Industry News & Analysis
The latest industry news and analysis—across all categories—listed in chronological order, with the most recent articles first.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Apparel retailer River Island says it hopes to transfer its signature style from the wardrobe to the home with the introduction of its first ever furniture and homeware collection.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
ScS operates its own dedicated website for House of Fraser
House of Fraser has cancelled online orders and temporarily mothballed its website but ScS — its furniture concession partner — says online sofa, furniture and carpet sales are unaffected.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Retailer West Elm has expanded its collaboration with Leesa Sleep, the direct-to-consumer mattress brand, to include all three of its UK stores.
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- OPINION & ANALYSIS |
Right at the very beginning of the current vogue for rolling, folding and boxing mattresses, one of the new direct-to-consumer market entrants had an interesting marketing strapline.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
Underlying half-year profits jump for carpets group Airea.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Lincolnshire sofa maker Lebus Upholstery outperformed the wider market on the way to a sixth straight year of top line growth in 2017.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Antony Maskrey succeeds Nick Garratt, joining Ercol next month
Heritage furniture maker Ercol has appointed Dr Martens' business transformation director Antony Maskrey to the newly-created role of chief operating officer.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Year-on-year mattress imports were positive again in June, suggesting the fall in May — a first in nearly two years — was nothing more than a blip.
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- DATA & RESEARCH |
Furniture deflation was at its shallowest since September 2016
Consumers enjoyed keener prices as furniture deflation narrowed to its shallowest level in nearly two years last month.
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- NATIONAL |
Harrods has merged the directorships of its food and home divisions and hired an experienced grocery executive to lead the expanded business unit.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Nasons will close for good in September
Nasons of Canterbury, once one of the foremost independent furniture retailers in the UK, is to close both of its stores on a permanent basis next month.
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- CASE GOODS |
Imports fell from Vietnam, China and Poland
The value of imports of key cabinet categories from all three of the UK's main trading partners — China, Vietnam and Poland — all declined in the first six months of 2018.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Cintique completes its move today (Aug. 16).
Furniture maker Cintique's move to the site of sister business Celebrity Motion Furniture won't compromise its identity, says Wayne Hollis, md of the two businesses.
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- OPINION & ANALYSIS |
Upholstery market analysis: the Far East market making UK headway.
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- REGIONAL |
Glasswells has completed another phase of its ongoing refurbishment project, opening its new smooths flooring studio at its Bury St Edmunds store.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Half-year sales inched forward for home improvement giant B&Q as sunny-weather product lines helped eliminate weak first quarter demand.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Chinese shipments fell by a fifth in June
Upholstery imports into Britain fell in the first half of this year as a result of both lower demand and delays in product being shipped from the Far East.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
East Midlands furniture distributor Birlea racked up 10 percent sales growth in 2016–17 and said it expected to make further top and bottom line gains this year.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
Belgian carpet makers supplying the British market enjoyed their best month of the year so far in June, but still only managed to fractionally beat last year's total.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Dewsbury manufacturer The Shire Bed Company has spent nearly £70,000 upgrading staff facilities as well as kitting out its employees with new uniforms.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Home sales fell 6.7 percent at John Lewis last week as the wide-ranging category trended lower than year-earlier trade for the eleventh consecutive period.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
West Midlands sofa maker Ashley Manor acquired equipment and machinery from Ultra Furniture's wood mill following its closure earlier this year.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Nelson based Buoyant hopes to run with one of Ultra's recent account wins
The chairman of Buoyant Upholstery says he hopes the Lancashire sofa maker can pick up some of the pieces left behind following the closure of Ultra Furniture, the manufacturer with whom it shared an owner in common.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Concept Living is BoConcept's largest UK store operator
Profits doubled for the biggest operator of upmarket furniture stores under the BoConcept brand last year after it enjoyed a high single-digit percentage uplift in sales.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Direct-to-consumer mattress brand Simba Sleep has appointed Allan Leighton, former CEO at Asda, as its new chairman, replacing Tom Teichman.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
A change of delivery provider has caused delays for Feather & Black
Upmarket beds and bedroom furniture retailer Feather & Black has apologised to customers after a switch to a new logistics provider caused delays fulfilling orders.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Argos is matching competitors such as direct-to-consumer brands
General merchandise giant Argos, one of the UK's largest retailers of beds, is taking the fight to upstart mattress rivals by introducing a 100-night trial across its mattress product range.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
Sales and profits climbed for the privately-owned retail and wholesale group behind the Wilsons Carpets fascia in 2017–18.
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- DATA & RESEARCH |
Furniture sales improved once England were knocked out of the World Cup
England's run to the World Cup semi-finals was good for morale, but not for consumer furniture spending as a second retail monitor found big-ticket goods sales to have been lower than this time last year.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
House of Fraser has been sold to Sports Direct International
Department store chain House of Fraser has been sold to Sports Direct International in a prepack cash deal worth £90 million that includes all 59 of its stores, its stock and its IP.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Upholstery market leader DFS has become the latest big-name retailer to sell the Emma mattress brand after it struck a distribution agreement with the direct-to-consumer business.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Tempur Sealy International, the world's biggest bed company, earlier this year formed a joint venture that saw it take a majority stake in a new premium beds retail business in Sweden.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
Half year flooring sales jumped double-digit for manufacturing giant Forbo in the six months to end June despite weaker trading in markets such as the UK.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Adjustamatic, the motion beds and chairs brand, has opened a third retail showroom amid an expanding physical presence that also takes in sales via third-party operated stores.
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- TRADE & INDUSTRY |
Furniture Makers’ Hall and the Dutch Church in Austin Friars will host the 2018 exhibition
The next generation of furniture designers and makers will showcase their talents at the 12th edition of the Young Furniture Makers exhibition, which takes place Wednesday, October 10 in London.
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- OPINION & ANALYSIS |
Fabb Sofas ceased trading in June, less than two years after it launched
Making sense of Fabb Sofas' closure is not an easy task.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Assets of high-end furniture vertical Wesley Barrell and South Coast sofa maker Billy & Slouch, launched at the NEC this year, have been pledged as collateral to the owner of the two companies.
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- OPINION & ANALYSIS |
Analysis of the UK's two leading sofa chains.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
The next edition of London Fabric will take place February 25–26, 2019, exhibition organiser BFM has confirmed.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
MA Platt, a small contract leisure and office furniture maker serving corporate clients, has been sold back to its owner in a prepack deal that provides continuity and saves jobs.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Heal's, celebrating 200 years on TCR this year, has a new national distribution centre
Design retailer Heal's has taken on a former logistics facility in the North that will become its national furniture distribution centre, serving customers across the UK.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Home furnishings importer and distributor Global Textiles (UK) has been sold as a going concern after being placed into administration last month.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
ScS, Britain's number two sofa chain, said softer trading conditions in the second half of its 2017–18 financial year wiped out almost all of the gains it had made in the first.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Sales of home goods haven't risen since May
Year-on-year home sales fell for the tenth straight week for John Lewis as the chain continued its long-running struggle to match last year's sales efforts.
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- COMMUNITY |
Industry charity The Furniture Makers' Company has launched the entry process for its seventh annual Sustainability Award, which was last year won by bed maker Silentnight.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Calligaris will look to grow its international presence following the takeover
The founding family of Italian designer furniture company Calligaris has sold a majority stake to private equity in a move that will help the business make strategic acquisitions of its own and grow bigger internationally.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Devonshire Pine & Oak has become Devonshire Living as the company — one of the UK's largest remaining cabinet makers — looks to better reflect the diversified product range it plans to offer customers.
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- DATA & RESEARCH |
Food and drink shoppers were out in force last month
July retail sales advanced thanks to higher food and drink sales as Brits enjoyed the weather and World Cup. Non-food categories wilted in the heat.
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- SUPPLY & WHOLESALE |
Profits advanced at Huddersfield furniture, lighting and homeware supplier Pacific Lifestyle last year, despite it posting lower sales.
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- FLOORCOVERINGS |
Victoria, the acquisitive flooring group, has agreed to buy Spanish flooring producer Cerámica Saloni for €96.7 million, the third major ceramic tile business it has bought in less than a year.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
The UK is one of just three international markets for Wayfair
Year-on-year international sales jumped more than £90 million for Wayfair in the second quarter as the ecommerce retailer took market share amid weak trading conditions.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
House of Fraser has agreed an undisclosed settlement with landlords who had threatened to thwart its Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), raising the chances of it successfully finding new investment.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Home and leisure goods retailer The Range is to add frozen food to its offer after forming an alliance with retail giant Iceland.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Sales grew for Alexander & James
Alexander & James and Ashley Manor were the fastest growing business units for the DM Midlands group of sofa suppliers last year, outperforming its bigger division that focuses on national retailers.
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- INTERNATIONAL |
Steinhoff's UK head office at Cheltenham
Steinhoff International Holdings, the multinational furniture and general merchandise conglomerate, is moving two key cogs in its global corporate structure to the UK.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
QFC's Alma Park Road factory in Grantham, Lincolnshire
QFC, Britain's third largest wholly privately-owned sofa maker, faces an uncertain future after a series of factors combined to leave directors no choice other than to put the company into administration.
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- RETAIL & DISTRIBUTION |
Oak Furniture Land introduced SofaStore late 2014
JB Global, owner of Oak Furniture Land, has retired its SofaStore ecommerce website, instead incorporating its upholstery ranges into its main offer.
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- UPHOLSTERY |
Subject to the outcome of a consultation, Celebrity will become the new home of Cintique
JDP Furniture Group is planning to move production of Cintique, its heritage show-wood upholstery brand, to sister company Celebrity in nearby Huthwaite.
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- BEDS & MATTRESSES |
Leeds beds business Otty Sleep has agreed a debt funding package with FW Capital Debt Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
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- TRADE & INDUSTRY |
BFM says it can support UK companies planning to show in Cologne next year after it was appointed delivery partner for funding from the Department for International Trade.
