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The UK Office Furniture Market
2003-2013 (£m MSP)
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The UK office furniture
market has been in decline since 2001, when the industry suffered a
sharp deterioration in performance, as a result of the sharp
downturn in the IT and internet sectors in particular. This had an
adverse effect on business confidence generally and in the service
sector in particular. These factors have led to a difficult trading
period for office furniture suppliers and distributors through to
2007, although there was a marginal upturn in 2006. There is still
a surplus of supply capacity over demand, 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.
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Future prospects for the office
furniture sector in the medium term are very uncertain. The economy is
now in recession and the latest forecasts indicate that it will be at
least 2010 before business confidence returns. The commercial new build
sector has been deteriorating throughout 2008 and there are currently
high levels of availability in office space, particularly in the City,
where several new office schemes are still seeking tenants.
The environmental
considerations of manufacturing and supplying furniture are becoming more
important in influencing the sourcing of raw materials and the design,
manufacture and distribution of office furniture. The BIFMA has issued
guidelines, which includes policies on environmental management systems,
sustainable business codes and the use of renewable resources. This is a
factor likely to impinge on every supplier, whether from the UK or
overseas.
Imports and exports are
significant factors in the market with imports reaching £302.9m in 2007,
compared with exports of £151.4m. Imports rose strongly from £209.7m in
2002 to £303.6m in 2006, despite the poor performance of the market as a
whole, but remained fairly static in 2007. Desking and tables continue to
account for the largest share of imports – 35% in 2007 – although this
share has declined significantly in the last two years, following large
increases in imports of storage, seating and other office furniture.
The two main distribution
channels for office furniture are via the dealer network (46%) or
directly to end users (26%). Retail furnishing groups and miscellaneous
outlets account for 15% of the market, whilst superstores and mail order
account for the remaining 13%, with both categories benefiting from
continuing growth in the SOHO market.
Sales of office furniture are
estimated to decline by 7% to £670m in 2008, by a further 12% to £590m in
2009, and to £550 in 2010 before levelling out to £565m in 2011. This
compares with total sales of £720m in 2007. The market is expected to
experience modest growth rates of 2% per annum from 2010 onwards.
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