The US furniture industry is at a critical turning point, facing numerous challenges in the past decade, including the economic crisis, overseas business in domestic manufacturing, and shrinking demand. The development of furniture trends is slow and not optimistic, as predicted by economists and industry insiders.


 
Latest news from Furniture Mystery Network: Anderson Bauman Tourtellot Vos, a US corporate transformation consulting firm, recently released a new furniture industry observation report, which presents a snapshot of the US furniture manufacturing industry, including the perspective of retailers in the Middle East market on the current development of the industry, highlighting the challenges faced by the industry, and analyzing its possible reactions to challenges.
 
The report shows that the US furniture industry is at a critical turning point, and we cannot predict whether it has the ability to quickly respond to sudden changes. Changes in consumer purchasing preferences, shortages of skilled workers, rising labor costs, and issues with technology integration will all lead to the inability of the US furniture industry to recover quickly after overcoming the economic crisis.
 
The report points out that the challenge facing the industry is to achieve effective communication with consumers and workers of different age groups, in order to meet market demand and launch different products to meet various types of consumers, fill talent gaps, and maintain competitiveness.
 
The trend is changing
 
The development of the US furniture industry has made significant progress in the past few years. After a 13% decrease in sales in 2009, new furniture orders from US furniture factories have increased by at least 4% annually. As of 2013, orders have increased by 23% compared to 2009 and 7% compared to 2008. This slow and stable growth has continued until 2014 and is expected to continue in the coming years.
 
Rethinking of Offshore Outsourcing
 
Many American manufacturers are reflecting on why their offshore outsourcing (building factories overseas to outsource) has gradually lost its cost advantage in the process of global product procurement. According to a survey conducted by Boston Consulting Group in the first half of 2014, the weakening of cost advantages for some foreign manufacturers is due to wage increases, lagging productivity growth, unfavorable monetary value, and rising energy costs.
 
Furniture manufacturers should carefully analyze cost issues together with their overseas manufacturing departments. It is estimated that manufacturers may overestimate the cost advantage of offshore outsourcing by at least 30%.
 
Of course, in reality, onshore outsourcing (outsourcing manufacturing to domestic manufacturers) is not a panacea. Many foreign manufacturers still control their production costs within a relatively low range, and their product quality is gradually improving.
 
The transformation of manufacturing industry
 
Like all manufacturing industries, the furniture manufacturing industry is also facing a shortage of skilled labor. The aging workforce is causing skilled workers to disappear almost completely, especially in the interior decoration and tailoring industries. Fewer and fewer young people are willing to engage in these jobs.
 
The problem is that the furniture industry is undergoing transformation, but its inherent impression in people's minds has not changed. Many people still associate furniture manufacturing with layoffs, believing it to be untrained physical labor, working in darkness and dust. The reality is that the furniture industry, like other manufacturing industries, introduces advanced technology into its processes, replacing traditional manual processes, using complex machines to operate in a clean environment.
 
The challenge facing the furniture industry today is how to attract and retain high-quality labor, especially young workers, as well as subvert negative perceptions of the industry. The answer may be that this question goes beyond the real environment of the furniture manufacturing industry - the transformation of the manufacturing industry depends on the transformation of the overall image.
 
The recovery of the real estate market
 
With the recovery of the real estate market, the furniture industry has also rebounded. The housing construction rate increased in 2014, and the sales of existing houses also increased. The sales of houses that were once difficult to sell have now stabilized. Correspondingly, new furniture orders have significantly increased in both order quantity and shipment volume compared to last year. Many industry experts predict that the furniture industry's slow and stable growth will continue until the end of 2014, confirming that the consumer confidence index remains high.
 
According to ABTV's Jim Smith economic forecast, it is necessary to strengthen attention to the real estate market and accelerate the pace to ensure the ultimate improvement of the US economy. He pointed out that although the real estate market did not make much contribution to the gross domestic product in 2014, it will have a significant impact in the next three to five years, which is good news for the furniture industry.
 
Social change drives industry development
 
In the past decade, many factors have directly or indirectly affected the furniture industry, including technological changes, the rise of social media, and changes in population structure.
 
Demand determines allocation
 
The changing furniture retail landscape of the Internet, especially targeting young consumers, requires us to open up new distribution channels. Many retailers, especially those in the daily necessities category, have entered the rapidly growing e-commerce market, allowing customers to purchase furniture directly from their websites. More and more consumers are willing to purchase furniture online, and they easily accept this new distribution channel. E-commerce is a popular trend in the future development of the furniture industry.
 
Looking ahead to the future
 
The furniture industry is in the process of transformation, and the talent gap is a major obstacle. We must find ways to overcome it. Moreover, the industry must have the courage to innovate in order to recover. It is now necessary to make bold decisions to correct the development direction of the furniture industry, improve its profitability, competitiveness, and market share.