Furniture Factory Orders Jump 7% in April

July 3, 2017  by Larry Thomas in Economic News, Industry   

The survey also showed that April shipments were up 2% compared to April 2016, while the order backlog was up a healthy 11%.

The last time orders were down compared to the prior year was July 2016, when the total was 5% below July 2015. In January 2017, orders were flat compared to the prior year.

Smith Leonard partner Ken Smith said the April results were somewhat unusual because only 47% of the survey respondents had increases in new orders. He said several respondents had “significant double-digit increases in April,” which he said was probably due to orders obtained during the April High Point Market.

Market exhibitors don’t always see the results of their market introductions that quickly, he noted.

For the first four months of 2017, orders were 6% ahead of the same period in 2016, while shipments rose 4%.

In a newsletter accompanying the survey results, Smith said the furniture retail business was good over the Memorial Day weekend, but has been tough since then.

“We continue to find it interesting that consumer confidence has remained good. We think that is likely due to a strong stock market, fairly low interest rates, and good job outlooks, among other things. What we do not understand is why, with all those positive factors, furniture sales are not doing better than they are,” Smith wrote.

He pointed out that retail, in general, is sluggish, and said government statistics show that sales from furniture and home furnishings stores generally are in line with the rest of the retail world.

“In the meantime, let’s hope as vacation money is spent this summer, maybe there can be some left to spread our way a little later this year,” he quipped.