Lockdown, closed shops, empty city centers: the corona pandemic still has a tight grip on the world and does not hold back from any industry. With its enormous economic and social impact, the virus has once again highlighted the enormous added value of e-commerce and noticeably accelerated digitization in all areas. Furniture retailers in particular, who in the past increasingly generated their sales in brick-and-mortar stores, were forced to rethink their approach, had to focus on previously neglected sales channels and develop new digital opportunities. The following blog post uses statistics to show how sales figures within the furniture industry changed before and during the pandemic and outlines the opportunities that e-commerce offers to this industry.
When it comes to investing in digital offerings, Germany is still lagging behind in an international comparison and is increasingly having to retrofit, especially in these times. Interestingly, however, buying furniture over the Internet had been growing in popularity even before the corona pandemic. The online business with furniture increased by 11 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year. In the German area it was possible to generate 4.72 billion euros.
With the outbreak of the corona virus in April 2020, furniture manufacturers' sales initially collapsed by 28.7 percent due to a lack of orders, according to the Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie (VDM). However, the low in turnover was interrupted in June and returned to the black figures. Among others, this was related to people spending more time than usual in their own four walls. Instead of spending on vacations, savings were increasingly invested in furniture, interiors or home accessories, which was beneficial to furniture stores from an economic point of view. According to the Bundesverband E-Commerce und Versandhandel Deutschland (BEVH), online sales of furniture, lamps and decorations increased by 13.8 percent in the second quarter of 2020. For example, according to the Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie (VDM), around 305,000 seat units were ordered in July 2020. Compared to the same month of the previous year, that is 70,000 units more, although these figures only refer to German manufacturers. With a focus on the interior design of your own four walls, long-planned furniture investments were implemented and the 3% VAT reduction was exploited. The topic of living has become more important from the consumers' point of view. It is important to them, especially in times of distance and restraint, to make their living environment beautiful.
The furniture industry impresses with a wide range of online offers during the pandemic
Triggered by numerous pandemic restrictions, furniture retailers were forced to use their website not only for informational purposes and to sell small products, but also to enter e-commerce business with their entire product range. While the exhibition rooms in the furniture stores were closed to the public for the first time last year, some employees got to know virtual consulting for themselves and used this as an opportunity. In this way, furniture retailers could on the one hand maintain their consulting service and at the same time keep their employees busy, whereas on the other hand customers could enjoy the convenient purchase in the online shop and didn’t have to do it without their product advice.
So far, online channels in this industry have mostly been used for smaller purchases such as home accessories. When purchasing larger items such as a bed or a cupboard, the first step was to go to the brick-and-mortar store. The pandemic changed consumer behavior there as well and helped to further establish new technologies such as Augmented Reality. Showrooms that further optimize the customer's shopping experience are also experiencing further growth. The increasing attractiveness of buying furniture in the digital space is partly due to the convenience of society. Clear price comparisons can be obtained via numerous portals and the furniture stores' entire product range can be viewed at any time. A multitude of delivery options with additional services such as taking old goods or assembling furniture also scores points. Last but not least, online buyers can choose from a variety of different payment methods when shopping digitally, make use of a convenient exchange and return process or even the 30-day right of return.
Use challenges as opportunities
Corona, digital change and Co.: All of this make furniture retailers face enormous challenges. Though, this results in a wide range of opportunities that must be used appropriately. Customer expectations have risen tremendously. Retailers must perfectly combine online and offline offers and skillfully showcase respective advantages of both worlds in order to meet customer demands. The pandemic is clearly a driver of digitization issues and has massively accelerated its further expansion across industries. And one thing is also certain: our online shopping behavior on the one hand and the handling of digital offers on the other will probably change permanently.
