Traditional furniture stores face new competition
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 12, 2007
High Point — A greater percentage of U.S. households purchased furniture at traditional furniture stores than any other channel last year. Furniture stores should watch their back however, especially when it comes to case goods products. Discount department stores, with Wal-Mart and Target at the helm, are forging ahead and not just at the lowest income brackets. In 2006, 22% of case goods buyers purchased through traditional furniture stores and 19% of households buying case goods bought at discounters. The lifestyle furniture store channel, including Ikea and Pottery Barn, is No. 3, with 12% of case goods buyers purchasing at one last year.
The traditional furniture store channel's lead is larger with upholstery. In 2006, 37% of U.S. households buying upholstery made their purchase at traditional furniture stores, while 17% bought at manufacturer gallery stores, such as Ashley Furniture HomeStores and La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries.
These figures represent the total number of household purchases through each channel, not the total dollars spent through each channel.
| Where they bought* | ||
|---|---|---|
| % of households buying | Case goods | Upholstery |
| *The percentage of the total number of case goods and upholstery purchases through each channel, not the percentage of total dollars spent through each channel. Source: Furniture/Today Consumer Buying Trends Survey, 2007 |
||
| Traditional furniture stores | 22% | 37% |
| Discount department stores | 19 | 9 |
| Manufacturer gallery stores | 6 | 17 |
| Lifestyle furniture stores | 12 | 6 |
| Direct-to-consumer | 4 | 1 |
| Other | 37 | 30 |
