Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Smith Leonard: Furniture Orders Up 43% in September
November 30,
2020 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
New orders in September were up 43% over September 2019 orders, following a 51% increase reported in August, 39% increase in July and a 30% increase in June, according to a report by Smith Leonard accounting and consulting firm.
The firm’s monthly survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors showed new orders increased for 56% of the participants for the month and year-to-date orders are up 11%.
The survey also showed shipments were up 4% in September over September a year ago after a 3% increase reported last month. Some 59% reported increased September shipments. Year to date, shipments were down 10% compared to the first nine months of 2019. But there were 22% of the participants that reported an increase in year to date shipments.
With orders still much higher than shipments, backlogs were up 123% over last September. Receivable levels continue to be in good shape and all reports are that payments are pretty much timely for the most part. Inventories were drained when companies shut down early on and have not been able to catch up since most are shipping as fast as they can produce or import.