The global situation leaves its mark on the furniture and interior design industry
The furniture and interior design industry is one of the industries that faces high comparative figures after having performed strongly during the pandemic.
The sales trend has been negative in all quarters of 2022. The reduced mobility in the housing market has also led to a reduced demand for new furnishings. For the year, the development lands at minus 8 percent.
Volatile raw material prices and high energy prices have contributed to driving up consumer prices, which has further reduced demand. According to Statistics Sweden, the furniture trade's average price increase amounted to twenty percent during 2022, which means that sales have decreased considerably more in fixed prices than in running prices.
As input prices began to stabilize in the last quarter of 2022, some players who had been forced to raise prices chose to quickly lower them again, so as not to lose market share as consumers become more restrained.
When it became clear during the autumn that consumers began to hold tighter in their wallets, more and more people turned to e-commerce's used market and low-price concept. On Blocket, "sofa" was one of the most common search words in 2022. This gives a clear signal that consumers are trying to find capital-intensive goods at lower prices and are then looking to the second-hand market and the industry's low-price players.
Source: The E-barometern 2022
