Case goods: Contemporary, American country dominate
Retailers report top styles, woods, finishes in four categories
By Dana French -- Furniture Today, March 31, 2002
High Point — As in 2000, the contemporary and American country styles are the most dominant among case goods styles in the United States. Overall, style preferences have remained relatively stable, but some changes are emerging.
In the master bedroom category, other traditional styles — such as European traditional, Victorian and formal French — have gained significant market share since 2000. At medium price points, other traditional made great strides, improving its share by 13 percentage points from 2000.
At the high end, other traditional, which was the leader by a slight margin in 2000, improved its market share by eight percentage points. In addition, retailers see European traditional, one of the styles in the other traditional style family, as the fastest-growing style at the high end.
In youth bedroom, American country catapulted over contemporary as the market share leader at the medium and high price points. In the Midwest, American country also took the No. 1 status this year from contemporary.
Light finishes appear to be gaining ground at promotional price points, cited this year as the fastest-growing finish for both master bedroom and youth bedroom.
In the dining room, contemporary and American country styles are dominant in both formal and casual dining. This year retailers were asked about formal and casual dining separately, instead of as a combined category, so direct comparisons with 2000 data are not possible.
Master Bedroom
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Style: At promotional price points, contemporary followed by American country account for more than four-fifths of the market. Casual contemporary is the fastest-growing style at the low end.
At medium price points, American country and other traditional each hold almost a quarter of the market. Mission/Arts & Crafts and Early American/Colonial are the fastest-growing styles.
At the high end, other traditional leads the way, followed by 18th century. European traditional is the fastest-growing style, followed by Mission/Arts & Crafts. -
Wood: Across low and medium price points, oak is the best-selling wood, with pine coming in second in promotional price points and cherry coming in second at medium price levels. At the high end, cherry captured the top spot, with oak coming in second.
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Finish: Medium finishes lead the way across all prices as the best-selling finish. It is also the fastest-growing finish at the middle and high end, and light finishes are the up-and-coming finish within promotional price points.
Youth Bedroom
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Style: Contemporary is the style leader in promotional price points, accounting for almost two-thirds of the market, while casual contemporary is the overwhelming fastest-growing style.
At middle and high price points, American country captures the largest market share, with contemporary being reported as second - a flip-flop in styles from the 2000 survey. Casual contemporary is the fastest-growing style for medium price points, while casual contemporary and Mission/Arts & Crafts are the fastest-growing at the high end. -
Wood: Oak is the best-selling wood at promotional and middle price levels, while maple and painted colors share the top spot at the high end — a huge change from 2000 when pine was the best selling at promotional and oak was at the high-end.
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Finish: Light finishes are the best selling at low and medium price points, with medium finishes as the No. 1 at the high end. The fastest-growing finishes are light at promotional price points, medium at the mid prices; and light and medium at higher price points.
Formal Dining
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Style: Contemporary and American country are the market share leaders at promotional and middle price points, together accounting for more than half of each price market.
Market share is evenly split at the high-end, with contemporary and other traditional each capturing more than one-fifth of the market, only slightly higher than American country, European country and 18th century.
Gaining sales strength is Mission/Arts & Crafts at the lower prices; casual contemporary at the middle prices; and, European traditional at the high-end. -
Wood: Oak is cited by half of responding retailers as the best-selling wood at promotional price points. At medium price points, cherry is a close second to oak. At the high end, oak hugs the favorite, mahogany, as a close second.
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Finish: Across all price points, medium finishes are cited as both the best selling and the fastest growing for formal dining.
Casual Dining
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Style: Contemporary and American country are style leaders in casual dining and are also the fastest-growing styles listed in this survey.
At the promotional end, American country captures nearly half of the casual dining market, followed by contemporary. For medium and high price points, contemporary accounts for more than a third of the market, followed by American country.
For fastest-growing styles, casual contemporary is No. 1 at low and medium price points, and Early American/Colonial captures the top spot at the high end. -
Wood: Across all price levels, oak is the best-selling wood. Oak is also the best seller in the Northeast, Midwest and West, while cherry is the best in the South.
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Finish: Medium finishes are the best selling across all price points and the fastest growing at medium and high price points. Light finishes are the fastest growing at the promotional level.
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