IFDA Survey Shows Changing Views of Design Industry, Global Marketing

July 30, 2006  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on July 2006 Design services, the retail marketplace, outsourcing, the rise of Internet shopping, and the growth of broadcast and cable television makeover shows have had a profound impact on design industry professionals, according to two surveys conducted by the International Furnishings and Design Association.

“From the results, it’s clear that while we are still learning about where the Internet and the global economy will take us, the next few years are bound to be challenging,” said IFDA President Mark Jeross,

In 2004, IFDA posed a series of questions to member designers at 15 U.S. chapters, and asked the same questions this year—with double the response rate from two years ago.

When asked whether designers would be attracted to the furnishings and designs industry if they were starting their careers now, 51 percent said yes in 2004, with more 87 percent responding positively this year.

Why the increased optimism on designers’ part? Survey responses included: “The whole world seems to have been opened up to design, from the do-it-yourselfers to the continuing growth of the luxury market”; “People [today] are spending more on their residences, second residences and commercial spaces. They want beauty, not just utility”; “With the ever-expanding global markets and manufacturing, the opportunity for designs and the need for designers [are] great.”

When asked, “Have changes in retail outlets had a negative effect on your business?,” 31 percent of 2004 respondents said, yes; that rose to 41 percent in this year’s survey.

This year, one member said that “quality suffers” because of the way discount merchants attract customers; another decried the fact that “product sources have changed”; while a third said, “Mass merchants do not require the value-added collateral materials we design and provide to our clients’ traditional furniture retailers.”

When asked about the effect of those changes on designers, only 19 percent of 2004 respondents indicated they’d altered the way they shop for materials, while that rose to more than 33 percent in 2006. In 2004, 40 percent said their business was affected by what design clients were willing to pay for an item, but this year that percentage approached 59 percent of respondents.

Two years ago the survey asked whether offshore manufacturing will affect designers’ future in the furnishings and design industry. Thirty-one percent said yes, 67 percent, no. While the number of “yes” responses to the question was up slightly to 32 percent in the 2006 survey, only 39 percent gave a definitive “no.”

This year’s comments from designers on offshore production included: “Cheaper and lower-quality products mean smaller margins of profit and wholesale pricing available to the public”; “Competition will spur U.S. furniture manufacturers to become more innovative in production time and methods”; “As we are now more global, eventually the creative design process will also be outsourced to offshore, as manufacturing is now.”

The surveys also queried designers on the effect of the Internet and the proliferation of mail-order catalogs on their business. In 2004, the consensus was that information had become more accessible and research had grown easier, but in 2006, concern was evident amid the praise. Comments included: “The Internet has had a tremendously positive effect! We can advertise and sell our business to anyone in the country, [but] mail order doesn’t help us at all”; “A good portion of the buying public simply doesn’t know what constitutes good quality design, product or service”; “The impact is huge. The Web has given everyone the ability to make their own design selections with less reliance on a designer.”

On a more positive note, another designer said, “Customers doing research on the computer [are] much more knowledgeable about products. This leads to our being able to sell them more expensive items”; another said, “The Internet has demystified the interior design field and created a savvy consumer.”

Others complained, one designer saying that “Internet availability makes our business harder” and insisted that it’s become “harder to make any money when [clients] know what things go for online.”

Taking the middle ground on the Internet, another said, “I [now] charge more for time, ideas and intangibles than for product, which allows me to be supportive when clients want to purchase on their own.”

Thirty-three percent of designer respondents to the 2004 survey said design, home remodeling and extreme-makeover television shows affected the way they did business; that rose to 47 percent this year.

While conceding that “cable TV’s design/home remodeling shows have opened up a world of new ideas,” some IFDA members warned that “people expect ‘design on a dime,’” and “everyone thinks they’re a decorator.” Others groused that clients “have unreal cost and time frames for remodeling and makeovers. [Their] expectations are way out of line.”

Although one member insisted that cable TV shows “give clients just enough knowledge to become dangerous,” another stated, “Every opportunity to focus on the home is a plus.”

“The saturation of media, Internet shopping and the heightened availability of information have had a direct impact,” said IFDA’s Jeross in comparing the results from this year’s and 2004’s survey. “I believe that the people, and businesses, who carve out a special niche for themselves are bound to succeed, but the way they do business will certainly change in the years ahead. These are exciting times for everyone in our industry.”