Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Smith Leonard Shares Industry Insights for Spring 2023
May 2,
2023 by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Industry 
In the latest survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors, slower business level continued to be reflected. New orders in February were down 17% from February 2022, though up slightly from January 2023.
Orders were down for over 80% of the participants. Year to date, orders were down 20% for the two months compared to last year. Looking back at February 2020 results, the month before the start of the pandemic, orders were down about 10% from that month.
Obviously, there have been several price increases since that time, so the decline in units is likely more, depending on the mix of products. Shipments were down 6% in February compared to February 2022. Year to date, shipments were down 4%.
As shipments exceeded orders in dollars, backlogs fell again, down 6% from January. Backlogs were down 62% from backlogs in February 2022. Shipments were down for 56% of the participants. Receivable levels seem in line and in talks, seem to be in good shape.
There are some concerns over the slow business at retail which may cause cash flow issues for some. Inventory levels fell again in February compared to January and were only 5% ahead of February last year, much more in line with current business. At least some of the increase over last year is in price increases, though that will change as some freight costs have now dropped.
Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director, Economics at The Conference Board said, “April’s results show consumer inflation expectations over the next 12 months remain essentially unchanged from March at 6.2%. Overall purchasing plans for homes, autos, appliances, and vacations all pulled back in April, a signal that consumers may be economizing amid growing pessimism.”