Doing smart business in this age of firsts
Jerry Epperson -- Furniture Today, August 18, 2003
These are times filled with important firsts. It seems like we see another first every day. Some we don't understand, like why, in 2003, the average consumer spent more on Father's Day ($99.65) than on Mother's Day ($97.37) for the first time. Your guess is as good as mine.
In 2002, sales of digital cameras surpassed 35mm cameras for the first time, even though only 20% of U.S. households own digital cameras. This makes some sense, since we see them everywhere these days. Yes, I have one but, for feeble reasons, I still prefer my point-and-shoot camera that uses film.
In May of this year, dollar sales of laptop and notebook computers exceeded sales of desktop models. Our manufacturers of home office furniture are addressing this trend, and we will see more laptop-friendly furniture at this October's market.
It's now official that the broad Hispanic community is larger than the formerly largest minority, African-Americans. Both encompass more than 38 million individuals living in the United States. Both have very specific identities and deserve special merchandise and highly targeted retailing.
As Pedro Capo, president of retailer El Dorado in Miami and this year's National Home Furnishings Assn. president, noted in a speech to manufacturers a year or so ago, the typical Hispanic household saves less than other U.S. households because parents expect to be taken care of in their old age by their kids, just as they took care of their parents.
Savings among Cuban-Americans are especially low because, decades ago, the then-new Castro government voided Cuba's old currency, making everyone's savings worthless. Thus, lending money to finance furniture purchases requires a different mindset.
In 2002, for the first time since numbers have been kept, U.S. furniture manufacturers made and shipped more upholstered furniture than wood furniture. A decade ago, U.S. wood furniture was 135% greater than all U.S.-made upholstered furniture. Last year, U.S. furniture makers shipped $10.9 billion worth of upholstery and $10.7 billion of wood furniture.
The shift, of course, is because of imports, which were 47.7% of all wood furniture sold in the United States last year, and 13.7% of all upholstered furniture sold.
U.S.-made upholstery shipments set a record in 2002, slightly above the prior record year, 2000. Imported upholstery also had a record year last year, in case you were curious.
Speaking of records, we estimate 7,857,000 recliners were sold in 2002, a 14% gain over 2001 and 9.3% more than the previous best year. It also was a record year for multi-seat major motion, with about 1,836,000 units sold. These are impressive numbers.
Yes, we live in an age of firsts. See how many you can find.
