Furniture Business Tip And Tricks For Starters
Well-known industrial and interior designers, representatives of furniture and kitchen companies from Russia and Italy, well-known media people such as Mike Shilov, Vitaly Stavitsky, Andrey Zolotov, Sergey Smirnov, Maxim Kuzin, Alexandra Sankova, Kira Razumnikova, Igor Glushan, Olga Podolskaya, Alena Gorskaya, Olga Volyk, Zarema Saypudinova, Natalya Loginova and many others.
Well-known TV presenter, designer and art critic Natalia Barbier noted that “she welcomes the new premium collection of OMOIKIRI very much, because it has hit a very right psychological and precise moment today, it has Japanese quality, it has Italian design inspiration, it has colors mediterranean. All this together creates those details for the interior that can make us feel comfortable, cozy and of high quality at home.”
Small and medium-sized furniture manufacturing companies focus on specialization, trying to gain a foothold in some narrow market niche. Thus, there is a wide range of companies producing furniture for trade organizations: furniture for pharmacies, bookstores, jewelry stores, supermarkets, etc. An interesting direction is the so-called promotional furniture used to design points of sale (allows you to draw the attention of buyers to a specific type of product), presentations, etc.
In general, the number of possible specializations for furniture manufacturers is not limited. The trend towards specialization is likely to continue in the coming years. There are already companies on the market that manufacture glass furniture, products from specific materials (for example, bog oak, plastic), highly functional products (computer tables, office partitions, bar counters), etc.
In the regions, companies specializing in the restoration of furniture have recently been created. This direction is relevant for the subjects of the Russian Federation, characterized by a low standard of living. For economically developed regions, it narrows down to an extremely narrow segment of the restoration of antique furniture.
A significant part of domestic upholstered furniture is made by small enterprises, which also strive to provide customers with a range of additional services.
This is not only delivery and assembly, but also professional design (matching colors, shapes, materials), offering non-standard products (for example, high cabinets for country houses, furniture for penthouses, etc.). Another example of a niche where small companies have little to no competition is the wicker furniture market. Such products are either imported to Russia from abroad (high price segment), or they are produced by small furniture enterprises.
One of the most promising segments of the furniture market is the production of built-in furniture. In this area, the leading role is also played by small and medium-sized companies, which are maximally focused on satisfying the needs of any client. For example, when producing wardrobes each system is created for a specific order, taking into account the architectural features of a particular room. The manufacturer strives to meet the unique needs of each customer. When choosing a direction of specialization, an investor can be recommended to focus on the dynamics of related sectors of the economy. We are talking not only about such obvious indicators as the dynamics of the real estate market, household appliances (including built-in), imported cars, but also about the state of the advertising market (furniture as a POS material) 1 , the antiques market (restoration of antique furniture ) etc. In fact, if a market shows an upward trend that persists for at least two years, then the demand for furniture from the companies operating in it will increase. A regularity confirmed by many owners of firms operating in local segments of the furniture business. Monitoring upcoming legislation (both local and federal) that can stimulate the growth of a particular market segment can help you choose your specialization effectively. A typical example is the growth in demand for pharmacy furniture, which occurred after the increase in requirements for the minimum area of pharmacy points. The demographic factor also plays a significant role in the furniture market: if the production of children's furniture is actively developing, then the offer of specific products for teenagers and young people is now practically absent. Having decided on the specialization, they begin to search for a room. To organize the production of built-in furniture, you will need a workshop (minimum area - 200 sq. m., with an average rental rate for premises of this type in Moscow $ 80 per 1 sq. m. per year), a warehouse (at least 250 sq. m., rental rate - 70 dollars per 1 sq. m per year), office (its area depends on the ambitions of the entrepreneur, but for the normal operation of a small company you need at least 100 sq. m, the rental rate is $ 80 per 1 sq. m per year). When building its own distribution network (salons, shops), a manufacturer of built-in furniture will need retail premises with an area of 30 sq. m. The rental rate for them ranges from 400-1200 dollars per year for 1 sq. m. m. Thus, the minimum cost of renting various premises for a novice wardrobe manufacturer is over 45 thousand dollars per year. If the product is sold through its own chain of stores, costs are tripled. Production of cabinet furniture requires large areas (at least 700 sq. m.). In this case, only the production premises will "eat up" about 60 thousand dollars a year.