In-depth analysis of the solid wood furniture market: potential, business opportunities and future trends

In recent years, Chinese economy has risen rapidly, health and quality have become a consensus, and the lifestyle of Chinese people has undergone tremendous changes. With the return of traditional culture and the deepening of the concept of green quality life, "solid wood" is redefining a better life with an unprecedented attitude.

The market is full of vitality and has sufficient development potential

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, since 2018, the output of wooden furniture has fallen to its lowest value, and has since shown an increasing trend. In 2021, the output of Chinese wooden furniture reached 380.0812 million pieces, an increase of 58.4485 million pieces from 2020. In 2022, the output of China's wooden furniture industry was about 412.032 million pieces.

As Chinese consumers have higher and higher requirements for their home environment, the market prospects for solid wood furniture are broader. Seventy percent of the respondents expressed their liking for solid wood furniture, 25.69% felt average, and only 5.36% clearly disliked it. This is related to the Chinese people's deep complex about solid wood. Even if they don't like it, it's hard to call it disgusting.

It is worth mentioning that 90.76% of people have bought solid wood furniture, which is far more than the proportion of people who like solid wood furniture. This may explain that solid wood furniture has some reasons for people to buy, such as health, environmental protection, nature... Even people who feel average about it can hardly resist it.

Regarding whether they will buy solid wood furniture in the future, 63.96% of people expressed a clear willingness to buy. Overall, consumers have a strong willingness to consume solid wood furniture and are more confident in consumption.

This is enough to show that China's solid wood furniture market is full of vitality and has great potential. In the context of 2024 being designated as the "Year of Consumption Promotion", solid wood furniture is expected to become a new consumption growth point in the home furnishing industry.

New groups lead new demands

With the changes in the structure of the main consumer groups, new consumer groups for solid wood furniture have begun to emerge.

From the perspective of age, in the past, when it came to solid wood furniture consumption, many people would think that it was mainly people born in the 70s and 80s. In fact, in addition to the 80s, the 90s and 00s have also become the emerging forces of solid wood furniture.

Different consumer age groups have different consumption concepts and preferences for solid wood furniture:

After experiencing social trials and years of precipitation, the post-80s generation will pay more attention to the quality of life and the choice of materials;

The post-90s generation is the main force in the digital age. They are more willing to accept and try new things, and they are more inclined to products with a sense of design and diversified functions;

The post-00s generation has superior material living conditions, has experienced a strong aesthetic influence, and also pays attention to spiritual resonance, so they will require solid wood furniture to achieve integration from art to life.

From the perspective of city level, the demand for solid wood furniture in new first-tier cities is much higher than that in other cities, followed by second-tier and third-tier cities. This actually shows that the more consumers in the top cities, the more they pursue high-quality life and return to nature.

From the perspective of family structure, families with children have a more prominent demand for solid wood furniture, and they are more concerned about the impact of the family environment on the physical and mental health of children.

The diversified demands generated by the new consumer group of solid wood furniture are actually one of the characteristics of the prosperity of solid wood furniture. Only by better grasping the new consumption trends and new trends can solid wood furniture brands better stimulate consumption vitality.

Only by expanding the category cognition can consumption pull be increased

China has strict standards for the classification of solid wood furniture. According to the different craftsmanship and materials, it is mainly divided into three types: "full solid wood furniture", "solid wood furniture" and "solid wood veneer furniture".

However, consumers cannot distinguish the difference between "full solid wood furniture" and "solid wood furniture" very well. They think that veneered solid wood and board materials also belong to the category of "full solid wood furniture", accounting for 64.14% and 51.02% respectively, reaching more than half.

Consumers' cognition will greatly affect their perception and evaluation of products, thereby affecting their purchasing decisions. At present, there are many bad manufacturers on the market who take advantage of consumers' vague understanding of solid wood furniture and deliberately confuse the concept, so that many consumers spend a lot of money to buy the so-called pseudo "pure solid wood" furniture, which is not conducive to the future sustainable development of solid wood furniture.

Brand education and cultivation are key measures to enhance consumers' cognition of categories. Only by changing consumers' cognition can their consumption behavior be influenced and strong consumption pull be created.

Rationality and quality upgrade coexist

Well-known experts compare the current era of "cost-efficiency" consumption, which is directly reflected in the consumption decision of solid wood furniture.

When consumers choose solid wood furniture, quality (49.91%), practicality (38.63%), price (36.78%), health and environmental protection (31.61%) are ranked in the top four, followed by value preservation (28.47%), appearance design (22.55%), service life (23.84%), and brand reputation (14.6%).

This reflects the trend of consumers' home consumption strategies and behaviors becoming more complex and differentiated, and also shows that consumers are becoming more rational and more pursuing product quality, which will not only give birth to richer and more diverse service models, but also It will make domestic brands more popular with consumers.

The application scenarios of solid wood furniture have changed.

Solid wood furniture is suitable for various home spaces, including living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, etc. In the past, when people used solid wood furniture, they not only used it as the main type of furniture, such as sofas, beds, dining tables and chairs, but also used it to make auxiliary furniture such as storage cabinets, bookshelves and TV cabinets.

However, at present, the application scenarios of solid wood furniture have undergone important changes: study (74.86%), living room (48.43%), children's room (47.69%), and bedroom (38.82%) have become the four ideal use areas.

This reflects that the functional settings in traditional home spaces are gradually being weakened, which not only reflects the changes and development of the times, but also This indicates that the design of solid wood home furnishings needs to become more "multi-form" and "multi-functional" in order to meet the diversified lifestyles of modern people.

For example, today's study room has long gone beyond the scope of simply reading books, but is intertwined with various forms and functions such as drinking tea, working, playing the piano, exercising, and playing games;

The standard configuration of traditional living rooms - TVs, sofas, and coffee tables are gradually being replaced by new elements such as projectors, coffee tables, and carpets;

In addition to functions such as sleeping and learning, children's rooms also need to consider storage, decoration, and social entertainment;

Multifunctional integration has become the main trend of modern bedrooms. Sleeping, leisure, relaxation, dressing, and other functions complement each other. Therefore, contemporary consumers pay more attention to the health, environmental protection, comfort, and healing of bedrooms... This is also reflected in the data. The bedroom has opened up a fault advantage with a proportion of 38.82%. .

In summary, solid wood furniture needs to continuously innovate design in terms of comfort, convenience, space utilization, personalization and sustainable development, and lead the revolution of modern family lifestyle.

The Internet catalyzes the new pattern of solid wood furniture

Under the wave of Internet +, many new brands rely on category innovation and product innovation to break through online channels and quickly become the new force in the consumer market.

Consumers have the deepest understanding of traditional home furnishing brands, and have a deeper understanding of home furnishing brands that started with e-commerce. This also reflects that the brand building of the home furnishing industry has achieved relatively significant results.

It is worth noting that some new consumer brands that have emerged in online channels have already left a value anchor in the minds of users. This first highlights the significant changes in the current Chinese solid wood furniture brand pattern.

Secondly, it also shows that some traffic brands have begun to become mainstream brands through brand building, and have achieved explosive influence by moving from online to offline, so that they can establish such a deep cognition in the minds of consumers.

How can the solid wood furniture industry break through the development?

Looking at the development of the solid wood furniture industry in recent years: the iterative evolution of traditional consumption patterns, changes in consumption have forced market innovation, and vertical segmentation has become an important trend... The breakthrough of the new track is intertwined with the innovation of the old track. How can the solid wood furniture industry "break through" in the context of increasing involution? The core is to create "multi-dimensional competitiveness".

In the process of decades of rapid development, the home furnishing industry has successively experienced the era of barbaric growth of "channels are king" and the era of mobile Internet of "traffic is king". Now it has entered a new era of "users are king, service is king, and word of mouth is king". In this context, consumers' demands for solid wood furniture not only focus on quality, design, and experience, but also on service...

Customization may become a new engine for the development of solid wood home furnishings

With the rise of the new generation of consumer groups, new consumption habits have been spawned, which has directly triggered the iteration of market forms, and the home furnishing industry has therefore entered a new era of customization.

At a time when "customization" has become the mainstream trend of home decoration, how should the solid wood furniture industry explore a new model of solid wood customization that is more suitable for its own development?

One-stop solution and convenience are the main reasons for consumers to choose solid wood customized home furnishings, accounting for as high as 66.24%; followed by the ability to meet personalized needs (57.56%) and beautiful design (30.23%).

This shows that for solid wood furniture companies, they should meet consumers' one-stop, personalized, and high-value needs with a wider product matrix and actively embrace the changes of the times.

At the same time, when considering solid wood customization services, the respondents are most worried about the product quality not meeting expectations (76.34%) and the product not meeting the actual object (73.75%). This has sounded the alarm for solid wood furniture companies that want to or have already started "customization". Only by focusing on products, brands, and services and improving comprehensive capabilities in all aspects can long-term sustainable development be ensured.

A new wave of solid wood furniture consumption has emerged

Driven by the new consumption concept, the solid wood furniture industry has also ushered in a new wave of consumption changes. In the future, where will this wave surge? 31.42% of consumers expect more possibilities of "solid wood + intelligence", 27.91% hope that the cost performance of solid wood furniture can be further upgraded; 24.95% believe that the appearance and practicality of solid wood furniture still have room for continuous improvement; 15.71% look forward to the emergence of more personalized solid wood customized products.

Four major trends can be summarized in this regard:

1. Intelligent demand has become a must-answer question for solid wood furniture companies;

2. "High cost performance" is still the main grasping force to open up solid wood furniture consumption;

3. Appearance and practicality are the two major home rigid needs of consumers, and awards have become the key to a new round of growth for solid wood furniture brands;

4. Solid wood personalization is still a blue ocean with broad opportunities.

Conclusion

Under the intensified competition and fierce turbulent international situation and economic environment, solid wood furniture companies need to adapt to changes faster, constantly innovate themselves, and open up new situations in changes. On the premise of consolidating the scale foundation, formulate reasonable pricing strategies, strengthen channel management, strengthen brand marketing, and deepen the brand value concept, so as to drive value enhancement and industrial upgrading, and further lead the productivity and competitiveness of solid wood new quality.