Furniture category analysis

Q1 Furniture sales online hit $12.1 billion

Grips reports that mobile and desktop e-commerce sales of Furniture in the US, UK and Germany during Q1 2023 surpassed $12.1 billion from over 20 million distinct transactions or purchase events. The US accounted for more than three quarters of both revenue and purchases.

The average price of a piece of furniture sold online in the United States was the highest of the three countries covered in this report with each item averaging $378. In the UK, consumers spent $312 on a piece of furniture online and in Germany, the price was a virtual bargain at just $286.

These findings come from Grips’ Competitive Intelligence platform, which reveals key e-commerce metrics, including purchases, units sold, revenue, top sites and more for thousands of unique product categories across tens of thousands of retailers. The findings in this report represent sales of over six million tracked Furniture items sold across more than a thousand domains.

German revenues and prices are the most stable

Between August 2022 and May 2023, revenues from e-commerce Furniture sales peaked in the US and Germany in December but in the UK November and December had nearly equal sales elongating the holiday peak. Germans maintained more stable spending month-to-month than the US or UK where spending had bigger swings due primarily to a sharper jump in sales around the holiday period before revenues dropped almost as fast before returning to levels nearly on par with sales before the end of the year.

Furniture prices in the US were highest in August and have generally fallen about five percent since. In the UK, prices spiked in December before dropping even more sharply to the point that January prices were 12 percent lower than the peak observed just the month prior. German furniture prices were the most stable across the ten month period with prices fluctuating no more than five percent from the peak.

Shoes are the industry’s top-selling subcategory

According to Grips, Beds & Accessories account for the largest share of e-commerce revenue for Furniture products in the US and Germany, accounting for roughly a sixth of all furniture revenue in both countries. The average price of an item in this category (which includes both Bed Frames as well as Mattresses) was $476 in the US but just $403 in Germany.

Cabinets & Storage items accounted for a similar share of revenue in Germany but a slightly lower share in the US. In both countries, however, there was fewer than a two percentage point difference in market share among the top three sub-categories. Like with Beds & Accessories, Cabinets & Storage items were priced lower in Germany than in the US. This was also the case with Chairs and Tables. Sofas, were slightly more expensive in Germany than in the US making it the only category where German consumers paid a higher price.

Chairs accounted for a similar share of revenue in the US as Beds & Bedding, but in Germany, Chairs claimed just nine percent of the category revenue. Skip ahead to page 8 if you want to learn more about the fascinating differences in spending on Chairs across countries.

Obviously, there are seasonal changes in spending throughout the year and this is just a snapshot of Q1 2023. Understanding seasonal differences across regions in sales like these will help brands better plan promotions and assortment.

Amazon is a top Furniture retailer

Looking at the market share of online Furniture sales, Grips reports that Amazon is either the top or second highest ranking retailer in the US and Germany with no less than 12 percent of online Furniture revenue in both countries.

Ikea ranks number one in Germany with 13 percent of sales, but the assemble-it-yourself global retailer ranks only seventh in the United States with roughly two percent of revenue indicating the opportunity for Ikea to expand market share in the US.

That may be a difficult task, however, given Wayfair’s solid second place rank in the US accounting for 11 percent of Furniture revenue during Q1 2023. Aside from Ikea, all of the top US retailers are US-based.

German retailers account for a smaller share of top sites in Germany which counts Ikea, Amazon, eBay and Etsy among the top 10 Furniture sites. In fact, German-based retailers in the top 10 account for just 31 percent of all Furniture sales in Germany while international brands account for 34 percent. Otto.de is the top local brand accounting for 9 percent of revenue followed by Home24.de with 7 percent of revenue.

Mattress Firm narrowly beats Amazon in Mattress sales

Mattresses sales account for 7 percent of all online furniture sales in the US today thanks in part to the explosion of bed-in-a-box products and an influx of companies racing to get into the business. Grips data shows that MattressFirm.com sold nearly $60 million in Mattresses in the United States during the first quarter of the year followed closely by Amazon.com. Both of the top ranking retailers have an average Mattress selling price below $400, but both sold more than 150,000 units.

Macy’s, Saatva and Purple each sold fewer than 30,000 units but at an average price of at least $1,300 highlighting the difference between the volume play sites like Mattress Firm and Amazon and higher end competitors.

Looking at the top 50 Mattress retailers, Grips found that 30 percent had an average price of $500 or less, but these sites generated 35 percent of the revenue. Meanwhile, sites with an average Mattress price of $2,000 or more represented 12 percent of sites and a slightly higher share of revenue (13 percent). Under represented in the revenue category were sites with average Mattress prices between $500 and $1,999. These sites represented 58 percent of the top domains, but only 52 percent of revenue suggesting better opportunities exist at the higher and lower price bands.

Local retailers play a bigger role in Sofa sales

Focusing on the higher priced Sofa subcategory, Amazon is still in the top five, but its dominance has waned considerably. Instead, Wayfair.com leapt to the front accounting for nearly a quarter of all US e-commerce Sofa sales in Q1 followed by Ashley Furniture and West Elm—two brands that didn’t break into the top five for Furniture sales overall.

Amazon’s market share suffered due to its lower than average Sofa prices and inability to make up for it with volume like they did with mattresses. In fact, a sofa purchased from Amazon costs about a third of the average sofa listed online. Walmart, too, had an average price well below average, but it was still 40 percent higher than Amazon. Meanwhile, West Elm posted an average sofa price of $2,800 (more than double the average sofa and six times that of a sofa sold on Amazon).

Arhaus took the prize for the most expensive sofa selection with an average price of $5,500. Those higher prices helped boost Arhaus into the top 10 with just over two percent market share. According to Grips, Sofas account for the greatest share of revenue on Arhaus.com followed by Kitchen & Dining Room Chairs and Kitchen & Dining Room Tables. Arhaus’ higher prices are a bit of a drag on the site’s conversion rate with just 1.2 percent of visits to the site resulting in a purchase during Q1 2023. By comparison, Wayfair.com had a conversion rate of 2.4 percent.

Chair preference sheds light on cultural differences

Grips data on Chair sales tells us a lot about the cultural differences across countries. For example, the revenue-generating Chair subcategory in the United Kingdom during Q1 was Kitchen & Dining Room Chairs which accounted for a quarter of e-commerce Chair revenue. In the US on the other hand, Office Chairs took the top seat with 29 percent of sales. Meanwhile, Germans put the most money into Gaming Chairs which accounted for 26 percent of their category spend.

In Germany, Table & Bar Stools also enjoyed a disproportionately elevated market share with Germans allocating 21 percent of their spending on Chairs to this subcategory compared with the US and UK which spent just 17 percent on Table & Bar Stools.

The generally higher prices of Desk Chairs and Gaming Chairs contributed to higher overall spending in the Chair category in the US and in Germany versus the United Kingdom where the average chair price was the lowest and Chairs accounted for a relatively lower share of Furniture sales.