The furniture industry is one that has been experiencing a significant shift in how it gets product to market. Wholesaling is declining as a segment of the overall distribution of furniture in the United States. Retailers have also declined slightly in numbers but their sales have risen as has the number of people employed by furniture stores. This shows that there has been some consolidation of furniture stores. Worth noting is the fact that furniture sales benefitted from the housing boom, which ended in December 2007 when the recession began. Effects of the recession are not visible in these data. The market size data presented here is for all furniture retailers which are covered as a group in the U.S. Census Bureau designated industry, NAICS 442 [Furniture and Home Furnishing Stores].
Geographic reference: United States
Year: 1997 and 2007
Market size: Number of Establishments: 64,725 and 64,590 respectively.
Market size: Sales: $71.7 and $107.8 billion respectively.
Source: “Preliminary Comparative Statistics for the U.S. (2002 NAICS): 2007 and 2002,” 2007 Economic Census, available online here. The data from 1997 are from the 1997 Economic Census.
Original source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
The numbers and insight provided are good, but I am also interested in seeing how online retailers impact the typical brick and mortar retailer furniture outlets. I think that it may provide more depth and substance to the numbers and thoughts that you are putting forth.
-John
Belfort Furniture
John, you are exactly right, that the enormous shift we’re seeing in the wholesale and retail industries has an awful lot to do with the rise of online purchasing or e-commerce. Tracking that shift for a particular retail sector is not easy, since the U.S. Census Bureau is in the early days (when it comes to national data like these, you can read “early days” as “early years”) of setting up the tools to define and track online sales. Further complicating matters is the fact that plenty of bricks and mortar retailers sell online as well and then the question arises, Do they accurately report their sales by channel to the Census Bureau? During times like these, times of structural shifting within an industry, getting a clear picture of what is going on is difficult but well worth the effort and very interesting.
We enjoy trying to understand these things and would welcome any observations you may have on the topic!
This week we’re doing a few Wholesale Trade Industry market sizes but we’ll look next at the retail sector. We will make a particular effort to try and include statistics on online purchases, in particular of furniture, thanks to your inquiry. For example, The Census Bureau reports that in 2002, online sales of “furniture, sleep equipment & outdoor/patio furniture” in the United States totalled $2.29 Billion. In 2007 that figure had increased by 120% to $5.05 Billion. We’re still working on sorting out the data but check back for more on this in the next week or two. Our posts always include detailed source notes, in case you wish to study the figures more closely.
Cheers.
Monique [one of The Editors]
By using our Furniture Stores Aurora website you will be able to locate the best local furniture stores for decorating and furnishing your home.
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