Furniture for the Masses

Abstract

ONE of the first things I was told on joining a small firm of retail furnishers was that the wage earners have far more to spend in aggregate than the middle classes. There is nothing startling in this but what really impressed me as the months went by was the discovery that I had not grasped its implications. I had not been aware of the influences which go to determine working-class demand. I had begun by assuming that what influenced me, because I was hardup, would be likely to influence the working-class customer. A few months later I realized after all, that I knew very little about the spending habits of the working-class consumer. Discussion of the behaviour of the consumer in economic analysis tends to be far too general and I had failed to distinguish between the theory of consumer behaviour and the reality of established practice in a single, narrow consumer sector. Furniture manufacture is highly competitive, due, in the main, to the existence of a host of small firms selling to a local market, alongside a number of large firms (including the largest of its kind in Europe) selling nationally. Wholesaling has been virtually eliminated, so that manufacturers sell direct to the retail outlets through their own representatives. Resale price maintenance applies to a smaller extent than in other industries largely because of the strength of competition from small manufacturers. In nearly every instance there are several similar products on the market at any one time, so that a retailer can generally switch from one manufacturer to another in order to secure competitive advantage. Similarly, in retailing there are a large number of units in competition. The I950 Census of Distribution revealed that there was, on average, one furniture retailer for each 7800 persons. This means that the recognized shopping centre contains a sufficient number of furniture shops to give the consumer a choice of supplier. To that extent the consumer is fortunate. But in all other respects there is little to guard him or help him. My own firm operated shops in working-class areas in London. Also it operated a shop catering for middle-class as well as workingclass customers in a university city. This provided a useful basis of comparison. Hire purchase was financed in part by the Company, and part by a finance house. The Company's finance was assisted by manufacturer's credit (often extended for 3 months and in exceptional