Channel Surfing: Lifestyle furniture stores
By Dana French -- Furniture Today, April 30, 2007
High Point — Lifestyle furniture stores such as Ikea, Pier 1, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Cost Plus World Market and Restoration Hardware accounted for 5% of the furniture and bedding sales at retail in 2006. That's according to results from Furniture/Today's exclusive Consumer Buying Trends survey.
The lifestyle furniture store channel garnered an estimated $4.2 billion in retail sales last year.
A lifestyle furniture store is one that carries furniture, bedding, decorative accessories and/or soft goods at full price and may or may not carry housewares, small appliances, gourmet foods, apparel, jewelry and personal care items.
In this exclusive analysis, households buying furniture and bedding at lifestyle furniture stores are compared with households buying at the industry's largest channel of distribution, traditional furniture stores, where furniture is the store's total business or single-largest category. Examples include Rooms To Go and Havertys, as well as local independent furniture stores.
In 2006, these stores garnered an estimated $42.7 billion in retail sales.
Retail sales estimates for 2006 are based on data available through February 2007 and are subject to revision as additional data become available.
Stores attract younger buyers
Lifestyle furniture stores attract younger buyers than traditional furniture stores, according to Furniture/Today's exclusive Consumer Buying Trends survey. In lifestyle stores, 43% of the buyers come from Generation X, while in traditional furniture stores, 40% of buyers are part of the long-time focus of the industry, the Baby Boomers. Only 17% of traditional furniture store buyers were under 35 in 2006.
Gen X households, currently between the ages of 32 and 42, most frequently purchased desks, entertainment furniture and youth/other adult bedroom furniture in lifestyle furniture stores last year. Their median tickets for these items (half spending more and half spending less) was $165 for a desk, $200 for entertainment furniture and $415 for youth/other adult bedroom.
In traditional furniture stores, where they only accounted for 26% of buyers, Gen X households most often purchased bedding, master bedroom and youth/other adult bedroom.
Lifestyle furniture stores also had no problems with reeling in Generation Y. These Boomers' kids accounted for 26% of all households buying furniture and bedding at lifestyle stores last year, instead of the 10% they accounted for at traditional furniture stores. Gen Y's purchase favorites at lifestyle stores were desks, with a median ticket of $150; master bedroom, with a median ticket of $500; and bedding, with a median ticket of $600.
The long-important Baby Boomers, while more likely to make their furniture purchase at a traditional furniture store, didn't eschew the lifestyle stores altogether. Boomers, currently between the ages of 43 and 61, accounted for 24% of all purchasers through lifestyle furniture stores last year. Boomers most frequently purchased entertainment furniture, spending a median of $175 (less than Gen X); casual dining, spending a median of $200; and desks, spending a median of $165 (the same as Gen X and more than Gen Y).
At traditional furniture stores, where Boomers are king — and queen — the favorite purchases in 2006 were bedding, stationary sofas and occasional tables.
Other demographic characteristics of lifestyle furniture store buyers:
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68% are between the ages of 25 and 44
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42% have household incomes of $75,000 or more
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61% live in a house, 26% live in an apartment and 8% live in a condo
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75% are married
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87% have high-speed Internet access
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In addition to buying furniture and bedding in 2006, 38% also bought a car, 66% took a domestic pleasure trip and 32% took an international pleasure trip.
Top products bought
Occasional case goods were king in lifestyle furniture stores in 2006. Desks, entertainment furniture and occasional tables were the three most frequently purchased products at lifestyle furniture stores last year.
More than two-fifths of lifestyle furniture buyers bought a desk, spending a median of $155. Nearly three-fifths of buying households spent less than $200 on the desk, with 26% spending between $200 and $499 and 16% spending $500 or more. In comparison, households buying a desk at a traditional furniture store spent a median of $325, 2.1 times higher than the median spent by their lifestyle furniture store counterparts.
Last year, 38% of lifestyle store buyers purchased entertainment furniture, spending a median of $200. Households buying entertainment furniture in traditional stores shelled out 2.5 times more, a median of $500.
Occasional tables were bought by more than one-third of all lifestyle furniture buyers in 2006. Households spent a median of $250 on their purchase, with 30% spending less than $200, 25% spending between $200 and $399 and 45% spending $400 or more.
| The lifestyle furniture store buyer | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bought any Furniture and Bedding at | ||
| Lifestyle | Traditional | |
| furniture stores | ||
| Household income | ||
| Under $30,000 | 17% | 22% |
| $30,000 to $49,999 | 16% | 15% |
| $50,000 to $74,999 | 25% | 25% |
| $75,000 to $99,999 | 12% | 18% |
| $100,000 or more | 30% | 20% |
| Generation | ||
| Generation Y Born between 1976 and 1985 (18+ only) | 26% | 10% |
| Generation X Born between 1965 and 1975 | 43% | 26% |
| Younger Baby Boomer Born between 1956 and 1964 | 15% | 20% |
| Older Baby Boomer Born between 1946 and 1955 | 9% | 20% |
| Happy Days Generation Born between 1936 and 1945 | 6% | 15% |
| Senior Senior Born in 1935 or before | 1% | 9% |
| Race/ethnicity | ||
| White | 74% | 88% |
| African-American | 9% | 7% |
| Asian-American | 11% | 2% |
| Hispanic | 11% | 4% |
| Home ownership | ||
| Own or are buying | 66% | 75% |
| Rent | 29% | 22% |
