HIGH POINT — Casual styles occupied the largest share of retailers’ case goods sales last year, a new Furniture Today survey has found. Furniture Today’s exclusive Case Goods Style survey, conducted every two years, asks retailers about the styles and price points that comprised their 2019 case goods sales.
Across all price points in the master bedroom, youth bedroom, formal dining and casual dining categories, responding retailers say that 36% of their sales were in a casual style. That represents growth of nine percentage points from two years ago. This also marks the third consecutive report that casual styles have accounted for furniture retailer’s largest share of case goods sales.
Contemporary styles, such as Mid-Century Modern and Art Deco, have declined one percentage point since 2017, but still occupied the second largest share of sales, at 21%. Traditional styles have continued to decline, falling from 30% in 2015 to 20% in 2019.
In the master bedroom, contemporary styles are the most popular across all price points, as the style group comprised 26% of responding retailer’s sales in 2019. Contemporary styles are particularly popular among high-end case goods ($5,000 and above), as they accounted for 29% of all sales within that price group.
Casual styles dominated the lower to middle range of sales in the master bedroom, comprising 59% of sales $2,499 and below.
Overall, one-third of master bedroom case goods sales were in the middle price range, which falls between $1,000 and $2,499. The upper-middle price range, which falls between $2,500 and $4,999, accounted for 29% of sales while high-end sales occupied a 16% share.
Casual styles enjoyed a strong year in the youth bedroom, accounting for 41% of sales, growing 10 percentage points from 2017. Contemporary sales also grew, expanding by two percentage points from 2017 to reach 23% of total sales this year among responding retailers.
While casual and contemporary styles gained share in the youth bedroom, country and traditional styles lost ground. Traditional styles decreased from 25% to 11%, while sales of country styles shrank by five percentage points since 2017.
In the dining room, Furniture Today’s exclusive survey found that casual styles accounted for 37% and 40%, respectively, of formal and casual dining set sales last year. Most formal dining sales were between $2,500 and $4,999 while the best-selling price range for casual sets was between $1,300 and $2,399.
Style groups defined
Casual: Transitional, Lifestyle, Coastal, Rustic and other casual styles
Contemporary: Architectural Modern, Art Deco, Asian/Oriental, Industrial, Mid-Century Modern, Retro/Post-Modern, Scandinavian and Urban/Loft
Country: American, English and French Country; Cottage/Lodge; Mediterranean; Mission/Arts & Crafts; Pennsylvania Dutch; and Shaker
Traditional: American, English and German Traditional; Campaign and Plantation; Colonial; Formal French and Italian; Neoclassic; and Victorian
