Furniture sales break records

Mews flash: flooring sales broke £280m in March

Sales boom continued in March

Fuelled by inflation and extended lead times, furniture and lighting sales reached record levels in March, while flooring sales reached a 14-year high.

The value of furniture and lighting sales in England, Wales and Scotland jumped by 31.7% compared with February to more than £1.579bn during the month, according to Office for National Statistics data.

This is the highest figure since records began in January 1986. Since then monthly sales have only topped £1.5bn three other times: December 2020 (£1.53bn); December 2018 (£1.515bn) and December 2019 (£1.507bn).

The highest sales figures below £1.5bn were September 2020 (£1.499bn); June 2021 (£1.479bn) and September 2019 (£1.45bn).

Compared with March 2019, sales were 15.3% higher. Compared with 2020, which saw the beginning of lockdown, sales were 56.3% higher and up 44.1% on March 2021.

Since January 1986 furniture and lighting sales have averaged £864.88m a month.

Flooring achieved the highest sales since 2008 in March, and the second highest since records began.

Flooring sales reached £281.131m: the highest figure since March 2008’s £290.4m.

It is only the second time monthly flooring sales have been above £280m.

Sales were 26.8% higher than February, 155% higher than March 2021, up 160% on March 2020 and 105% higher than March 2019.

Since January 1986 flooring sales have averaged £176.4m.

The data does not allow for inflation and is subject to revision by the ONS.

Furniture inflation leaps again as flooring rate eases

Furniture inflation leapt again in March but flooring inflation rates eased. Household furniture inflation jumped from 14.7% to 17.2%. The rate for carpets and other floorcoverings dropped from 8.7% to 7.4%.

Figures from the ONS show that all furniture indexes rose in March. Furniture and furnishings rose from 14.4% to 16.8%; garden furniture jumped from 8.4% to 11%; lighting climbed from 10.9% to 12.4% and other furniture and furnishings rose from 13.5% to 14.8%.

Carpets and rugs saw the rate drop from 6.6% to 5.6% and other floorcoverings dropped from 20.1% to 17.9%.

Household textiles saw the rate increase from 5% to 7.1%; furnishing fabrics and curtains from 6% to 9.6% and bed linen from 5.1% to 5.9%. Table linen more than doubled from 2.2% to 4.8%. In the past 12 months the overall furniture, furnishings and carpets rate has increased from 7.5% to 15.1%.

Dreams boosts management

Dreams has made its first senior management appointments since Jonathan Hirst became ceo.

The chain has recruited Paul Solly as chief commercial officer, Hirst’s former role. He joins from The Fragrance Shop, where he held the same role for almost two years. Prior to that that he was trading director at Matalan and category director for home and furniture at Tesco.

‘As Dreams enters an exciting new phase of growth, Paul will be a great addition to our executive team. He brings a wealth of experience from some of the country’s finest retailers, and will no doubt add huge value to the business as we continue to grow,’ says Hirst.

Michael Dingwall has become director of production, succeeding Mick Hargreaves, who is retiring after 12 years at the group. Dingwall was previously production director at Dams Furniture.

Retailers warned of further furniture pricing surge

Retailers have been warned that they face a further surge in the cost of UK-made furniture.

The BFM has says its members have faced, and continue to meet, significant price rises from suppliers. A wide range of materials used in furniture are rapidly increasing in cost, including hard woods such as birch, beech and oak, along with fabrics, foam, fibre, steel, MDF, plywood and OSB.

‘This is a national and international issue. Our members are reporting a constant flow of increases that are impossible to predict and difficult to absorb. We’ve seen material increases over the past two years, but the situation has escalated significantly in recent weeks,’ says Sean Holt, BFM md.

‘Compound price hikes of up to 100% are not unusual, and this is on top of the energy cost increases affecting manufacturing. Fuel and labour costs are other factors.’