|
The US office
furniture industry has flourished throughout the 1990s as the domestic
economy has shifted from being manufacturing driven to one where services
play an increasingly important role. The office furniture market peaked
in 2000 at $ 13.3 billion in current dollar terms. It exceeded the
1991-value by 84 percent, and in constant dollar terms the value was
ahead by 60 percent.
However, 2001
and 2002 have been less fortunate for office furniture manufacturers. In
2001, office furniture shipments in the United States fell by 17.4
percent. This was the largest annual decrease in shipments for over 20
years. Last year saw a further decline by 8.5 percent, to reach a
cyclical low of $10.0 billion. For 2003 a growth rate of 7.1 percent is
predicted, lifting the market value up to $ 10.7 billion.
Taking a
long-term view, the office furniture market grows more or less in unison
with the overall economy. However, on a short-term basis, it proved to be
much more volatile, exceeding the economy's growth by a wide margin
during upswings, and falling way below the overall trend during
downturns.
On the basis
of the principal construction material, wood office furniture accounts
for 25 percent of the market and non-wooden furniture for the remaining
75 percent. By type, "system furniture" represent - with almost
40 percent - the largest market segment but during the past ten years
this segment grew slightly slower than the total office furniture
industry. The fastest growing product type was desks. In sharp contrast,
the filing cabinet segment grew very slowly as technology continues to
transform office environments, reducing the relative demand for paper
storage.
On a
geographical basis, California is the largest office furniture market,
followed by New York, Texas and Florida. These four states collectively
account for more than 30 percent of the entire US market.
Companies of
greatest interest to office furniture suppliers are firms with a heavy
office-intensive employment. This includes in particular establishments
in the finance, insurance and business services sectors. In spite of a
few large banks and insurance companies, a typical characteristics of the
finance and business services sector is the small average size of its
establishments. In the finance and services industries, companies
employing more than 100 people account for less than 2 percent of all
establishments in that sector. Vice versa, less than 10 percent of
companies employ more than 20 people. It is a formidable challenge for
office furniture suppliers that the industries of greatest importance to
them represent some of the smallest scale operations across the
industrial spectrum. The fast SOHO growth is further magnifying this
challenge.
Another
significant phenomena of great relevance to office furniture
manufacturers is the growing importance of females among managerial and
professional, technical, sales and administrative and service sector
ranks. Overall, females account for more than 57 percent of the positions
known to be relatively office furniture intensive. The labor force
participation rates among women in nearly all age groups are projected to
continue to increase in the future. No doubt, office furniture designers
must pay close attention to such demographic trends.
The report is
published in association with AMA Research by AKTRIN, who are a report
writing and international consulting firm fully dedicated to the
furniture industry. The company has been in existence since 1985 and
maintains offices in the United States Canada, and Germany.
Representatives and affiliates are located throughout the world. |
