Contemporary, American Country win gold in case goods style survey
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 27, 2006
High Point — At lower price points, Contemporary and American Country styles continue to dominate the case goods marketplace, according to Furniture/Today's latest biennial Case Goods Style Survey. Together, these styles account for a low of 69% of formal dining sales to a high of 93% of youth bedroom sales at lower price points.
At middle price points, Contemporary and American Country are still mainstays, accounting for about one-half to two-thirds of sales, but have stronger competition, principally from styles in the Other Traditional family.
At the high end, there is no clear market-share style dominance. The highest style share is held by Other Traditional — 35% in youth bedroom. However, Contemporary and American Country are still important in both youth bedroom and casual dining, accounting for two-fifths to nearly half of unit sales. These two style families also account for about one-third of unit sales in both master bedroom and formal dining room.
The styles showing the fastest sales growth may give clues to future changes in market share. Looking ahead, retailers indicate Contemporary is likely to stay on top at both low and middle price points, and regain some prominence at the high end. The more hard-edged Architectural Contemporary is gaining some ground in master bedroom, but retailers still see Casual Contemporary gaining more sales in all categories.
Regionally, in the Midwest, Contemporary is the market-share leader in both bedroom categories, as well as in formal dining, with one-third to two-fifths of unit sales. There is no clear market-share leader in casual dining in the Midwest; Contemporary, American country and Other Traditional have nearly equal market shares, and European country is close behind in share.
In the Northeast, American Country gets almost one-third of overall unit sales, but defers to Other Traditional styles for master bedroom sales and Contemporary in casual dining.
In the South, Other Traditional is the overall favorite, especially in bedroom, garnering two-fifths of youth bedroom sales and nearly one-third of master bedroom sales. In formal dining, 18th century and Other Traditional split the honors, and in casual dining, Contemporary comes into its own, picking up one-third of unit sales.
In the West, American Country captures almost two-fifths of case goods sales overall, and is especially strong in casual dining and youth bedroom.
