Survey of High Point Market Retailers Measures Industry Trends

October 31, 2024  by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry   

The survey asked the retailers a range of questions from what their expectations were for the future, their biggest concern for the impact on their business, client purchasing and spending habits.

The first question asked what the expectations were for home furnishings purchases for the first half of 2025. Of four options, 48% felt that home furnishing purchasing would increase, 8.6% felt that it would decrease, and 33% felt that purchasing would remain steady. This represents a positive outlook for the first half of 2025, a good sign of optimism for the industry.

Economic uncertainty is the biggest concern facing the retailers surveyed at 40%. This is the biggest concern they feel could impact their business. Other retailers were concerned about the election, inflation, and interest rates. Supply chains continue to be a concern as well as price increases from supplies. Other concerns about their customers and the future  of furniture design.

The next section of the survey focused on the opinions of the retailers about the purchasing habits of their clients. The first part of this section focused on what area they were purchasing for, from the living and dining spaces to work or office spaces. The retailers "somewhat agreed" that they were looking for living and dining spaces and were "neutral" concerning the work or office spaces.

When they were asked about where they were interested in purchasing, there didn't seem to be a consensus. Both questions of whether they were more interested in purchasing in-store or on-line came back "neutral." This seems to mean that the retailers felt that clients would be interested in purchasing either on-line or in-store. Retailers also "somewhat agreed" that their clients were more interested in buying eco-friendly products than not.  

When it came to whether or not their clients would be willing to splurge on more expensive or luxury furniture, there seemed to be an equal amount who that their clients were willing to buy more expensive furniture (42%) as those who were not willing to buy more expensive furniture (41.7%). The last portion (15.8%) didn't know whether or not they would be willing to splurge.

Finally, the last question focused on how the clients were purchasing furniture, meaning what method of payment were they using. Over half of the clients were using credit or debit cards (54%), 29.5% were using cash or check and 15.8% were using financing. The last 20% were using buy now, pay later, personal loan or the retailer just didn't know.

The retailers were able to answer these questions that gave some insight into where they felt the industry was headed. This is a great snapshot of what they feel is coming into 2025.