Top 25 sales creep up 1.3%
Trails consumer spending's 6% gain
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, May 21, 2007
High Point — In a lackluster year for many companies, the Top 25's U.S. sales crept up by 1.3% in 2006 to $14.6 billion.
The big companies' collective performance trailed two other comparative measures.
Consumer spending on furniture and bedding, the most comprehensive assessment of U.S. retail sales, rose an estimated 6% last year to $83.8 billion, according to the latest government figure.
The total value of case goods and upholstery wholesale shipments to the U.S. market — from all domestic and import sources — rose by 3.6% to $38.5 billion, according to an estimate by industry analyst Jerry Epperson of Mann, Armistead & Epperson.
However, the Top 25's small gain did top a 2% decline in U.S. residential furniture factory shipments last year, estimated by High Point accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard at $26.4 billion. The figure includes some imported product that is sold by U.S. manufacturers.
