United States Consumers' Views on Ready-to-Assemble Furniture

Authors

  • Fredrik N. Stureson
  • Steven A. Sinclair

Keywords:

Furniture, marketing, promotion, product development

Abstract

Older consumers hold an increasing portion of the disposable income in the U.S., and marketers must increasingly recognize the buying power of this group. Ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture has already captured a strong share of the furniture market in Europe and is experiencing strong growth in the United States. The goal of this study is to compare the attitudes and buying behaviors of older U.S. consumers to younger consumers concerning RTA furniture. Data were collected from nearly 1,500 households in the United States, and older consumers as a group were found to be more negatively disposed toward RTA furniture. They were more inclined to view price as a surrogate for quality and were much less inclined to assemble their own furniture to save money. The older consumers were not a homogeneous group; however, to appeal to them, good quality and convenience are important.

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Published

2007-06-28

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Research Contributions