store Ikea to OfficeMax Inc. - are waking up to the demands of female entrepreneurs such as Long. These include office chairs and desks scaled to women’s smaller frames, as well as furniture that has more storage to hold purses and other personal items - a top priority for women.

Experts say women have definite tastes and, unlike their male counterparts, look at their furniture as an extension of their image.

“Women really want to personalize their space. Men are looking for more functionality,” said Kim Roffey, a strategist at Kurt Salmon Associates.

When men buy an office chair, they focus on whether it rolls under the desk and provides good back support, Roffey said. Women look at those factors, but at the top of their minds is how it fits with the look of the room, she said.

Office Depot Inc., the office-supplies retailer, is considered the pioneer in staking out the female-entrepreneur market. In 2003, it created items such as whitewash executive desks, evoking beachhouse decor, and hutches with antique finishes.

Rival OfficeMax recently struck exclusive partnerships with Sharper Image Corp. to make a line of modern office furniture and with Broyhill Furniture Industries Inc. to create a traditional furniture line with details such as antique-pewter-ring hardware.

Meanwhile, Ikea has created decor displays aimed at female entrepreneurs, such as a bookstore and hair salon, at its 29 U.S. stores. Ikea, which operates U.S. headquarters in Conshohocken, Pa., plans to eventually expand the program overseas. “I think we have just scratched the surface. This is one of our growth engines of the future,” said Pernille Lopez, president of Ikea North America. Lopez said she expects that small-business owners, particularly women, could eventually account for 10 percent to 15 percent of Ikea’s U.S. business.

Lopez wants Ikea to be a source of networking for women, who make up about 70 percent of its customers. Ikea launched an informational Web site called business. ikea.com, where entrepreneurs can share design ideas and discuss topics such as handling finances. It also is holding events at its stores featuring topics from decorating tips to human resources issues.

Store executives are staking out a booming market. According to the Center for Women’s Business Research, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the estimated 10.4 million businesses owned by women, the number of privately held firms where women owned at least a 51 percent stake grew 42 percent from 1997 to 2006. That’s almost twice the 23.8 percent growth for all private businesses during that same period. The figures are projections based on the 2002 Census Bureau data.

OfficeMax worked with female focus groups to get input on its new furniture lines’ design. A Broyhill credenza, for example, offers more storage than the average computer/printer stand.

Information from: www.philly.com