Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Furniture Orders Increase 2%
May 29,
2015 by in Economic News, Industry 
New furniture orders in March inched up 2 percent over March 2014, and that’s on top of an 8 percent increase reported last month, according to the latest edition of Furniture Insights.
Published by Smith Leonard each month, Furniture Insights is based on a survey of furniture manufacturers and distributors.
Year-to-date, new orders were 5 percent higher than the first quarter of last year, which saw a 3 percent increase from the first quarter of 2013.
March shipments were up 4 percent over orders in March 2014, and year-to-date shipments were up 8 percent over the same period of last year.
“Overall, business seems to be good for most in the industry,” said Ken Smith, principal. “According to another private survey we do, even case goods had a pretty good first quarter. The employment picture remains fairly strong, so that should continue to bolster consumer confidence. Hopefully, the great attitudes we saw at market are continuing to be felt out in the retail world.”