Essay - Marketing Strategy Assessment of the Retail Home Furnishings Industry Introduction...

Marketing Strategy Assessment of the Retail Home Furnishings Industry

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The retail home furnishings industry is being adversely impacted by the global recession, with demand for these products predicted to continually suffer as housing starts fall throughout the first and second calendar quarters ***** 2009. The intent of this paper is ***** evaluate ***** personal ***** social factors that determine the level ***** purchasing of ***** home *****. Concentrating on a combinati***** of demographic and psychographic analyses, this ***** will present how consumers are choosing to visit retail home furnishings stores and make purchases. As of 2009 many consumers ***** delaying the replacement of home furnishings due to rising unemployment in many nations affected by ***** global recession, in addition to falling disposable incomes which are combining to erode consumers' confidence. As a result, the spending levels in the ***** home ***** industry ***** dropping as consumers are reluctant ***** take on additi*****al debt. As a ***** ***** these economic factors, the retail home furnishings market is predicted to be flat, ***** a 4.1% growth rate most attributable to household textile ***** furniture replacement, with 2009 *****ing flat to negative growth (Fleischer, Slaughter, 2008, 26 - 28) due to the factors mentioned. Industry segments include furniture with 63.6% of sales, household textiles and soft furnishings (23.7%) and carpets and floor coverings (12.8%) (*****, Slaughter, *****, 30).

Depending on the c*****sumer lifecycle ***** each of these product categories, there is a corresponding shift in revenue generated in ***** industry. Personal and social factors are now analyzed to specifically from the st*****point of their influence on purchasing levels and cycles in the retail ***** furnishings *****.

Pers*****al Fac*****rs Analysis

Beginning with an analysis of ***** *****, Table 1, Demographic Spending by Segment illustrates ***** percentage ***** retail home furnishings ***** by each age group. Of these, the majority of home furnishings are purchased by those consumers 35 to 44 years of age, as many ***** within the purchasing lifecycle of starting families and furnishing ***** homes. While the 25 to 34 year old segment only is *****5% ***** ***** total percent***** of spending on retail home *****s, their growth from an average of $8,514 in 2005 to $10,170 in 2007 on a per c*****pita basis is one of the growth areas of an otherw*****e ***** industry as it enters 2009.

Table 1: ***** Home Furnishings Spending By Segment, 2008

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Share

Consumers aged 35 to 44

Consumer aged 55 to 64

Consumers aged 45 to 54

***** aged 25 to 34

Consumers aged over 65

Consumers ***** under 25

Source: (***** Furnishings Industry Profile: Global, *****)

***** ***** under ***** ***** of age are expected to stay relatively constant at 9% of the total spending for retail home furnishings through the forecast period, to 20*****1. *****se consumers are typically have not entered into ***** purchasing lifecycle of ***** a home *****nd then beginning to furnish it. As a result, this segment often spends on ***** furnishings for apartments and ***** dedicated