Review of the UK domestic furniture industry

The Aktrin Furniture information centre, in collaboration with Business & Research Associates
have released the 2007 edition of the Review of the Uk domestic furniture market (www.furniture-info.com). For 2008 sales are predicted to decline to a level of about £5005m before rebounding again next year.
Sales of upholstered furniture are expected to reach £1640m in 2008, representing 33 percent of total market sales. Sales of kitchen furniture are forecast to reach £1130m in 2008, accounting for 23 percent of the market.
In regards to domestic furniture (other than kitchen and upholstered furniture), multiple furnishing outlets currently account for around 40 percent of total sales in value terms, whilst independent outlets account for around 21 percent.
As far as kitchen furniture is concerned, specialist kitchen furniture outlets are the main distributors with 39 percent of the market in value terms; within that sector independents account for 32 percent of the market, whilst multiples account for 7 percent.
Multiple furnishing stores remain the major outlets for upholstered furniture with 48 percent of total sales, compared with independent outlets with 17 percent of the total market. Within the multiple furnishing stores category specialist upholstery outlets account for around26 percent of total sales.
It is estimated that imports of domestic furniture reached £1682.7m in 2006. Imports currently account for 34 percent of the total market. The penetration rate for imports varies considerably between different product groups, reaching 54 percent for dining and living room furniture and for bedroom furniture, but only 10 percent for kitchen furniture. Imports from outside the EEC account for well over 50 percent of total imports.