Sales outperform past performance

Monthly sales slip but still ahead of past performance

Furniture, lighting and flooring sales dropped in October, but were still significantly ahead of historical levels.

According to the Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) first estimate of October’s retail sales, the furniture and lighting sector in England, Wales and Scotland saw sales drop 5.99% compared with September. This compared with a monthly fall of 6.47% in September.

Average weekly sales were £1,293,054,000.

Compared with October 2020, sales were down 6.7% and compared with October 2019 sales were 0.09% lower.

To put the monthly performance into perspective, October was the 22nd best month (of 430) since January 1986. Since then, weekly sales have averaged £859,678,000.

The flooring sector saw sales fall by 9% compared with September, fall by 9.4% compared with October 2020 and be 20.1% higher than October 2019.

Average weekly sales were £168,636,000.

October was the 242nd best month since January 1986. Since January 1986 average weekly sales have averaged £175,358,000.

For the year to date (January to October), furniture and lighting sales were 14.96% higher than 2020 but 0.46% lower than 2019.

For the year to date (January to October), flooring sales were 14.98% higher than 2020 and 11.4% higher than 2019.

The latest figures are subject to revision by ONS.

Domotex cancelled

January’s planned edition of flooring exhibition Domotex has been cancelled, just weeks after the organiser said it hoped to hold a slimmed down show in Hannover.

‘We have been fighting for Domotex together with the exhibiting companies until the very end, and have been in daily communication with the industry for months. Domotex is particularly affected by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as the majority of exhibitors and attendees come from abroad. However, given the current pandemic situation, international business travel is not expected to recover in the short term,’ says Sonia Wedell-Castellano, Domotex global director.

Last month Deutsche Messe said it would use three halls in the southern part of the exhibition centre – the show is traditionally centred around halls at the northern end – as a relaunch event.

‘What was considered a realistic and promising re-start scenario a month ago, and was also well received by the market, has proven to be no longer feasible in recent days,’ says Wedell-Castellano.

The organiser is looking into the possibility of holding the show later in 2022.

The exhibition is ‘no longer feasible’ for January, said the organiser

New format for show

The INDX Furniture exhibition in January will have a revamped format compared with its predecessor.

The previous AIS Furniture Show had two days of members-only entry and two days open to all retailers. This has been replaced with three days open to all, from 23-25 January. Free parking and complimentary refreshments will again be available at the Cranmore Park, Solihull venue, with registration online.

The previous AIS Bed Show will be replaced by INDX Beds & Bedroom from 26-27 April.

INDX Furniture replaces the AIS show

Furniture inflation tops 10% again as flooring rise slows

Retail furniture inflation increased again in October, while price rises for flooring slowed.

The annual inflation rate for household furniture rose from 10.5% to 11.3% in October, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In October 2020 the rate was just 1.5%.

The rate for flooring fell from 9.6% to 7.3%. In October 2020 the rate was 2.3%.

The rate for garden furniture increased from 5.1% to 5.6%, while the rate for lighting rose from 4.2% to 4.6%.

ONS figures show that while the overall cost of living is 13.4% higher than in 2015, the cost of household goods has only risen by 10.5%.