SUMMARY OF REPORT CONTENTS
The UK Office Furniture Market 2003-2015 (£m MSP)
The market
for office furniture is estimated to have reached £635m in 2010,
compared to £650m in 2009 and £730m in 2008. There is still a
surplus of supply capacity, despite some well known companies having
ceased to trade and this has resulted in suppliers having to cut
prices further to maintain share. However, the home office sector of
the market has shown some growth over this period underpinning the
overall market, although mainstream office furniture suppliers and
distributors have not always benefited from this trend.
Future
prospects for the office furniture sector in the medium term are
very uncertain. The economy is now out of recession, but the latest
forecasts indicate that it will be mid-2011 before business
confidence is restored. The commercial new build sector had been
deteriorating throughout 2008 and 2009 and there are currently high
levels of availability in office space, particularly in the City,
although there are signs that a few new significant office schemes
are being resurrected, mainly in Greater London.
Imports and
exports are significant factors in the market with imports reaching
£216.9m in 2009, compared with exports of £115.2m. China, Germany,
Italy and the United States are the major sources for imports of
office furniture.
The office
furniture market consists of four separate product sectors, namely
desking, seating, storage and other miscellaneous products. The
overall percentage shares held by each sector have remained
reasonably stable in recent years. The market remains fiercely
competitive, with a large number of suppliers still operating in the
market, despite some high profile casualties in recent years. The
share of the market held by the leading six suppliers fell steadily
from 42% in 1999 to 37% in 2003, increased marginally to 38% in
2005, before declining again to 36% in 2009.
The two
main distribution channels for office furniture are via the dealer
network, accounting for 47% of the market, or directly to end users
with 27% of the market. Retail furnishing groups and miscellaneous
outlets account for 14% of the market.
The office
furniture market in the UK is relatively mature and this is leading
to further polarisation in the market, with companies targeting
their products at particular end use sectors, such as the education
sector for example. In terms of distribution, there are likely to be
some changes, with the growth of the SOHO market benefiting the less
traditional channels of supply, such as multiple furnishing
retailers, superstores, mail order and the Internet.
In the
medium to long term the UK office furniture market is expected to
show some recovery from the decline experienced in the 2008 to 2010
period with modest annual growth rates of 2-4% from 2011. The market
is forecast to reach £735m in 2015, compared to the estimated level
of £635m in 2010. |
