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Research Outline

Prepared for kelly k. | Delivered August 5, 2020

Online Shopping for Home Decor

Goals

Support research for a venture by analyzing whether people are shopping more for home decor online, how COVID has impacted that behavior, who is buying home decor online, what is the average online order spend in this category, and what the projection for growth in this category is.

Early Findings

  • The global home decor market was worth $616.6b in 2019. It's also expected to continue growing with a healthy CAGR of 3.9%, meaning it will hit $838.6b by 2027.
  • In the US, the furniture and home furnishings market is worth around $130b and is highly fragmented.
  • Online methods exerted an influence on these purchases, with 29% of customers saying that social media was their main source of inspiration in 2018.
  • The online home furnishings market in the US is still sizable. While one estimate put it at $9b in one projection, two others put it around $42.29b to $50.32b as early as 2018. Tt is forecast to increase to $54.23b by 2024.
  • Online growth is also rapidly increasing- the CAGR is 15%, vs. total industry at 5%.
  • The market is still dominated by big offline players like Williams-Sonoma, Walmart, Crate and Barrel, and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., but as there are over 30,000 estimated merchants, there is still a lot of space for smaller players.
  • A little more than half of the retail sales of Williams-Sonoma come from ecommerce.
  • Wayfair, which only sells digitally, was ranked 10th in US retail ecommerce sales with $4.23b.
  • Wayfair's average order value is $235. Their target consumer is a 45- to 55-year-old woman, which is reflected in their marketing where they tapped Kelly Clarkson- an influencer that this demographic might find relatable.
  • Furniture, home decor and furnishings like this fall under "considered purchases"- items or categories that typically are research-intensive, because they are expensive or have significant consequences to purchase. They have a longer purchasing cycle and are not often done impulsively. Shoppers looking for these purchases usually plan, research, and compare options first before committing to purchase.
  • Generally speaking, COVID-19 has driven demand for online home furnishings, as consumers look to refit their home for multiple uses (including working from home) and to make a space that they now spend a lot more time in, more appealing. For example, online browsing for home decor grew by 205% in March 2020 as quarantine orders set in.