Monthly Issue
From Home Furnishing Business
November 13,
2014 by in Leather Upholstery, Product 
By Sheila Long O’Mara
Leather upholstery may just be one of the most technical categories on a retailer’s floor.
The varying grades of leather, as well as the growth in bonded product, leave consumers seeking the comfort and luxury of fine leather in a maze of confusion. The Internet — where most consumers start the shopping experience — is filled with information, and sometimes misinformation, on the ins and outs of buying leather upholstery. All of which require retail sales associates be given category specific training, have in-depth product knowledge and the dexterity to cut through any uncertainty consumers may have regarding leather upholstery.
A recent survey by Furniturecore of 535 consumers who had bought upholstery in the last 12 months showed that 71.3 percent of them embarked on their shopping journey by exploring online. Not only can consumers uncover styles and specific products, but the category gets extensive attention on what consumers should look for and consider when buying leather.
Shopping for leather upholstery tends to be a lengthy process. Nearly 33 percent of the consumers surveyed shopped between 2 weeks and a month before making their purchase. That’s significantly more than the 27 percent of consumers in the market for fabric-covered upholstery who shopped for that length of time. Another 18 percent of our surveyed consumers shopped between one and three months prior to buying.
Despite their diligence in uncovering the perfect leather upholstery, shopping for the category was not without its challenges. It seems the consumers surveyed wanted a larger selection of wares. Nearly 38 percent (37.8 percent) said the available selection of leather upholstery was too small.
Another sticking point — price.
While the industry understands the nuanced craftsmanship and detail required for top-quality leather upholstery, consumers aren’t quite as well versed in the matter. About 32 percent (32.1 percent) said prices of leather upholstery were higher than they expected.
When buying, the consumer pool was motivated by a number of things. On a scale of one to six with one being the most important and six being the least, product quality was at the top with a ranking of 2.8. Quality was followed closely by product design with a 3.1 ranking. Brand or manufacturer reputation was third with a 3.5 ranking.
No big surprise that most consumers were shopping for leather upholstery for their living rooms or family rooms. In fact, 81.5 percent — 47.3 percent for living room and 34.2 percent for family room — of them specified one of those two rooms at the location for their recent purchase.
Traditional and contemporary designs rule the roost when it comes to leather upholstery. Who can blame them? A rich, button tufted, nail-head trim sofa or a clean, sweeping sectional both add a certain je ne sais quoi to a room. The two style genres, at 38.3 percent and 36.2 percent, respectively, carry the bulk of our consumer group’s affinity. Country/rustic leather designs fell a distant third at 15.8 percent.
When it comes to specifics and drilling down a bit more in the style category, it seems consumers prefer overstuffed, deep seating to sleeker, tight-back designs in leather upholstery. In fact, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed prefer the overstuffed designs.
Good news on the willing-to-wait front. While today’s consumers tend to prefer instant gratification on nearly everything they purchase, about 47 percent of those surveyed indicate a willingness to wait four to eight weeks for a custom-ordered leather sofa. Another 43 percent said they would wait two to four weeks for such.
October 8,
2014 by in Industry
The growth in e-commerce has given the ready to assemble furniture category a boost of late as the flat packing allows for easier shipping than traditional furniture.
And no one can argue with the success of Swedish retailer Ikea—multiple floors of modular, ready-to-build furniture in a variety of categories.
Traditional retailers say the channel of distribution has shifted of late away from mainstream furniture retailers. They lament that many suppliers of RTA have turned to big box discounters, successful e-tailers and office superstores as alternative partners.
Some traditional retailers, who typically had been selling ready-to-assemble goods with the service of assembly, say the race to the bottom in pricing and lower overhead for online retailers makes it too hard to compete in the category.
Factoids
$2.77 billion
2014 YTD RTA sales
2.4%
Sales increase through first half of 2014 over same period last year
7.6%
RTA’s percentage of total industry sales through 2Q 2014
Retailers Say
Sauder's 411897 bookcase
"It is a great basic bookcase with flexibility on storage." Retail is $74.99.
Irv Blumkin
Nebraska Furniture Mart
Omaha, Neb.
Jesper’s Expandos
“Designed to offer a smaller footprint for multiple work settings, the Expandos shelves are available in three finish options.” Retail is $250 per L-shaped unit.
Andy Thornton
LaDIFF
Richmond, Va.
Suppliers Say
Naia by Tvilum
Tvilum’s Naia bedroom collection includes beds, nightstands, chests, sideboards and double dressers. Drawer fronts and doors are handle-free creating a stylish, timeless dimension.
The Cabot Collection from Bush Inds.
With a focus on function, durability and style, the Cabot collection is available in two finishes. The group offers storage with technology integration—both important features in the home office category. The L-shaped desk retails at around $400.
The Carson Forge Gourmet Cart from Sauder
As one of Sauder’s top sellers, the Gourmet Cart provides a versatile kitchen and dining piece. Crisscross storage, hanging hooks and wrought iron hardware offer sophisticated Mission styling. The piece is versatile enough to live in a variety of rooms.
Walker Edison’s Soreno L-shaped Desk
The Soreno L-shaped desk is a space-saving desk that can be used separately as two desks. The glass and metal construction blends with a variety of décors. A functional sliding tray allows for easy storage of bulky keyboards. Suggested retail is $119.
July 25,
2014 by in Industry
Before Jim Muffi put the motion into sofas, consumers were forced to argue over the one or two bubba recliners in their family rooms when watching television.
Prior to Muffi’s 1979 founding of PeopLounger in Mississippi, sofas, sectionals and loveseats did little other than offer a place to sit. Today, 35 years later, motion upholstery has transformed the way many families congregate to watch movies, play games and become all out sofa spuds.
The category has come a long way since those early days, and today’s offerings boast gadgets, power reclining mechanisms, massage options and storage space, not to mention improved styling and design across the spectrum.
While hitting middle age, the category continues to resonate with consumers.
Total motion upholstery sales for 2013 were $10.02 billion, 14 percent of all furniture sales. When broken down and considering only upholstery sales, motion upholstery accounted for 36.4 percent of sales in 2013. For the first quarter of 2014, those percentages remained steady.
Home Furnishings Business and its parent company Impact Consulting Services/FurnitureCore recently conducted a consumer survey of 259 people who had bought motion upholstery within the last 18 months. The survey revealed relatively pleased customers when it came to their purchases.
Of our consumer panel most (61.4 percent) bought a reclining sofa and or a loveseat, and 82.3 percent of them fell in the range of five to seven. The scale ranged from one to seven with seven being “very satisfied” and one being “not at all satisfied”.
While in the industry we’ve seen quite a bit of improvement in motion upholstery design, our consumers see more room for improvement in styling. More than half — 57.6 percent — said the style of motion is an inhibitor to purchasing. Keep in mind however, that our group all bought some piece of motion upholstery so they must have found something they liked well enough. It only says motion designers could spiff things up a bit in the eyes of consumers.
Despite the focus of manufacturers and retailers to gravitate toward power merchanisms for reclining in higher-end models, consumers in our panel say they prefer the hand-operated style. More than 52 percent preferred lever mechanisms, while 28.7 percent opted for power recline and another 19 percent chose press-back reclining.
Speaking of those power mechanisms. Consumers are pretty tight-fisted on their willingness to cover the cost of them. Almost 70 percent (70.6 percent) said they’d only pay $100 or less to get power recline in their motion sofa or sectional. Forty-one percent said they’d be willing to pay only $50 more for a power mechanism.
Ensuring the product lasts and doesn’t breakdown, consumers are adamant on warranty options for motion upholstery. Nearly 70 percent said they have a warranty on their furniture. When asked of the importance of warranties, 75.2 percent scored them a five or higher on our one-to-seven scale with one being “not at all important” and seven being “very important”.
Want More?
A more indepth report on motion upholstery is available for purchase at FurnitureCore.com—Industry Info—Industry Reports—Motion Upholstery, or by calling Natalia Hurd at (404) 390-1535.