by Survey shows younger consumers that include Gen Z and millennials could represent nearly 70% of furniture purchases during the period
HIGH POINT — Starting Monday, we resume publication of our exclusive Consumer Insights Now research that delves into consumers’ planned furniture purchases for the second half of this year.
Overseen by our research expert Dana French and sponsored by Bread Pay and Pay Tomorrow, the survey was fielded July 12-14 among 1,800 consumers that said they plan to purchase one or more home furnishings products from July through December. Representing a mix of males and females ages 18-74, it includes a wide mix of generations, ethnicities and household incomes, as well as homeowners and renters around the U.S.
As our prior research has shown, younger consumers represent the vast majority of consumers in the market for furniture. At 25% of those planning to buy furniture the largest group includes Gen Z consumers ages 18-27, followed by younger millennials ages 28-35, at 22%, and older millennials ages 36-43, at 21%.
Thus, as we’ve seen previously, more than two-thirds of consumers ages 43 and below will make up the bulk of furniture purchases. Smaller in number were Gen X consumers ages 44 to 59 at 18% and baby boomers at 14%.
As expected, and consistent with our CIN research since our first consumer survey in July 2022, sofas and sectionals remain the No. 1 planned purchase across age groups through Gen X, the exception being baby boomers who said that a mattress was their No. 1 planned purchase. Sofas also were the No. 1 planned purchase for all income groups ranging from lower-income households earning below $50,000 to middle-income households earning from $50,000 to $99,000 and those earning $100,000 and over.
Overall, 36% of those surveyed planned to buy a sofa or sectional, followed by area rugs, 28%; decorative accessories, 27%; a mattress for the primary bedroom, 25%; wall décor, 23%; and primary bedroom furniture, 22%.
These categories were followed by occasional tables, 21%; lamps, 20%; reclining chairs, 19%; home office furniture, 17%; and home entertainment furniture, 16%.
Getting back to the buying plans of younger consumers, the survey drills down what percentage of each age group plans to buy specific categories. For example, some 44% of older millennials planned to buy a sofa or sectional, followed by 42% of Gen Z consumers and 37% of younger consumers, compared with 36% of Gen Xers and 23% of baby boomers.
Perhaps not so surprisingly, younger consumers also were the largest segment looking to purchase occasional furniture to go with their new sofa or sectional. Thirty-four percent of Gen Z consumers planned to buy occasional furniture, compared with 28% of younger millennials and 23% of older millennials, followed by 16% of Gen Xers and 11% of baby boomers.
On a related note, home entertainment is another popular category among younger consumers as it too ties in with the living room. Twenty-four percent of Gen Z consumers planned to buy some type of home entertainment, followed by 21% of younger millennials and 19% of older millennials compared with 14% of Gen Xers and 4% of baby boomers.
Younger consumers also planned to purchase a primary bedroom at the highest rates. For example, 29% of Gen Z and younger millennials respectively planned to buy a primary bedroom, compared with 20% of Gen Xers and 10% of baby boomers.
In addition, younger consumers also are in the market for home office, continuing the work-at-home trend that we saw blossom during the pandemic. Here, 24% of Gen Z consumers planned to buy home office, followed by 21% of younger millennials surveyed, 15% of older millennials and Gen Xers respectively and 13% of baby boomers.
The survey also digs into where consumers plan to purchase each of these categories, how much they plan to spend and how they plan to finance their purchases.
In addition to the core segments noted above, the survey also looks at purchase plans for bedding, outdoor furniture, area rugs, decorative accessories, wall décor and lamps, while diving deeper into spending patterns by younger consumers and income levels.
In the spirit of not giving too much away too soon, we will dig further into these and other topics as we address each segment of the research in the coming weeks. As always, we hope this proves useful and encourage readers to use this information to their benefit, particularly during the fall High Point Market buying season and beyond.
Below is a calendar of when each of these reports will run in our newsletters.
+ Sept. 23 — Consumer Insights Now Second Half Overview
+ Sept. 30 — The Living Room
+ Oct. 7 — The Primary Bedroom
+ Oct. 14 — Mattresses
+ Oct. 21 — The Economy Report
+ Oct. 28 — The Design Report
