The best year for the local furniture market was 2008, when furniture retail saw sales of more than EUR1.3 billion.
“We hope consumer spending will increase this year, but our estimates point to no more than 10% rise on the previous year. A lot of things stimulated consumer spending last year, such as the VAT cut but we won’t see such boosts this year,” said Aurica Sereny, chairperson of the Romanian Furniture Manufacturers Association (APMR).
“There are still a lot of residential and office buildings under construction and this helps the furniture market grow. Moreover, the salaries of the public sector employees will go up; it remains to be seen how private sector companies can sustain raises, too.”
If furniture retail sees growth of 10% this year, the market will reach EUR1 billion. However, it will not match the EUR1.3 billion of 2008, the best year for the local furniture consumption, Aurica Sereny added.
Local furniture retail is a playground for both manufacturers who have their own retail chains such as Lemet (Lem’s), Rus Savitar (Casa Rusu) and Mobexpert and for those that import furniture from other markets, such as Kika and JYSK. The rise in furniture consumption also helped the development of local furniture and décor stores. Furniture retail is fragmented, with major networks with dozens of stores and small neighborhood stores that carry a low range of items. Therefore there are no details about the exact number of furniture stores in Romania.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)