Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Pearl Collective with Interior Talent Launches 2023 Business Survey
May 18,
2023 by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry 
How and what do designers charge, and how does that compare across regions of the U.S.? What are the new hiring paradigms and salaries in today’s economy? What do home furnishings and décor manufacturers do that is beloved and what is belabored?
The Pearl Collective in conjunction with Interior Talent, a leading architectural and design recruitment firm, has launched the 2023 edition of their noted Interior Design Business Survey which asks those pressing questions and more, providing benchmarks and insights into the health and inner workings of one of the most dynamic and complicated businesses in our industry.
Designers at all levels of business and across the country are invited to participate in the study by visiting www.interiordesignersurvey.com. Those who complete the 2023 survey will receive early access to the results and insights.
The findings will also be presented at the October 2023 High Point Market with the same data available to the industry at large after market.
“The information gleaned from the survey will prove extremely beneficial to both interior designers and business owners as they analyze the data and strategically develop their future business plans,” said Erin Weir, co-founder of Pearl Collective.
As an example, the data from the 2022 edition of their survey and other large-scale research, Pearl Collective noted a significant shift ahead in design business leadership.
“The industry is on the cusp of a tsunami when it comes to hiring design executives to replace business owners who want to step away from their businesses either temporarily or permanently. By hiring talented design executives now, those businesses will have the experience needed to lead the company for the owner in the future.”
The 2023 survey explores four primary categories:
~ Projects and Clients, including current practices in pricing, fee structures, changes in new project scope and scale, and client concerns
~ Staffing and Teams, covering hiring practices and recent changes, diversity training programs, salaries and benefits, and team structure and succession planning
~ Economic Outlook, understanding sentiments about the current and future macroeconomic climate for interior design businesses and their clients
~ Vendor Successes and Stresses, illustrating the best manufacturer practices and policies, the invaluable contribution of talented sales reps, products that designers want (and hope to find), customer service snafus and other trip-ups that prohibit some manufacturers from capturing their share of the multi-billion-dollar revenue stream generated by interior design professionals.
“The survey will allow us to efficiently collect honest feedback, opinions and responses so we can use that information to help improve many aspects of an interior design business,” Weir, continued.
“We are indebted to all who have participated in our surveys in the past and look forward to presenting the latest and more thorough results to-date with the 2023 survey.”
The online questionnaire takes approximately 25-30 minutes to complete. All responses are kept completely anonymous and confidential and are used only in the aggregate and exclusively for this research. The survey can be found at www.interiordesignersurvey.com.