The Furniture and Floor coverings Market 2011 - 2021; Market size, market forecast and recommendations

The Furniture and Floor coverings Market 2011 - 2021; Market size, market forecast and recommendations

Summary

Furniture and floor coverings was one of the most impacted retail sectors between 2008 and 2011 due to the challenging economic conditions. A deteriorating housing market, high levels of unemployment and strong CPI inflation caused many shoppers to priorities their spending towards more needs based sectors at the expense of big ticket items. However, since 2012, growth in the market has got progressively stronger, peaking in 2015 when sales achieved a 3.3% uplift, as heightened consumer confidence and low levels of inflation encouraged customers to replace older pieces of furniture. As well as the more buoyant conditions, improvements made to the specialists premium offer encouraged customers to trade up, supporting growth in 2015. While slowing on 2015, 2016 will remain positive as consumer confidence remained high early in the year and lower levels of inflation benefited shopper’s spending power.

Key Findings

• Online satisfaction: improving but remaining poor – While improving throughout 2015, furniture & floor coverings has the lowest level of online customer satisfaction. Figures from Verdict’s October 2015 e-retail survey shows that only 85.6% of sector shoppers were satisfied with their purchase, 7.5 percentage points below the online average.
• Multichannel integration essential for smaller formats – More furniture and floor coverings specialists, including DFS, Topps Tiles, Carpet right, Bensons for Beds and United Carpets have launched smaller, city centre formats to gain awareness among more affluent, urban shoppers. These stores offer greater convenience for customers and provide more potential sites for expansion.
• Widening ranges mark the end for the mid-market specialists – Over the past 18 months, many sub-sector specialists have branched out with a wider product offer. DFS has converted onsite storage space into selling space for beds and dining furniture and Oak Furniture Land rolled out upholstery into all stores. These retailers are moving away from being just a sub-sector specialist to become more of a destination for furniture.
• The rise of Tapi within floor coverings – Since opening its first store in May 2015, Tapi has exploded onto the floor coverings market, with a proposition that is aimed at more affluent shoppers. Martin Harris, Tapi’s founder, has aggressive expansion plans, targeting 200 stores by 2020. As of April 2016, Tapi operates out of 38 stores with 28 locations for future openings identified.
• Women set to drive online growth – Women are more comfortable about buying furniture and floor coverings online, with 42.3% of female customers buying through this channel for home delivery compared to 33.9% of male shoppers, and it is a more important factor for female shoppers when considering where to buy. To capitalise on this, retailers must focus on improving the product visuals on their website, an area of dissatisfaction among all shoppers.

Synopsis

“The Furniture & Floor coverings Market 2011-2021”, a Sector Report by Verdict Retail, provides an executive-level overview of the UK furniture & floor coverings market today, with forecasts of values up to 2021. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into the market, analyzing key trends in the market based on proprietary data from Verdict Retail’s primary consumer research and contacts throughout the furniture market.

It provides in-depth analysis of the following:

• Market size and forecast; a look at the total market size and forecast size for furniture & floor coverings market and sub-sectors in the UK, with an overview of the key trends.
• Market shares for the 2016 and the previous five years with furniture, floor coverings and four furniture sub-sectors.
• Summary of main influences; an overview on the factors driving consumer trends within the UK furniture & floor coverings market.

Reasons To Buy

• This Sector Report helps executives build proactive, profitable growth strategies by offering comprehensive, relevant analysis of the UK furniture & floor coverings market based on insights from within Verdict’s proprietary, consumer insight from our bespoke surveys and interviews with industry experts.
• The report is designed for an executive-level audience, boasting presentation quality that allows it to be turned into presentable material immediately.
• The broad but detailed perspective will help retailers to understand and succeed in the challenging furniture & floor coverings market.