Greetings!
Furniture sales generally trend about six months behind the total US economy including office supplies' sales. If the same model holds true for 2010, it is time for the rebound!
Business-to-business spending in the office supply industry is on the rebound and was up in December for the first time throughout all of 2009, according to leading market research company The NPD Group's Retail Tracking Service.
B-2-B spending rose 2.5% and for the first time and for the first time all last year, business spending out-performed consumer spending in the retail office super store channel. The contract stationers channel had been showing year-over-year improvement each month since August, but December was the first month where it pulled into positive territory. For the year, the B2B contract stationer channel declined 11 percent. Business spending across a number of industries, including technology, began to rebound this past fall.
The retail office super store channel did not fare as well, but still made strides in the fourth quarter. The channel started to stabilize in September, averaging a 5 percent decline over the final four months of the year, and December sales ended down around 6 percent. While still a decline, it is an improvement over the 10 percent monthly decline the channel experienced during the first half of 2009. The retail office super store channel was down 8 percent in 2009.
"The first half of 2009 was rough across the board, but we have seen momentum that should help us get back on track in 2010," said Perry James, president of office supplies at NPD. "Monthly U.S. job market trends have been highly correlated to office supplies trends, and we expect that to continue into 2010. If the economy can start adding jobs in 2010, and if small businesses begin to take off again, we expect to see stronger performance ahead." |
