Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Smith Leonard: Furniture Orders Down 11% in July
October 4,
2021 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
New orders in July were down 11% over July 2020 and year-to-date orders were up 39%. However, new orders were up 24% compared to July 19, 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 were up for over one half of the participants for the month. Year-to-date, new orders were up for 91% of the participants.
Shipments in July 2021 were 21% over July 2020 as there was plenty of backlog that could be shipped. Backlogs inched up slightly and were 108% higher than July 2020, as the lack of materials and labor as well as all the freight issues would not allow companies to ship more and cut into the backlogs.
Receivable levels continue to make sense compared to shipments year-to-date. The change from June to July appeared to be a timing issue as shipments were down 19% with receivables down 2%.
Inventories were up 51% over last year, but last year inventories were down 10% so some of that is timing and the rest is participants knowing that having inventory now is critical.