FURNITURE ACCESSORIES MARKET: AN EXPLORATORY APPROACH AT EUROPEAN MARKET LEVEL

Beatrice Petrache

doi:10.29358/sceco.v0i0.434

Abstract

In this article, we aim to identify the views and attitudes of major furniture manufacturers in the European Union on the current situation and trends of the European furniture market and furniture accessories. If for the furniture market has been made more studies and research along the way, for the furniture accessories market this is the first qualitative research to be carried out both at national and European level, a initiative caused by the fact that we have not identified other secondary sources with the exception of data taken from a representative producer, which supplies over 80% of furniture accessories to major furniture manufacturers in Europe. National and European statistics do not highlight the market for furniture accessories, although in our opinion it is of great importance for the reference industry. In this context, a qualitative research has been carried out whose main objective is to identify the role accessories have in the ergonomics and design of furniture of all categories, regardless of their destination (house, office, hotel, restaurant etc.). The specific objectives of qualitative research are: to identify the opinions and attitudes of the managers of the major furniture manufacturers on the importance of furniture and furniture accessories at the industry level; identifying the views and attitudes of the furniture managers in the furniture industry on the specific market trends in terms of the dynamics of consumer preferences on this market.

Highlights

The European furniture and accessories industry is of particular importance in international trade, providing over one quarter of the world's need in the field and over one million jobs at the 130,000 profile companies
The importance of our research on this market is first demonstrated by the fact that a quarter of the world furniture production comes from the European Union, this industry is quite fragmented in Europe
From the analysis of the statistical data, we find that the share of EU production in the world furniture market is decreasing over the period 2005-2017

Summary

Introduction

The European furniture and accessories industry is of particular importance in international trade, providing over one quarter of the world's need in the field and over one million jobs at the 130,000 profile companies. In 2015, the European production of the sector amounted to approximately EUR 92 billion, the added value being almost EUR 30 billion, and in the context of the growth of the housing parks, for 2018 it was expected that the furniture would hold between 1.5 and 2% of the purchasing power of households. The importance of our research on this market is first demonstrated by the fact that a quarter of the world furniture production comes from the European Union, this industry is quite fragmented in Europe. If major world furniture manufacturers are located in several European countries, the main European furniture accessories manufacturer is in Romania (Simausrom) and supplies more than 80% of the accessories needed by major European manufacturers of furniture These are the main reasons why I chose the Furniture Market as the research theme in the European Union.

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