From the lows of the post-referendum consumer confidence shock to the highs of a post-pandemic ‘Freedom Day’, Furniture News puts today’s issues in perspective, looking back at what happened in the industry five and 10 years ago today …
Five years ago (July 2021)
In the news, BRC-KPMG reported UK retail’s best quarter on record, the economy having gradually unlocked to release pent-up demand. Springboard predicted retail footfall growth of 19.7% following ‘Freedom Day’ (19th July), with face coverings and social distancing no longer mandatory in England.
Consumer confidence was up, GfK’s Major Purchase Index reflecting shoppers’ readiness to buy big-ticket items, and new research by Barclays pointed to a high street resurgence, with retailers eyeing 17,000 store openings in the coming 12 months as British shoppers adapted to a post-lockdown world by “looking local”. Conversely, online retail sales growth continued to fall to record-breaking lows, reported IMRG.
Expanding retailers included JYSK (in Stockport) and Feather & Black’s first physical presence (in Dreams’ Hedge End store). Dunelm delivered homewares sales growth ahead of the market and expectations, and Next repaid £29m in business rates relief as sales soared.
Conversely, IKEA pulled the plug on its proposed store in Lancing, West Sussex, due to the acceleration in online shopping seen during the pandemic.
The BFM predicted a recovery in global supply capacity, yet added that it expected challenges to meet rising demand “including supply disruption and labour shortages exacerbated by the ‘pingdemic’” to continue in the near-term.
Businesses taking greener directions included GNG Group, which introduced its first carbon-neutral mattress, and Sofology, which launched Loop, a sustainable upholstery rental service. A further sustainable development was the decision by the shareholders of Lebus Upholstery and Lebus Furniture to sell the business to their employees, creating an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT), ensuring “continuity and integrity”.
In the magazine, we asked various fulfilment businesses how they had overcome the challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit, profiled Mlily and Forte, and previewed (Harrogate’s) Manchester Furniture Show. We also looked at how the trade had approached marketing during the pandemic, and celebrated our 35th year in business with an overview of the magazine’s history and some views from the trade.
Ten years ago (July 2016)
In the news, GfK reported that, following the previous month’s referendum, July saw the sharpest MoM drop in consumer confidence for more than 26 years, the CBI adding that retail sales fell at their fastest pace in over four years.
The Retail Think Tank acknowledged that the general trend in recent months was already downwards, “and therefore, while Brexit was not the cause of this slowdown, it could aggravate the existing issues that retailers are facing”. Indeed, June had seen retail footfall’s sharpest decline since February 2014, noted Springboard, and, on a three-month basis to June, furniture recorded its lowest average sales growth since February 2015, said BRC-KPMG.
In national retail, with its purchase of Argos imminent, Sainsbury's revealed plans to open a 185,000ft2online fulfilment centre in Bromley-by-Bow, London, and John Lewis set a September opening date for its new 90,000ft2 shop in Chelmsford, while announcing its ambition to grow its own-brand Home business to £1b of annual revenue by 2020.
French vertical Gautier celebrated the opening of its new Chelsea store, Made.com opened a futuristic showroom in Paris, and rumours circulated that Sun European Partners planned to sell Dreams for £400m.
Further up the supply chain, Manchester-based furniture supplier Mountrose entered administration, PE firm NorthEdge Capital backed the management buyout of Belfield Furnishings (then owner of Westbridge Furniture Designs), and Airsprung Group sold Collins and Hayes Furniture to Wessex Bristol.
Steinhoff International – the owner of bed brands Slumberland, Dunlopillo, Myer's and Staples, and retailers Bensons and Harveys – invested £2.2m in a new UK distribution fleet, announced plans to purchase a 50% equity share in Cofel (the French subsidiary of European bedding leader Grupo Pikolin), and acquired Poundland for £597m.
This month also saw the closure of training support body Proskills UK.
In the magazine, we offered a detailed look at the Manchester Furniture Show, interviews with principals at Corndell and Cookes Furniture, a study of the positives and pitfalls of furniture photography, and a round-up of the key exhibitions landing in H2.
For more retrospectives, see recent issues of Furniture News.
