America’s furniture makers are scaling down the size of their products in response to young home buyers moving into older, smaller city houses and condominiums, an industry analyst said yesterday at the opening of the International Home Furnishings Market.

“They’re not going to be able to use king-sized beds, said W.W. “Jerry” Epperson Jr., a furnishings-industry analyst based in Richmond, Va.

He said virtually every retailer exhibiting at the market is selling the lines of smaller furnishings.
More than 2,500 exhibitors from around the world are showcasing residential furnishings at the annual spring market in High Point. Buyers from furniture retailers are surveying what’s new in products displayed across 12 million square feet of exhibit space in 188 buildings. Those products could end up in store showrooms by fall, the prime season for spending on home decor. In all, 70,000 buyers and others in the industry are expected to attend the furniture market, which ends Wednesday.

Epperson said central-city revitalization has forced furniture makers to offer smaller product lines, especially in mattresses and bedroom sets. But while makers are scaling down offerings, prices are escalating – especially for bedding.

“You can spend some real coin in beds if you want to,” Epperson said, noting an explosion of new mattress technology using foam, air and now gel.

The analyst said he did not foresee a pronounced downturn in housing sales – an important barometer for furniture sales – and he added that many others who watch the industry have been surprised by how resilient the real estate market has remained in the face of rising interest rates.

A changing mix of new housing stock could create an interesting scenario, Epperson said. “We could have a housing surge (in units) but be decorating less square footage,” if sales tilt toward smaller starter homes.

He said the furniture industry is coming off a mixed first quarter, ending in a weak March sales period. That came after a 3.1 percent gain in sales last year.

The increasing role of Chinese furniture shipments to the $5 billion U.S. market was on the minds of many at the show.

In an industry overview, Epperson said at least 20 Asian factories, primarily Chinese, have their own U.S. sales forces selling direct to U.S. retailers. Some companies are building their own warehouses in the United States that will allow them to sell to independent retailers. The cost of shipping a sofa from China to the West Coast is $90, and shipping from China to the East Coast costs $120, Epperson said.

He said in his report that furniture pricing has never been more complex. Buyers can find bargains in leather and wood furniture, while products with steel, foam and petroleum-based materials have seen price increases.

Epperson said furniture retailing has become a battleground between established retailers and companies that sell through the Internet or catalogs. Also, a growing number of “nonfurniture stores” are selling furnishing lines, including Home Depot and the Kroger grocery chain.

In its battle for customers, Century Furniture Industries, a Hickory, N.C., maker of high-end furnishings, is upgrading its Web site to meet customer expectations, president and CEO Robert J. Maricich said. He added that 38 percent of upscale furnishings are ordered by interior decorators working for clients.

Epperson said the changing marketplace is a long-term trend, and he warned those who think that buying hard goods over the Internet is not practical.

“They’re the same people who said women wouldn’t buy apparel over the Internet,” Epperson said. “They’ve been proved dramatically wrong.”

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