Just over a year ago, global e-commerce and manufacturing firm Group Bayport acquired NorthCape, and many wondered what that would mean for the Chicago-based casual furnishings company.
And according to NorthCape cofounder and President Tom Murray, that acquisition has positioned the company to grow and diversify in a way that wasn’t feasible in the past.
“Even though we grew a lot over time, there were several things that were always a challenge — financial capacity, operational capacity and execution expertise,” Murray said. “No matter how we grew, we were always challenged by those three things.”
Murray said Group Bayport has helped solve some of those problems. Based in Atlanta, the company specializes in manufacturing a wide range of customized products ranging from signage and displays to home decor. In addition to facilities in Atlanta, Group Bayport also has manufacturing and operations facilities in Phoenix and India.
That manufacturing range and capability has been a major asset for NorthCape.
“If I had to pinpoint one tangible, immediate difference from having a new owner, that would be the bigger operations, along with their financial, operational and execution expertise,” Murray said. “When you have these kind of deals, you can get just a financial partner, or you can get a financial, operational and strategic partner, and that’s very much what we got.”
Murray said that having manufacturing facilities in the United States, backed by factories in India, has given NorthCape an advantage and has allowed them to better navigate the constantly changing tariff situation.
“It’s very much a dual company in that we have domestic and import capacity under one roof,” he said. “We have the factories in India to support us on the functions that either can’t be done here or we don’t have the capacity to do domestically.”
Representatives from the U.S. and India have been in talks over the past week to reach a trade deal that would reduce the duties imposed on exports by the Trump administration. Murray said he believes the countries will reach an agreement that works for everyone.
“The logic says that the U.S. and India are both democracies, and with the scale and size of the countries and their markets, it just makes sense that there’s a deal with a reasonable outcome,” he said.
One of Group Bayport’s divisions was custom outdoor cushions, which made adding NorthCape to the fold a more natural segue. And that custom manufacturing capability fit the direction Murray wanted to go with the NorthCape business.
“They already had a mindset and an operation ecosystem that has a minimum order quantity of one,” he said. “The old story was MOQs were high with long lead times. And Group Bayport already had a business that was driven by one at a time, with immediate manufacturing.”
Murray said his ideal customer isn’t the type of person who wants to buy a set as-is from the retail showroom floor. They want to have a say in how it looks, creating something distinctive they won’t see on their neighbor’s patio, but they also don’t want to wait weeks for it. So Group Bayport’s MOQ flexibility gave the company the ability to appeal to that customer and grow the business in a new way.
“That was our dream,” Murray said. “We wanted dealers to be able to offer that person who’s having a party in a couple of weeks or maybe a month the ability to go into a store, design what they want and have it in time for that event.”
NorthCape now offers customers the ability to choose finishes, arm styles, upholstery, cushion colors and other aspects of their furnishings, with turnaround times of as little as TKTK. That positions the company well to appeal to another key customer demographic: interior designers.
“Fifteen years ago, the designer business was difficult for us to execute and really do a good job because we had a different growth story going on,” Murray said. “But now we have MOQs of one, short lead times and the ability to do custom work, so designers are a huge new area for us to focus on.”
As such, NorthCape returned to High Point Market this year with a space in designer-focused Interhall. Murray said the company saw strong traffic both in April and October, connecting with interior designers that flood High Point.
“We hadn’t been there in years, and when we did go there well over a decade ago, we had a different model,” he said. “Now fast-forward, and we are ready to meet designers’ needs.”
Looking forward, Murray said that while economic uncertainty is likely to persist in the coming year, he feels good about NorthCape’s position with the backing of Group Bayport. And he sees the company’s future as one of innovation and taking advantage of the potential for growth that innovation provides.
“If we’re successful, we’re going to be a disruptor,” he said. “And the disruption that’s exciting for me is that some of this customization is disruptive because most can’t execute it — it’s not easy. As we hone in and tweak things, we know we’ll have some bumps in the road, but I can see what is possible, and I’m excited about that.”
