Furniture buying practices
Percent of households that shopped for furniture in 2002, purchased furniture (2000 vs. 2002) and plan to buy furniture in 2003.
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 24, 2003
Just over a third of American households — 36.8 million — made a furniture purchase last year, slightly less than in 2000, and a third plan to buy furniture this year. Based on the amount those furniture-shopping households plan to spend, more than $70 billion is up for grabs in 2003.
These are among the key findings from Furniture/Today's third major consumer survey. The previous surveys were conducted in 2000 and 1997.
A downside is that fewer households are planning to purchase furniture this year than went shopping for furniture in 2002. The largest declines are for bedding and desks. Also seeing declines in the percentage of shopping households are home office furniture, entertainment centers and armoires, stationary sofas and occasional tables.
Another negative: Of the 42% of households that shopped for furniture in 2002, only 34% actually bought. If those "dropouts" had made a purchase, spending about the same amounts as those that did buy, another $16 billion would have filled industry coffers.
The dropout rate was greatest for sofa-sleepers, motion sofas, curios, dining room, glider and swivel rockers, entertainment centers/armoires, master bedroom and stationary chairs.
Furniture/Today's tracking survey doesn't ask why consumers failed to buy.
By product category, virtually the same percentage of households bought in each category in 2002 as in 2000, a blockbuster year for the furniture industry. There was a very slight uptick in the percentage of households that purchased area rugs, bedding, stationary sofas, lamps and other adult bedroom (not master bedroom).
The only significant decline came in the percentage of households that purchased desks.
Bedding continues to be the category more American households buy than any other. Last year, 10.8% of U.S. households purchased bedding, slightly more than the 10.6% of households that made a bedding purchase in 2000. Bedding, in fact, was one of the few categories that saw an increase in the percentage of households making a purchase in 2002 compared with 2000.
The biggest percentage gain in households making a buy last year was in area rugs. In the accessory arena, the percentage of households purchasing lamps also increased. This year, Furniture/Today added several accessory products to the list of products consumers were quizzed about, and all were purchased by a larger percentage of households than any of the furniture categories except bedding.
Area rugs, lamps, wall décor, decorative pillows and throws, and other decorative accessories are all at the top of plan-to-buy lists for 2003.
| Case goods | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopped for 2002 | Purchased | Plan to buy 2003 | ||
| 2000 | 2002 | |||
| Master bedroom | 7.3% | 3.9% | 3.9% | 5.2% |
| Youth/teen bedroom | 4.5% | 3.1% | 2.7% | 3.2% |
| Other adult bedroom | 2.7% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.7% |
| Kitchen/dinette table, chairs | 5.4% | 3.1% | 3.0% | 3.8% |
| Dining room | 4.3% | 2.3% | 2.2% | 2.8% |
| Entertainment centers/armoires | 7.4% | 4.4% | 3.9% | 4.4% |
| Curio cabinets | 3.8% | 2.1% | 1.8% | 2.5% |
| Cocktail/end/sofa/coffee tables | 6.5% | 3.9% | 3.7% | 4.0% |
| Desks | 7.6% | 6.0% | 4.7% | 3.7% |
| Other home office | 6.2% | 4.6% | 3.9% | 3.2% |
| Upholstery | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopped for 2002 | Purchased | Plan to buy 2003 | ||
| 2000 | 2002 | |||
| Sofas/loveseats with no motion | 7.8% | 4.5% | 4.6% | 5.0% |
| Chairs with no motion | 2.4% | 1.7% | 1.3% | 1.6% |
| Reclining chairs | 6.9% | 3.9% | 3.9% | 4.9% |
| Chairs that swivel, rock or glide | 3.8% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 2.2% |
| Sofas/loveseats with built-in recliner | 4.0% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 3.0% |
| Sofa-sleepers | 3.0% | 1.5% | 1.3% | 2.2% |
| Futons | 2.7% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1.2% |
| Other product | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mattress/boxspring | 15.1% | 10.6% | 10.8% | 10.8% |
| Area rugs | 10.8% | 6.5% | 7.1% | 6.1% |
| Lamps | 11.0% | 7.6% | 7.7% | 5.3% |
| Wall decor | 10.6% | na | 7.2% | 5.3% |
| Decorative pillows, throws | 10.4% | na | 7.6% | 3.9% |
| Decorative accessories | 18.0% | na | 14.7% | 8.6% |
