Are consumers feeling the pinch of inflation when it comes to buying furniture?

An unexpected global economic slowdown has made it almost essential for many people to focus on their financial well-being, tighten their belts and cutback on their expenses. Though global inflation is projected to decline, consumers continue to be price conscious. But in which categories have global consumers been most aware of increasing prices, enough to make them want to change brands, shop around, or not buy a product/ service at all?

Data from a recent YouGov Surveys poll - across 18 global markets – indicates that groceries (55%) top the list of areas where consumers have been the most price- conscious over the past six months, followed by utilities (36%) and clothing and shoes (35%).

A far lower proportion of consumers say they have been price-conscious when purchasing furniture (11%) and video games (9%).

Of all the markets polled, consumers in India (23%) have been most price-conscious when buying furniture over the past six months, but consumers in most other APAC markets lie closer to or below the global average. Less than a tenth of consumers in Indonesia and Hong Kong (8% for both) are likely to have changed brand, shopped around or not purchased the furniture they had their eye on at all.

One in five consumers in Mexico (20%) say they have been sensitive to rising furniture prices. However, a significantly smaller proportion of consumers in Canada (13%) and the US (9%) say the same.

Data indicates that European consumers are far less price-conscious about furniture than their global counterparts. Less than one out of ten consumers in most markets across the region say they have been price-conscious about furniture (Italy, 9%; France, 8%; Sweden, 7%; Denmark, 5%; GB, 5%). Spain (12%), Poland (12%) and Germany (11%) are the only outliers to this trend.

Much like their Mexican counterparts, a fifth of consumers in the UAE (20%) say they have been sensitive to furniture prices. 

Explore our living data – for free

Discover more retail content here

Want to run your own research? Run a survey now

Make smarter business decisions with better intelligence. Understand exactly what your audience is thinking by leveraging our panel of 20 million+ members. Speak with us today. 

Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 510 and 2,044 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in December 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.

Photo by Brandon Hooper on Unsplash