August 12,
2016 by in General 
Industry Sales by Quarter 2009 Q2 to 2016 Q2 Bedding Industry
Bedding sales continued to post slower growth in the second quarter of this year growing only 2.0 percent over the same Q2 in 2015 totaling an estimated $3.42 billion. Compared to the last quarter (2016 Q1) sales were flat, down 0.7 percent. (Note: First quarter bedding sales were revised downward to 1.7 percent growth Q1 compared to Q1 of 2015.)
Source: Impact Consulting Services, Inc. industry model. 2015 Q4 and 2016 Q1 sales have been revised.
Industry Growth Quarter to Quarter 2013 Q2 to 2016 Q2 Bedding Industry
The slow growth this year in the Bedding industry is reflected in the quarter-over-quarter increase from 2015 to 2016. Bedding sales in the second quarter of 2016 were up 2.0 percent quarter over quarter totaling $3.42 billion. (Note: First quarter bedding sales were revised downward to 1.7 percent growth Q1 compared to Q1 of 2015.)
Source: Impact Consulting Services, Inc. industry model. 2015 Q4 and 2016 Q1 sales have been revised.
Industry Sales 2008 to 2016 Q2 Bedding Industry
Second quarter year-to-date Bedding sales totaled $6.86 billion, up only 1.8 percent from the same period last year.
Source: Impact Consulting Services, Inc. industry model. 2015Q4 and 2016 Q1 sales have been revised.
August 5,
2016 by in General
Industry Sales by Quarter 2009 Q2 to 2016 Q2 Furniture & Bedding
Industry sales slowed in the second quarter to 2.3 percent growth compared to Q2 of last year and only 1.5 percent growth over the first quarter of this year. Total furniture and bedding sales totaled $23.5 billion.
Year-to-date through the second quarter, the industry grew at 3.5 percent.
Furniture (excluding Bedding) in the second quarter increased 2.4 percent compared to the same quarter last year totaling $20.08 billion. Compared to the first quarter of this year, furniture only sales are up 1.9 percent. Year-to-date furniture sales (excluding Bedding) are up 3.7 percent.
The Bedding industry also slowed to 2.0 percent growth quarter to quarter and fell 0.7 percent compared to the first quarter of this year. Sales totaled $3.42 billion in Q2. Year-to-date sales are up 1.8 percent. (Note: First quarter bedding sales were revised downward to 1.7 percent growth Q1 compared to Q1 of 2015.)
Industry Growth Quarter to Quarter 2013 Q2 to 2016 Q2 Furniture & Bedding
Industry sales are still growing, but at a slower pace, as shown by the chart above. For the third straight quarter since 2015 Q3, quarter-over-quarter industry performance has slowed.
Second quarter combined Furniture and Bedding industry sales of $23.5 billion were a modest 2.3 percent improvement over the same Q2 in 2015. Compared to last quarter (2016 Q1) sales increased 1.5 percent.
Furniture (excluding Bedding) increased 2.4 percent in 2016 Q2 versus the same quarter last year with sales of $20.08 billion.
Bedding quarter-over-quarter sales totaled $3.42 billion, up 2.0 percent over second quarter sales last year.
Industry Sales 2008 YE to 2016 Q2 Furniture & Bedding
Year-to-date industry sales in the second quarter of 2016 totaled $46.65 billion, an increase of 3.5 percent over the same period last year.
July 29,
2016 by in General
Millennials: The Changing Face of Young Adults in the Furniture Industry Education and Unemployment Rates
This is the third factoid in a series of five factoids that explore demographically how the Millennials have altered the population, income, education and household characteristics of both the Under 25 and 25 to 34 age groups over a ten-year period. Millennials, Americans born roughly between 1982 and 2000, account for more than one quarter of the nation’s population. As of 2015, these 17 to 34 year olds numbered 83.1 million and have surpassed the 75.4 million Baby Boomers.
Education
The percentage of Millennials that are college educated is higher than any generation preceding it, a fact that should bode well for future economic growth. Over seventy percent of Millennials have some higher education; a much higher percentage than their Boomer parents.
Unemployment
Despite the level of education, a staggering number of Millennials are still looking for work. At the end of last year, 9.4 percent of adults ages 20 to 24 seeking jobs were still unemployed.
The next factoid will detail the delays in marriage and home buying among Millennials.
Millennials: The Changing Face of Young Adults in the Furniture Industry Marriage and Homeownership
This is the fourth factoid in a series of five factoids that explore demographically how the Millennials have altered the population, income, education and household characteristics of both the Under 25 and 25 to 34 age groups over a ten-year period. Millennials, Americans born roughly between 1982 and 2000, account for more than one quarter of the nation’s population. As of 2015, these 17 to 34 year olds numbered 83.1 million and have surpassed the 75.4 million Baby Boomers.
Marriage
Of all of the characteristics of Millennials, perhaps none is more significant to the home furnishings industry than the tendency to delay marriage. In less than ten years, the marriage rate shifted from 38 percent of adults marrying by age 34 to only 26.8 percent. Marriage spurs home ownership and family planning which in turn feeds the home furnishings industry.
Home ownership
Although Millennials make up the largest and most educated generation in American history, the combination of economic factors, delayed marriage and family formations and shifting consumer attitudes also make them the slowest to embrace home ownership. This is most evident in the 25 to 34 age group where home ownership has fallen 10 percentage points in 10 years. In 2004, 49 percent of Millennials owned their own homes compared to 39 percent in 2014.
The final factoid will show the state of both furniture expenditures and industry sales across all age groups.
Millennials: The Changing Face of Young Adults in the Furniture Industry Average Annual Furniture Expenditures and Furniture Industry Sales by Age Group: In Selected Years
This is the final factoid in a series of five factoids that explore demographically how the Millennials have altered the population, income, education and household characteristics of both the Under 25 and 25 to 34 age groups over a ten-year period. Millennials, Americans born roughly between 1982 and 2000, account for more than one quarter of the nation’s population. As of 2015, these 17 to 34 year olds numbered 83.1 million and have surpassed the 75.4 million Baby Boomers.
The glut of the Millennials, the Under 25 age group, is one of the few groups to increase expenditures on furniture in the last 10 years, although expenditures still comprise only about 5 percent of industry sales. Many of these Millennials, however, still rely heavily on family financial support. Millennials ages 25 to 34 as well as the older GenX 35 to 44 group, traditionally the core of the furniture industry, have both failed to reach pre-recession furniture expenditures – down 8.2 percent and 12.3 percent.
For the home furnishings industry, the Millennials always seem to be just over the horizon but yet to make their big entrance. In terms of furniture industry sales, sales to the Baby Boomers are still growing, but they will begin to lessen their impact and make way for the Millennials.
Many things add up to help explain the slow arrival of the Millennials on the home furnishings consumer scene. The long recovery from the recession brought stagnant wages and higher unemployment. Add to that the delaying of marriage and slow home purchases. But the industry is ready.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Consumer Expenditure Survey. Note: Expenditures by the CES survey are generally significantly lower than the Personal Expenditure Survey conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis and may not include all furniture purchases.
Impact Consulting Services, Inc., Proprietary Industry Model
July 22,
2016 by in General
This is the second factoid in a series of five factoids that explore demographically how the Millennials have altered the population, income, education and household characteristics of both the Under 25 and 25 to 34 age groups over a ten-year period. Millennials, Americans born roughly between 1982 and 2000, account for more than one quarter of the nation’s population. As of 2015, these 17 to 34 year olds numbered 83.1 million and have surpassed the 75.4 million Baby Boomers.
The economy has had a major impact on Millennials. Many of them still live with their parents, have crushing student loan debt and are underemployed at best and unemployed at worst. Over the past ten years individual incomes have yet to reach pre-recession levels. Latest median income figures from the Census Bureau report Millennials ages 25 to 34 earn $31,219 annually, down over 10 percent from a peak of $34,459 in 2007. Many of the Under 25 age group Millennials are currently part-time employed college students, underemployed graduates or workers in unskilled low paying jobs.
The next factoid will show that while the Millennials are the most college-educated generation thus far, an overwhelming number of young adults are still looking for work.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey
July 15,
2016 by in General
This is the first factoid in a series of five factoids that explore demographically how the Millennials have altered the population, income, education and household characteristics of both the Under 25 and 25 to 34 age groups over a ten-year period.
Millennials, Americans born roughly between 1982 and 2000, account for more than one quarter of the nation’s population. As of 2015, these 17 to 34 year olds numbered 83.1 million and have surpassed the 75.4 million Baby Boomers. The Millennial generation continues to grow as young immigrants move into the U.S., while deaths among Baby Boomers exceed the number of older immigrants. These children of the Boomers will emerge into full adulthood in 2017 as the largest consumer generation in history.
As a whole, the number of 15 to 34 year olds has grown 9.5 percent from 2004 to 2014 (most recent population data). As shown in Table A, the glut of Millennials is in the 20 to 24 age group – totaling 22.9 million in 2014 after jumping 12.6 percent in ten years. Ages 25 to 29 have also grown dramatically, increasing 15.7 percent from 19 million to 22 million. While dipping down to 19 million in 2008, age group 30 to 34 has climbed up to 21.5 million. The Millennial stragglers are in the top end of the 15 to 19 age group. Once the highest young adult population in 2006 and 2007, most have since aged into their twenties leaving this age group relatively flat at a 3.7 percent growth over the ten-year period.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey
July 8,
2016 by in General
This is the final factoid in a series of five factoids exploring the possible connection between election years and a healthy economy. The previous four factoids studied the positive effect election years have had on furniture sales, consumer confidence, gross domestic product and unemployment rates from 1997 to 2016.
While the majority of election years in recent times have ended on a positive economic note for the furniture industry, did the momentum carry over to the first year of a president’s new term? The continued upswing did occur in the 1980’s and 1990’s, but since the turn of the century, furniture industry growth during a president’s first year in office did not surpass the election year preceding it.
During the 80s and 90s, with the exception of Ronald Reagan’s second term, the first year of a president’s four-year term experienced higher furniture industry growth than the previous election year. In recent elections, the economic momentum of the election year did not carry over to the first year of a presidency. No president’s first year of the term exceeded the previous election year’s growth. If this trend continues into 2017, the Furniture Industry will not experience quite the growth of 2016.
July 1,
2016 by in General
This is the fourth factoid in a series of five factoids exploring the possible connection between election years and a healthy economy. Looking back over the past 20 years and the elections those years encompassed yields interesting results. With the exception of the Great Recession in 2008, a possible heightened sense of confidence and hope for the future during election years may partly be responsible for higher furniture sales growth, consumer confidence, gross domestic product and lower unemployment rates.
Like the highs in Consumer Confidence, the Unemployment Rate was at its lowest during the Bill Clinton years. The Great Recession caused the unemployment rate to skyrocket near 10 percent, but by the election year of 2012, the rate has decreased to 8.1 percent and continues to fall almost a percentage point each year. Currently at 4.9, the Unemployment Rate looks to be continuing the trend of other election years with the lowest unemployment of the presidential term.
While the majority of election years in recent times have ended on a positive economic note for the furniture industry, did the momentum carry over to the first year of a president’s new term? The final factoid of this series will compare election years to the 1st year of a president’s term.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Labor Statistics
June 24,
2016 by in General
This is the third factoid in a series of five factoids exploring the possible connection between election years and a healthy economy. Looking back over the past 20 years and the elections those years encompassed yields interesting results. With the exception of the Great Recession in 2008, a possible heightened sense of confidence and hope for the future during election years may partly be responsible for higher furniture sales growth, consumer confidence, gross domestic product and lower unemployment rates.
The Gross Domestic Product or GDP is defined as the monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. The GDP has made its largest gains during election years with the exception of the Great Recession. In both Bill Clinton’s 2nd term and George W. Bush’s 1st term, the value of U.S. goods and services increased by more than 6.5 percent from the previous year. It remains to be seen whether 2016 will follow the same trajectory. The fourth factoid of this series will show the drop in unemployment rates during election years.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
June 17,
2016 by in General
This is the second factoid in a series of five factoids exploring the possible connection between election years and a healthy economy. Looking back over the past 20 years and the elections those years encompassed yields interesting results. With the exception of the Great Recession in 2008, a possible heightened sense of confidence and hope for the future during election years may partly be responsible for higher furniture sales growth, consumer confidence, gross domestic product and lower unemployment rates.
Consumer Confidence was highest during the Clinton years – topping out at 139 during his last year in office (an election year). Taking a big dip post 9/11, Consumer Confidence dropped to 80 in 2003 before climbing back up to 96 during George W. Bush’s last year of his final term. During the Great Recession, Consumer Confidence hit its lowest at 45 during Barack Obama’s first term but grew 22 percentage points to 67 in the Election Year of 2012. Consumer Confidence has continued to grow over Barack Obama’s second term, but at 95 in March 2016, it is still below the 1985 base of 100. Up next, election years and gross domestic product gains.
Source: Conference Board
June 10,
2016 by in General
This is the first factoid in a series of five factoids exploring the possible connection between election years and a healthy economy. Looking back over the past 20 years and the elections those years encompassed yields interesting results. With the exception of the Great Recession in 2008, a possible heightened sense of confidence and hope for the future during election years may partly be responsible for higher furniture sales growth, consumer confidence, gross domestic product and lower unemployment rates.
In presidential elections over the last 20 years since 1997, the last year of each term with one exception, has produced the highest furniture industry sales growth of all four years of that presidency. The one exception was the second term of George W. Bush which ended during the Great Recession. The last year of each term is also the Election Year for next term, as the nation is experiencing now in 2016. If the pattern continues, 2016 should grow in excess of the 5.3% furniture sales growth of last year.
This factoid shows the furniture industry growth by year over 20 years encompassing five presidential terms, including the current 2016 election. Note that the industry’s highest growth was in the last years of Bill Clinton’s second term and George Bush’s first term. Our next factoid will show the link between election years and consumer confidence.
Source: Impact Consulting Services/ FurnitureCore.com