It’s a Contemporary world – styles and stationary sofas

Stationary sofas are the bread and butter of upholstered furniture sales. So what’s the most popular style for stationary sofas? Furniture/Today asked just that question in its exclusive Upholstery Fabric & Style Survey, 2009. Answers came from more than 400 retail furniture store fronts.

It seems that Contemporary is lord of the manor. More than one-half or 53% of stationary sofa units sold can best be described as Contemporary in style. No other style family even comes close to ousting Contemporary from its domination. Even the combination of the next highest-ranking styles, American country and European country, into a new style family, Country, could only lay claim to about one-quarter of the kingdom. And Contemporary’s reign is not a new thing either. In 2006 when Furniture/Today conducted a similar survey of retailers, nearly one-half of stationary sofa units were Contemporary. And in 2004, the unit share figure was just about identical.

For the purposes of the survey, Contemporary included the following individual styles:

• Art Deco
• Architectural contemporary
• Casual contemporary
• European modern
• Scandinavian

Where did Contemporary rule the strongest? Examining style families across price points, Contemporary dominated at both low and high price points. At low price points of $799 and below, Contemporary claimed over two-thirds of units sold. At high price points of $1,500 and above, its share was less but still well over one-half of units sold. And at medium price points of $800 to $1,499, Contemporary’s share was just under one-half, or 48%.

Just over three-fifths of retailers’ unit upholstery sales for 2008 came from the sale of stationary sofas as reported in Furniture/Today’s exclusive Upholstery Fabric & Style Survey, 2009.  Recliners and motion sofas were the other two players, each contributing another one-fifth to the market share pie.