Daily News

From Home Furnishing Business

Smith Leonard Give News and Insight to the Furniture Industry

April 2, 2023  by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Industry   

In the current climate, it is difficult to do justice to the comparisons made in the report. To get a clear picture, the Highlight Report of the previous year comparisons are reported here.

For example, shipments were down 4% from December and 3% from last year as shipment comparisons continue to be difficult due to so many issues related to the consistency of imports, as well as continued issues with shortages of workers for domestic producers.

Receivable levels seem in line for the most part, though we think these will need to be watched closely as business at retail has slowed. This can cause some cashflow issues for those folks to be able to keep as current as they were able to do when business was really good.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased slightly in March to 104.2 from 103.4. The Present Situation Index decreased slightly but was offset by an increase in Expectations Index, up to 73.0, which is still under the magic number of 80.0 as it has been in 12 of the last 13 months. A score of below 80 is the measure for which recession is expected in the next year.

The old days of worrying about orders on a monthly or even weekly basis have changed to results almost on an hourly basis. But the overall answer is that business is “slow” no matter the comparisons.

With backlogs coming down and deliveries getting back to more normal times, we think this may help business at retail when customers will not have to consider how long the wait may be before getting product delivered.

Outside the industry, there are so many things being reported, it makes it hard to determine how things really are. Recession now, or not, or one coming or how harsh, is all up for grabs. So much negative news makes it hard to feel really great about where things are heading.