About two in 10 U.S. consumers plan to purchase furnishings, such as a bed, headboard, dresser, chest, nightstand, wardrobe, chaise or mirror, for their primary bedroom in the first half of 2023, with millennials and Gen Zers driving the purchases.
That’s according to the latest round of Consumer Insights Now research, which delves into the buying plans, preferences and habits of consumers who are in the market for home furnishings. Done in conjunction with our sister publications Home News Now, Casual News Now and Bedding News Now, results are being released weekly leading up to the High Point Market to give you information you can use when shopping the show April 22-26.
Let’s look in more detail at what types of furniture consumers plan to purchase for their primary bedrooms, where they are likely to shop and what they plan to spend.
What they want to buy
Some 65% of consumers plan to buy a bed or headboard for their primary bedroom, while 58% need a nightstand and 54% are shopping for a dresser. (The next round of results, to be released Monday, April 17, will look specifically at consumers’ plans to buy mattresses.)
The traditional coordinated bedroom set remains popular, with half of shoppers saying they are looking for a suite. Interestingly, coordinated bedroom sets are most popular among consumers under age 35, who may prefer the ease of a one-and-done purchase or feel less comfortable pairing pieces from different collections, brands or retailers. Overall, 34% of consumers plan to mix and match pieces in their bedroom.
When it comes to special features in beds, consumers are most interested in storage, with 38% shopping for a bed that offers a place to stash additional clothing, linens or other items. Consumers are slightly less interested in beds that offer lighting, with 30% saying it is a very important or important factor in their decision-making. Only 22% of survey respondents said buying a bed with speakers was very important to important to them. Millennials are more likely than other groups to seek beds with lighting or speakers.
Looking at headboards, consumers expressed a preference for wooden models, with 48% of shoppers in the market for those. Some 33% prefer upholstered headboards and 7% are seeking metal versions. Gen Z and millennials are more likely than their older counterparts to want an upholstered headboard.
In terms of color palettes, consumers overall favor darker wood tones, followed by midtones. Darker finishes are most popular among younger shoppers.
Where they plan to shop
Brick-and-mortar retailers should note that two out of three buyers say they plan to purchase in-store, although, not unexpectedly, Gen X and baby boomers are more likely than Gen Z and millennials to shop brick-and-mortar stores. More than four in 10 shoppers, overall, plan to buy bedroom furniture at a national furniture chain, with another 12%, respectively, planning to make their purchases at a big box retailer or local/regional furniture store. Some 13% of consumers overall, plan to buy from Amazon.
What they plan to spend
As we saw with CIN research into sofa buying plans, consumers don’t have big budgets for their bedroom purchases this year. On average, survey respondents plan to spend between $1,000 and $1,999 on bedroom furnishings. Only 9% plan to spend $3,000 or more. Not surprisingly, older consumers, who tend to have higher incomes and more discretionary income, plan to spend the most. Gen X and baby boomers have the biggest budgets for bedroom furniture.
Consumers aware of tip-over issues
In recent months, makers of bedroom furniture have been focused on federal tip-over regulations for clothing storage units. With that in mind, the CIN survey queried consumers to see if they are aware of tip-over problems and what kind of information retailers and manufacturers could provide to them that would be useful. Home News Now Editor-in-Chief Tom Russell, who has covered the tip-over regulations extensively, has delved more deeply into those survey results.
Up next: Consumer Insights Now looks at consumers’ plans to buy mattresses. Those results will be released Monday, April 17.
What you might have missed: Read more about what consumers actually bought in the second half of 2022, an overview of the furniture and accessories categories they plan to buy in the first half of 2023 and an examination of their plans to buy sofas and massage chairs.
About the survey: This survey was conducted among 1,868 U.S. consumers who planned to buy one or more home furnishings products between January 2023 and June 2023. All respondents are either the primary or joint purchase decision-maker. The sample includes a mix of females and males, ages 18 to 75, and a representative mix of ages, ethnicities, household incomes and homeowners/renters. The survey was fielded Jan. 21-25, 2023. Consumer Insights Now research is led by Dana French, who has more than 20 years of experience in home furnishings and consumer research.
