Sucu anticipates stabilization of the furniture market after many years of decline.
“Sales of furniture are tightly connected to the overall progression of the economy. When economy and people’s incomes shrink, the furniture market is among the first to slide into recession. It is also among the last to bounce back,” Sucu told ZF. “Our estimates point to market stabilization this year at best.”
Sucu started Mobexpert in 1993. The network currently comprises 32 stores and furniture plants. Revenue stood at EUR110 million in 2010, which means a growth of 3% took it to some EUR113 million in 2011.
After seeing sales go down in 2009 and 2010, Mobexpert returned to growth in 2011, but is far from the turnover of EUR169 million recorded in 2008.
Whereas he found an avenue for growth in garden furniture and small decorations in 2011, this year the businessman is betting on something else.
“My personal bet for 2012 goes to the sofa collection and to home decor and textile item segment. They account for a significant percentage of sales together,” he said. (i.e. textile items include bedding, bath towels and robes and the like).
The entrepreneur expects the sofa segment and home decor segments to post growth of 10% and 20% and plans to invest quite a lot in the sofa collection.
The increase in the revenue generated by these two product categories in the business of Mobexpert, a company positioned on the medium-price segment comes at a time of slow sales rebound on this market, Sucu believes.
The businessman thinks that even though the middle class customers suffered as a result of the economic crisis, the need to buy things is still there, and people are just postponing the purchase. “We are getting close to that time when the decision to buy certain product categories, such as sofas, can no longer be postponed,” Sucu said.
The businessman along with his management team devised two budget versions this year, i.e. one built around growth of 12% and a conservative version, which projects growth at 2% to 3%.
Whereas signals from Romania are positive, the ‘dark clouds’ are coming from Western Europe. Exports in Mobexpert’s case stand at 18% of its sales. The end of last year caused major markets in Western Europe, France and Germany, to be apprehensive, the businessman says. “The beginning of 2012 made it worse. The decline of these markets will make an impact on Romania, and I mean export and decline in orders to local plants here.”
News from Asia are better, though, as the Asian furniture makers are seeing rising demand on their home markets, leaving their space in Europe free for rivals to take over.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)