Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Smith Leonard: Furniture Orders Up 4%
February 1,
2016 by in Economic News, Industry 
New furniture orders climbed 4 percent in November when compared with November 2014, according to Smith Leonard’s latest survey of residential furniture suppliers.
The 4 percent increase followed a 1 percent increase in October and a flat September. New orders for the month were up for about 52 percent of survey participants.
Year-to-date, new orders were up 4 percent over the same period last year.
Shipments for November were up 5 percent compared to November 2014. Year-to-date shipments were up 6 percent over the same period a year ago and down from 7 percent reported last month.
“The above comparisons, coupled with the October results of a 1 percent increase in orders seems to be in line with several conversations we have had with folks, most noting that overall business seems to have slowed down a bit, both at retail and wholesale,” wrote Ken Smith, managing partner of Smith Leonard. “That is certainly not true for all, but when just over 50 percent of the participants are reporting any increase at all in orders, that is a good indication that business has slowed.”