The stay-at-home orders that have swept across the country over the last few weeks have impacted all of us and have caused us to make significant changes to our daily lives. While the lockdown orders are of course temporary (and necessary), certain habits that we’ve had to modify over the last month may never fully revert back to what they were before.
Our shopping routines have changed considerably. Online shopping, once a preference for some, has become more prevalent than ever. While most of this can be attributed to essentials, it’s highly likely the forced online shift will accelerate purchasing behavioral shifts across all verticals.
For manufacturers in the home furnishings industry, this means it’s more important than ever to embrace a strong online sales strategy in preparation for the changes to come. Short term, because unfortunately there are fewer physical locations to purchase products. Long term, because many who were apprehensive to buy online previously, may convert to shopping online permanently now that they’ve experienced it.
Furniture and home furnishings accounted for almost 13% of total retail ecommerce sales in 2018, with revenues totaling $65.12 billion. That share – prior to COVID-19 – was projected to increase to 14%+ by 2022, with revenues expected to hit $99.87 billion.
One factor driving this trend is the increasing purchasing power of millennial shoppers. For a generation that grew up with the emergence of ecommerce, shopping online has always been natural. Now many are well into their careers, have families, are buying homes, and are purchasing larger ticket items online.
On top of that, ecommerce platforms are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are laser-focused on the customer shopping experience. Personalization has evolved, product search has become refined, and AR is becoming the norm.
Over the last month, new online shoppers have not only bought more essentials online, but they are also buying bigger-ticket items in the home furnishings category.
Because of the amount of time people are now spending in their homes, “home as a sanctuary” is taking on a whole new meaning. Whether it be to refresh their décor or invest in home office furniture for new learning or working environments, people want to invest in their homes now more than ever – and as consumer confidence is regained, this will only continue to grow.
Internet retailers are already beginning to experience this shift. Wayfair reported an accelerated growth rate since the middle of March, which has continued into early April. Amazon is hiring 100,000 new employees to keep up with demand, and while this is primarily to fulfill essentials for now, we anticipate the increased demand will translate into home furnishing sales shortly thereafter.
To stay relevant with – or even accessible to these shoppers, businesses with a traditional focus on a brick-and-mortar presence need to take this opportunity to put an ecommerce strategy in place. Companies who believe this pandemic won’t change the way shopping is done in the future, will unfortunately miss out on the chance to recapture lost demand.
Time is of the essence – for home furnishings manufacturers to build an ecommerce strategy – and our experienced team of ecommerce professionals is here to help.