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02/01/2007
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Furniture distribution must bank on the emotional aspect
The furniture distribution market is being tugged between opposing economic cyclical forces and structural forces.
This is the report of the last study carried out by Precepta, a subsidiary of the Xerfi group. Basic structures are excellent: the craze for the world of the home is unfailing. "The French are spending more time at home and are granting more and more importance to their home interiors", assesses Delphine David, in charge of the study led by the strategic analysis agency. But these favourable societal evolutions are being slowed down by the deceleration of the real estate market and the weak growth of the households’ purchasing power which relegate home fittings and furnishings to a position of secondary importance. "Furnishings decoration represents only 2,4% of the household’s total consumption. Furniture consumption, in volume, will increase by an average of only 1% per year until 2010". To counterbalance the weakness of this growth, the furniture distributors will have to adapt their strategies by taking into account the evolution of the demand and the purchasing behaviours. "The distributors will have to be capable of "making the consumer forget reality" and "to highlight the emotional aspect, to propose a conceptual offer, a source of information for the customer, and even a world and an image to which they can identify themselves to". The recommendations of the study: to avoid multi-style and multi-product positioning which deprives the customer of any point of reference, to create appropriate and particular brands according to a fashion logic, to forego an aggressive pricing policy in order to bank on the emotional aspect in response to hedonistic expectations. The place of sale must become a "genuine trends space", thanks to the importance of the decoration department. The furniture e-business, be it a market that is estimated between 150 and 250 million euros, represents an important growth potential. "La Redoute achieved one quarter of its furniture sales on-line", notes the person in charge of the study.
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(Fonte d'informazione: Maison Objet Presse)
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