A survey of National Bed Federation (NBF) and British Furniture Manufacturers (BFM) members in July 20201 revealed the potentially devastating impact of COVID 19 on the sector. With British furniture factories closed for several months, manufacturers expect their sales to be down by an average of 25-30% this year. Around half also believe they may be forced to make redundancies of between 10 and 50% of their workforce or go on to short time working in the autumn.

What’s more, UK furniture manufacturing has dramatically declined over the past 50 years, mostly because of cheaper labour in other countries. Around 50% of the furniture bought in the UK is imported. “Our cabinet making industry has virtually died out and we import nearly as much upholstery as we make,” said BFC chairman Jonathan Hindle. “Only in mattresses do we have a relatively healthy home market but even that’s crept up from just 2% of imported sales 30 years ago to the current 22%. It’s a sad fact, too, that not all factories overseas always meet the UK’s requirements for a minimum living wage, safe working conditions and product compliance standards.”

A snap poll of consumers2 supports the BFC’s belief that Britons will back British when they become aware of what’s at stake. It revealed:

• More than three-quarters (78%) of those questioned said their buying decision would be influenced if they knew buying British would help safeguard 93,000 jobs in the country.
• The effect of COVID 19 on the economy has had a significant impact on buying decisions. More than a third (34%) said that they’d be more inclined to support buying British furniture than they were six months ago (before COVID).
• Half those questioned (50%) had bought furniture in past 12 months – but nearly a quarter (24%) didn’t know where it was made.

“Buying British is critical to the future of our industry which is why we are launching this campaign,” said Mr Hindle. “We need to stop the rot and reverse the trends if we are to support jobs, increase the amount of products we make in this country and encourage investment in much needed skills for our young people.”

Other findings from the poll:

• Brexit as well as COVID 19 has affected our desire to buy British furniture with 25% of those questioned saying they would be more likely to do so now than three years ago when Brexit negotiations became a reality.
• Those in the 18 – 24 age group are the most likely (68%) to have bought furniture in the past 12 months while the over 55s were the least likely (34%).
• The buying decisions of those in the 35 – 44 age group were more likely to have been effected by COVID 19 with 38% of that group saying they’d be more inclined to buy British furniture now than they were six months ago, before the pandemic (average 34%).

1. Membership studies carried out by the British Furniture Manufacturers (BFM) and National Bed Federation (NBF) in July 2020.
2. The BFC consumer research was carried out online by Research Without Barriers between August 24 and August 26 2020 among 1,005 UK adults. All research conducted adheres to the UK Market Research Society code of conduct (2019). RWB is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office and complies with the DPA (1998).

Other data sources:

The Office for National Statistics, HM Revenue and Customs, Communities and Local Government and the Bank of England, all used by the Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA) to produce their Annual Statistics Digest for the Furniture Industry)

The British Furniture Confederation is an executive body chaired by Jonathan Hindle and made up of representatives from the UK’s leading furniture, furnishings and bed trade associations:

• British Contract Furnishing Association (BCFA)
• British Furniture Manufacturers (BFM)
• Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA)
• National Bed Federation (NBF)
• Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers (WCFM)

It also has affiliations with other trade associations including: the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers (AMUSF) and Anti-Copying In Design (ACID).

The British Furniture Confederation (BFC) maintains regular dialogue with Government and other influential stakeholders in an effort to ensure that its policies and initiatives support a thriving furniture, furnishings and bed sector. Many of its activities are done in partnership with the All Party Parliamentary Furniture Industry Group (APPFIG), chaired by Mike Wood, MP.