—
The UK government is committing to build one million new dwellings by 2020. There’s a significant push to get more people into their own homes. The National Housing Federation’s Director of Policy and External Affairs, Gill Payne has said that, ‘Families and young people across the country are crying out for genuinely affordable homes so they can put roots down and achieve their dreams of owning a home.’With more people looking to achieve the dream of owning their own home the UK furniture industry is at a crucial juncture to capitalize on this market opportunity. In particular online furniture retailer, Sofa Savings has identified that the current market conditions are the ‘perfect storm’ for online furniture retailers to catch up to the rest of the ecommerce industry in the UK.
This perfect storm can be categorized down to several key points. Namely the explosion of ecommerce in Europe is seeing more people shift to online purchases. This is strengthened by consumers being more price conscious in general and looking widely, online, for the best deal possible for the highest quality products. And finally with the anticipated growth in new dwellings and the government’s commitment to building new houses there will simply be more people looking to make ‘big ticket’ furniture purchases.
The explosion of ecommerce is easily one of the key factors in the opportunity for online furniture retailers to make significant business gains in the online space.
Ecommerce is the fastest growing retail market in Europe. Sales in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, The Netherlands, Italy, Poland and Spain are expected to grow to £185.44 bn (€219.44 bn) this year. That would represent 16.7% growth from the prior year.
In the UK estimates are online retail sales will top £60 billion for the first time on record. There’s an incredible shift by consumers to making ‘big ticket’ purchases online.
A 2015 research report from the Furniture Industry Research Association’s highlights that, ‘Expenditure on furnishings, household goods and house maintenance remained relatively static from 2010 to 2013, although there was a 2.7% growth recovery between 2012 and 2013. Within this sector, consumer expenditure on furniture and furnishings reached £12.6b, which was a 6.4% increase on 2012.’
While the figures aren’t huge it’s evident that this is the laggard effect of the global downturn that still lingers from 2008/09. Consumers are more price conscious than ever before. However with increasing familiarity with buying goods and services online, they know that they can get the same, or better, quality products from online retailers as they can from physical retail outlets.
The benefit of shopping with online retailers such as Sofa Savings is they can get these high quality ‘big ticket’ items saving potentially hundreds of pounds than if they’d gone into one of the more ‘traditional’ furniture retailers.
Adam from Sofa Savings explains that,
‘The great thing about Sofa Savings is that we are solely focused on delivering a quality product to our customers at a price they simply cannot get anywhere else. We’ve identified that most people will research what they’re looking for online before making a major purchasing decision. If they come to us knowing the colour, style and size of the sofa they’re after, then they can save upwards of £500 compared to other physical cheap sofas retailers. Even better still if the delivered product doesn’t meet your expectations, we will happily take it away to make sure you get the quality you expect.’
It’s clear from consumer feedback that if they can get a quality product at a great price online, they will forego purchasing decisions from a traditional bricks and mortar retailer.
The added benefit of course from online furniture retailers like Sofa Savings is that they are able to redistribute capital in more efficient ways than a bricks and mortar retailer.
Unnecessary expenditure on a retail presence, related overheads, employment costs and wastage on displays can be redirected into more efficient production facilities, higher quality materials and greater range of styles, products and options for the consumer.
With current economic conditions, a shift by the consumer to utilise ecommerce options for big ticket furniture items and the advantages that present online furniture retailers vs. bricks and mortar retailers – the stage is set for innovative online retailers such as Sofa Savings to carve out a significant market share and seize the opportunity available.
Contact Info:
Name: Sofa Savings
Email: Send Email
Organization: Sofa Savings
Phone: 0121 4581 084
Website: http://www.sofasavings.co.uk
Release ID: 116947
Google
RSS