British furniture brands describe unprecedented sales, as others spend a lot on their homes.
Fancy a new couch delivered at Christmas? It could have left it too late, because Britain is in the grip of a Covid-related house furniture boom that has prevented factories from demanding assembly.
“This is unprecedented,” says Peter Campbell, leading monetary director of Long Eaton Sofas, which belongs to an organization of corporations at the heart of the UK furniture production industry, between Nottingham and Derby.
“My eBook of money has never been healthier. Not only is it good, it’s a crazy good . . . sales have been booming since we returned from the lockout,” Campbell says.
Never in the company’s history – she was a supplier to British Home Stores before she passed away – had she had to close Christmas orders so early. “Normally we want 4 to six weeks to deliver a new sofa. Now we’re in 10 to 12 weeks. The last orders we were able to take [for Christmas delivery] were last Saturday. “
Long Eaton is a small circle of family businesses with about 26 employees, but has hired 4 new upholsterers, machinists and cutters to meet demand. But among the big manufacturers, the scenario is similar.
Belfield is an unknown call for top buyers, however, it is the most giant upholstery company in the country, with factories in north Wales, Manchester and Derbyshire, which manufactures around 20,000 sofas and mattresses each month. They are sold under their own brands in giant branch chains, and the business is booming.
Its executive leader, Gary Lasham, says 2020 has been a two-media story. “We had to put almost all of our 2,000 workers on leave when the closure began. We relaunched in June and the call since then has been super, super strong. I’m full of Christmas and beyond. “
All brands agree that there is only one thing in the boom: coronavirus. “People haven’t been able to go on vacation this year, so they may not have spent $2,000 or $3,000. Now it’s all about furniture,” Campbell says.
Families also spend much more time at home and in a more pleasant environment. “People are now buying their fashionable dosage at home,” Lasham says.
DFS, which manufactures about a quarter of the sofas it sells in its own UK factories, is hiring three hundred production and distribution employees to meet demand. Its CEO, Tim Stacey, says: “All systems are for our five UK production sites and more than 1000 production colleagues, who are busier than ever. It also plans to open 10 new Sofology outlets over the next year.
Despite the reasonable festival in China and India, about part of all furniture – and 80% of all mattresses – sold in the UK are still manufactured in the UK. Furniture and furniture account for 9% of production, above the pharmaceutical industry, and the sector employs about 130,000 people.
Belfield claims that its British plants have competed with the Chinese by combining production line techniques with individual customization. “Do you see this pattern of fabrics from the sofa in the showroom?We call it ASAF, any sofa, any fabric. Every sofa we make is customized Chinese chains of origin simply can’t fit that, all they can do is make thousands of the same model,” Lasham says.
The pandemic turned out to have fostered “a lot of positivity in British purchases,” Lasham says. The British Furniture Manufacturers Industry (BFM) agreement has introduced a “Buy British” crusade to save jobs as the pandemic is accelerating, and says more than a third of buyers are more likely to acquire UK-made FURNITURE than before Covid.
John Lewis says other people are opting for larger furniture (4-seat sales are higher) and modular furniture. Sales of modular games suitable for all part sizes, such as its Sofi range, have increased by 170% since closing. The mid-century look dominates, with the Barbican sofa, animated through the 1960s towers in central London, among John Lewis bestsellers.
According to John Lewis, the most important trend has been the reversal of the pouf, with sales rising by 56% year-on-year. One spokeswoman said other people prefer “more casual and fun seats for the living room, children’s rooms and to create spaces to be alone in other spaces of the house. “
The house’s art sales also increased by 50% compared to last year, “which we can characterize to the increase in Zoom decoration”. But amid the jubilation of brands for their V-shaped recovery since closure, some parts of the industry are still stagnant in the gloom.
Many furniture brands specialize in “outsourcing manufacturing”, offering hospitality, catering and bar. Businesses have disappeared from the blockade, with no signs of recovery since. Many corporations that adapt to advertising interiors expect layoffs when the licensing program ends.
Forest Sofa produces homemade sofas in Manchester for Chesterfield Sofa Company and English Sofa Company. Its executive leader, Ryan Mohieddin, says sales for the family market are “exceptional. “But a third of his business was to make sidewalks and other furniture. tailor-made for restaurants and pubs, and that activity practically collapsed.
“Hotel sales have gone from 33% to between 5% and 10% of our weekly sales, and the people hired in those spaces are/were not all directly transferable,” mohieddin says.
Meanwhile, many brands that are going through an era of prosperity after many years of decline that this will not last.
“Once we solve the virus problem, you can bet your last dollar that the industry will go crazy, and the last thing someone spends their money on is furniture. There is an inscrulent wind that can also continue with this boom. Covid has helped our industry, though possibly in the short term,” says Nick Garratt of the British Furniture Manufacturers Association.