Retail giants

The Top 25 U.S. furniture and bedding retailers sold $24.4 billion worth of furniture and bedding in 2008, down 6.4% from 2007 sales. As a group, the Top 25 sold through 16,219 stores last year, with many also selling online and via catalogs. Furniture/Today’s annual ranking of the Top 25 furniture and bedding retailers published this week in the August 24, 2009, issue.
Furniture/Today’s Top 25 ranks U.S. furniture and bedding retailers based on 2008 sales of furniture and bedding only. Decorative accessories are not included in the figures. And, all retailers, whether or not they specialize in home furnishings, are eligible. That means retailers such as Wal-Mart, Costco and JCPenney are included, as well as home furnishings specialty stores such as Ashley Furniture HomeStores, Ikea and Rooms To Go.
The Top 5 players remained unchanged from last year, but there were shifts among the Top 5 spots. Check out next week’s issue to find out who is No. 1. The Top 5 players include the heavy-hitters of Ashley Furniture HomeStores, Wal-Mart, Rooms To Go, Ikea and Target. They together garnered a combined $8.4 billion in furniture and bedding retail sales for 2008.
The Top 5 retail giants all have a healthy online presence. Recent data from comScore reveals detailed demographics of visitors to each retailer’s web site for the month of July 2009. All data is based on visitors ages 18 and older.