The United States is now the largest single e-commerce marketplace in value, China follows, while Europe as a whole is ranking third. However, the penetration rate of e-commerce on furniture consumption is higher in North America (15%), followed by Asia-Pacific (11%) and Europe (10%).

While global consumption of furniture decreased on average by 3% in 2022/2019, e-commerce consumption increased by +18% as a yearly average for the same years. A booming performance of online sales has been registered in 2020 and 2021, while in 2022 the trend has been substantially flat.

E-tailers including global e-commerce platforms (like Amazon), large regional marketplace (like TMall), and specialist furniture web stores (like Wayfair, Home24, or Dunelm) represent more than half of the market in 2022. Specialist furniture dealers/distributors operating through both physical stores and e-commerce, also called ‘brick & click’, represent a fast-growing category. Non-Specialist/Lifestyle/DIY chains are large multichannel dealers selling furniture, homewares, accessories, home improvement products, and lighting fixtures. When looking at single product categories, a higher incidence has been registered for the upholstered furniture segment. Fast-growing category are the outdoor furniture and office furniture (especially office chairs). Among the fast-growing product categories, there are tables, home office desks, chairs, and beds.

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Courtesy of CSIL Centre for Industrial Studies – Milan, Italy