Home Furnishings Marketers, Prepare to Get Comfortable!

The market for luxury home furnishings gets a bounce as the high-end housing market  recovers  

STEVENS, PA December 7, 2012 – Finally, the nation's high-end housing market is showing signs of recovery which will bring new opportunities for marketers that sell luxury furniture, home furnishings, appliances, remodeling products and other home-related goods.  Toll Brothers, the nation's leading builder of high-end homes, just reported revenues for the quarter closing October 31 were up nearly 50 percent from last year.  Further measures of rising demand for Toll Brother's luxury homes (average price ~$582,000) includes signed contracts up 75 percent from a year earlier.  The company reports that at the community level, net signed contracts were the highest for any fistcal year since 2006.  This is encouraging news for all marketers whose businesses are linked with the rise and fall in the housing market.  Rising demand for homes at the high end may well signal rising demand for high-end home furnishings.  

Is your company positioned to get your share of this prosperous and growing market?

 “Finally, the housing market is showing signs of recovery as affluent consumers are trading up and investing in new homes.  That means opportunity for marketers selling things for the homes people are buying,” says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of a new trend report on the home furnishings market entitled Home Is Where the Luxury Is.  “What’s needed now is for marketers to understand the affluent customer ready to invest in improving their homes and make sure their marketing messages match the consumers’ own desires.” 

And in more good news, demand for home furnishings is also on the rise this year, which will help boost home furnishings and furniture retailers’ profits.  The U.S. Census department’s Advanced Monthly Retail Sales just reported that in the first ten months of 2012, home furnishings and furniture store sales grew 8.4 percent from 2011 totals.  This makes furniture and home furnishings stores second only to non-store retailers in sales growth, excluding the automotive category.   

It’s news like this that should get home furnishings marketers and retailers inspired to make sure they get their share of this rapidly growing market.  Unity Marketing offers a new trend report, entitled Home is Where the Luxury Is: A Study of Luxury Consumers and Their Furnishings, Redecorating and Remodeling Purchases.  This will  give valuable research-based insights and marketing strategies to help marketers assess their opportunities and grow their business.  This new study of high-end home furnishings customers gives market-based facts and figures that will inspire marketers to develop new strategies for their brands and their businesses.

Survey finds comfort beats function in home furnishings

“For example, the research also shows that some 60 percent of high-end home furnishings customers look for items that make them feel calm and comfortable,” says Danziger.  “This ranks way ahead of home furnishings that are primarily functional (39 percent) or a well-known brand (38 percent).  This suggests new directions for home furnishings marketers in product design and advertising creative to present their brand in line with customers underlying psychology.  Further it directs retailers to create a calm and comfortable environment in their stores.”  

The data and analysis home furnishings marketers need to effectively reach their most valuable consumer is contained in Home is Where the Luxury Is 2012, a comprehensive report that shows who is buying home furnishings, where they shop, how much they spend, and what marketing messages resonate with them.

 More about the Research

This trend report, Home Is Where the Luxury Is,  will be a powerful tool to help you benefit from a vital and growing luxury home market. It covers two surveys among luxury consumers giving different perspectives on their luxury homes.

• Home Furnishings Purchases: The latest, conducted in April 2012, covers luxury consumers who purchased of home furnishings items, including decorative items as well as furniture, bedding, art and others (excluding home electronics and major home appliances). The survey sample was 1,271 affluent (top 20 percent income) luxury consumers. Average income $274.8k; 44.8 years; 45 percent male and 55 percent female.
• Major Home Projects: Affluent luxury consumers involved in major home projects (2010).  This survey was conducted among 1,349 affluent luxury consumers (Average income $306.7k; 44.8 years; 45 percent male and 55 percent female).  Results were compared with similar study conduct in 2008 among 1,024 affluent luxury consumers (Average income $204,800; age 45 years; and men 36 percent/women 64 percent 2008 income weighted to 2010 income sample)

The Objectives

To understand the market for luxury home goods and services, specifically:

• Profile the luxury home furnishings consumers, what they buy, where they shop, how much they spend and most importantly, why they buy
• Market size and growth of the luxury home furnishings market
• Attitudes and motivations in home furnishings purchases
• Factors that influenced home purchases
• Places where luxury consumers shop for their home
• Use of a decorator or designer and why they use a decorator
• Favorite styles of home decorating
• Trends in major home projects, 2008 to 2010
• Trends in amount spent on major home projects
• Personalities of luxury home consumers and how to sell to them 

>> Our goal is to help you put consumer insights and understanding to work to grow your business

The results of this research are analyzed to help home marketers and retailers understand the opportunity among the affluent consumers. Take action slides call out specific strategies marketers and retailers can use to attract more luxury consumers to their brands and their businesses.  Click this link to order your copy.