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Survey outlines key habits of furniture shopper groups

By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, April 14, 2002

BALTIMORE — Furniture quality, not price, is most important to women without children. One in four Gen-Xers is thinking about a new bedroom. Members of households earning more than $75,000 are more willing to drive more than 50 miles looking for the right furniture.

These are some of the conclusions of Customer Focus 2002: Retail, a biannual study commissioned by the advertising and marketing firm Vertis on the habits, attitudes, plans and preferences of potential furniture shoppers.

Vertis' Customer Focus study, first done in 1998, is based on a survey of 3,000 adults by Customer Contact Inc. of Pittsburgh, and measures both general and industry-specific shopping trends.

Vertis, on the Web at www.vertisinc.com, provides the data to clients who use it to identify emerging consumer behavior patterns and track shifts in customer practices and motivations. The study's margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

"One of the most useful areas of the study is our examination of media use," said Therese Mulvey, the firm's vice president of strategic marketing. "It tells us how consumers acquire the information they use to make shopping decisions."

The study includes advertising inserts, which more than 50% of adults surveyed said they used in making key purchase decisions in particular categories. Of adults surveyed this year, 86% said they read ad inserts, up from 81% in 2000 and 82% in 1998.

Here are some of the findings:

Driving for dinettes. The survey asked: How far in miles would you drive to buy new furniture? The average was 37 miles, down from 40 miles in 1998. By age, Generation Ys (ages 18 to 25) have the highest average at 40 miles, while Seniors (age 73 or more) will only drive 22 miles. Across all adults, 14% say they would drive over 51 miles to buy furniture, and that jumps to 20% for households earning $75,000 or more.
Sleeping, not eating. For future furniture purchases, bedrooms and living rooms are on more than twice as many shopping lists as dining rooms. Among all adults, 15% said they plan to purchase bedroom furniture in the coming year, 15% said living room furniture and 7% said dining room. Among age groups, the highest number in purchase plans was the 26% of Gen-Xers (ages 26 to 37) who said they plan to buy bedroom furniture.
Why choose this store? Among all adults, lowest price narrowly beat out highest quality for the top motivator in choosing the store where they made their last furniture purchase (26% vs. 23%). Gen-Xers were among the most price sensitive, with 30% pointing to lowest prices as the primary reason. Another price-conscious subgroup: women with children, 30% of whom chose lowest price as the top draw.
Ad effectiveness. When asked what medium they turn to first for help in making a purchase, ad inserts or circulars topped the list for all adults at 27%, followed by newspapers at 24%. TV and Internet came next, tying at 13%.

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Percent of respondents planning to buy furniture in the next 12 months
	All adults (18+)	Gen-X (25-36)	Baby boomers (37-55)	Young/olds (56-71)	Women, no children	Women, w/children
Dining room	7%	11%	6%	3%	4%	9%
Living room	15%	20%	15%	12%	11%	18%
Bedroom	15%	26%	15%	6%	10%	21%
Source: Survey of 3,000 adults by Customer Contact for Vertis

When you are ready to purchase, which media do you turn to first for help?
	All adults (18+)	Gen-X (25-36)	Women, no children	Women, w/children
Advertising inserts/circulars	27%	26%	30%	39%
Newspaper	24%	16%	28%	20%
Television	13%	17%	10%	16%
Internet	13%	22%	9%	9%
Magazines	6%	7%	5%	5%
Direct mail	3%	3%	2%	3%
Radio	1%	1%	1%	1%
Don't know	2%	1%	3%	1%
None	11%	7%	13%	5%

Which of the following best describes how you use advertising inserts or circulars?
	All adults (18+)	Gen-X (25-36)	Women, no children	Women, w/children
Occasionally read	46%	46%	45%	43%
Read for products needed	26%	28%	26%	34%
Read all available to me	13%	13%	18%	17%
Never read inserts	14%	13%	11%	7%
Source: Survey of 3,000 adults by Customer Contact for Vertis

Which was most important when selecting where you made your last furniture purchase?
	All adults (18+)	Gen-X (25-36)	Baby boomers (37-55)	Young/olds (56-71)	Women, no children	Women, w/children
Lowest price	26%	30%	27%	22%	22%	30%
Highest quality	23%	22%	24%	26%	23%	21%
Wide selection	18%	20%	20%	16%	19%	20%
Carried specific brand	10%	7%	9%	14%	12%	7%
Customer service	9%	8%	9%	9%	10%	7%
Special financing	4%	7%	4%	2%	3%	7%
Source: Survey of 3,000 adults by Customer Contact for Vertis

Which of the following statements describes your shopping behavior?
	All adults (18+)	Gen-X (25-36)	Women, no children	Women, w/children
Research online; buy at store	39%	47%	33%	37%
Research by catalog; buy at store	32%	33%	31%	34%
Research by catalog; buy online	13%	13%	14%	13%
Research online; buy by phone	12%	11%	12%	9%
Research at store; buy online	10%	12%	10%	9%
None of these	31%	24%	37%	31%
Source: Survey of 3,000 adults by Customer Contact for Vertis

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