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Office Furniture Market Report 2006
Key Note Publications Ltd, May 2006
Executive Summary
This report estimates that the market for office furniture in the UK (including imports and exports) was worth £908.3m in 2005 at manufacturers' selling prices (msp), an increase of 1.3% on 2004. The market fell sharply in 2002, hit by a global crisis in business confidence, and showed a further slight decline between 2002 and 2004.
In this Market Report, five sectors are considered: upholstered swivel seating, which includes task or operator chairs, executive chairs and orthopaedic chairs for the office; wooden desks, which includes all types of desking with wood or fibreboard worktops — most desks come into this sector; other wooden furniture, including mobile pedestals, display units, shelves, racking, screens, panels, cupboards, bookcases and cabinets; metal cupboards and filing cabinets, comprising traditional three-drawer and four-drawer filing cabinets and cupboards; and other metal furniture, which includes high-level shelving and storage units, screens, panels, display stands, mobile pedestals, two-drawer cabinets, desks with metal worktops, metal tables and trolleys.
Business confidence started to return in the UK in 2004 and business investment returned to growth. In 2006, occupancy of offices is rising, especially in central London. In addition, the number of workforce jobs is increasing — a factor that favours the UK office furniture market as jobs in the service industries account for 69% of the total workforce. Inevitably, this will mean greater demand for office furniture.
As the 2002 downturn in the office furniture industry affected Europe as a whole and, indeed, much of the world, there is oversupply in the industry and hence a trend towards consolidation. The competitive pressure from Europe and the entry of low-cost furniture, particularly office chairs, from China has restricted the ability of manufacturers to raise their prices. However, some price increases have been inevitable due to the large rises in costs of raw materials.
Trends in the use of technology and in working practices have affected the choice of office furniture. Flat screens and smaller computers allow smaller desks to be used, making better use of expensive office space. Furniture needs to be adaptable to allow for changes in the size of the workforce. Use of high partitions and screens has been reduced in favour of a more open office, but storage is used to create some divisions. There is increased use of centralised storage using more efficient storage systems, which can result in a 50%, or even 100%, improvement in space use.
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