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Sourcing, 2006

By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, September 9, 2007

Number of markets or trade shows attended annually
	Attended in 2006	Plan to attend 2007
None	13%	12%
One or two	55%	56%
Three to five	26%	26%
Six or more	6%	6%

Buying group membership

24% of retailers belonged to a buying group in 2006

Buying group membership is up from a reported 21% in 2005. In 2006, three percent more retailers say they'll join a buying group, but two percent who already belong to one say they'll drop their membership.

Damaged goods
Percentage of goods received from vendor that must be repaired or returned
	medians
Case goods	5%
Upholstery	2%
Accessories	2%

Products they import directly
Percentage of direct importers importing each product category
Master bedroom	65%
Dining room/casual dining	47%
Leather upholstery	44%
Entertainment centers	36%
Desks/home office	32%
Youth bedroom	29%
Occasional tables	26%
Fabric-covered upholstery	20%
Recliners	14%
Area rugs	10%
Other decorative accessories	10%
Bedding	10%
Lamps	9%
Outdoor furniture	6%
Wall decor	5%

Number of containers imported by those importing directly

median
2006	2007 Projected
13	19

median
	2006	2007 Projected
5 or less containers	40%	38%
6–20	15%	17%
21–50	21%	11%
51–100	8%	13%
101–200	7%	10%
More than 200	9%	11%

Profile of responding retailers

More than 200 retailers completed a detailed questionnaire for Furniture|Today's 2007 Furniture Store Performance Report based on their store operations for the fiscal year ending closest to December 31, 2006.

Representing more than 2,200 stores, the majority (71%) of companies responding are full-line furniture retailers. Another 15% are specialty retailers by either product or style while five percent operate as a manufacturer-branded store; the remainder are mostly clearance centers. Most stores are independently or family-owned; only three percent are publicly-owned companies.

All regions of the country are well-represented.

One-unit operations make up three-fifths of the responding companies. Respondents with two to five units represent more than one-quarter of the total; the remaining one-tenth has more than five units.

By sales volume, the responding retailers can be categorized as:

Small-sized stores, with annual sales of less than $2 million, 46%,
Medium-sized stores, with annual sales of $2 million up to $20 million, 38% and
Large stores, with annual sales of over $20 million, 16% of respondents.

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