Casual consumers

Consumers eating at home are casual. That’s one of the key findings from Furniture/Today’s exclusive 2009 Consumer Views Survey. While more than half of the nearly 5,000 responding consumers have a formal, separate dining room, only a small percentage seem to use it regularly.The formal dining room is used by only 11% of consumers for meals during the week and by 17% for dinner on weekends. The dining room is used mostly for special occasions, with 44% eating in it when family or friends are over and 51% using it for holiday or family celebrations.

During the week, 42% of responding consumers eat dinner in their kitchen, while 31% eat in their family room. On weekends, 38% still eat in the kitchen and another 30% eat the dinner meal in their family room.

The exclusive data goes on to show that high-income consumers and older consumers are more likely to have a formal, separate dining room. But, even these groups aren’t using the dining room on a regular basis.

These consumer findings are supported by the Retail Dining Survey conducted by Furniture/Today last year. As a responding furniture store in Massachusetts stated, “Business has shifted towards casual.” Another retailer in Ohio said, “Casual has taken over our formal.” A furniture store in Louisiana noted the trend of consumers choosing more “dressy casual than formal dining.”

Previous consumer research has discovered that nine out of ten consumers want the furnishings in their homes to “reflect their personal style.” Sounds to me, when it comes to dining furniture, the consumer’s personal style is casual.

Be sure to check out Furniture/Today and HGTV’s full report, Consumer Views: Spotlight on Dining, in Furniture/Today’s High Point’s opening day print issue.