Growing Demand For Ready-to-Assemble (RTA), Lightweight And Portable Furniture Products

Ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture is becoming increasingly popular among homeowners and renters globally, because of lower costs and compact designs. RTA furniture, also known as flat-pack furniture, is not assembled by the manufacturer and is available in parts with instructions to customers on how to assemble the furniture. The demand for RTA furniture products is increasing, especially in developing economies such as China and India, because of compact homes in cities with large populations and the low-cost advantages offered by this type of furniture. Furthermore, RTA furniture benefits manufacturers by eliminating the assembly time and reducing the cost of manufacturing and delivery, allowing them to focus only on design and production of parts. RTA furniture types include RTA bedroom sets, RTA dressers, RTA computer desks, RTA bookcases, RTA filing cabinets and others. Major companies offering RTA furniture include IKEA, Dorel, and Sauder Woodworking.

In urban areas, the demand for lightweight and portable furniture is increasing globally. This is mainly because of the compact size and low costs of these furniture products, making them ideal for small households. Consumers are increasingly preferring furniture that is multi-purpose, foldable, and technology-driven, thereby driving the demand for small/light weight and portable furniture. For instance, a small-sized storage box can be used as a small seat or table, as well as to store personal belongings. Major companies manufacturing these products are IKEA and Azure.

The global household furniture market is segmented by type of material used into wood furniture, metal furniture, plastic furniture, and others (this segment includes household furniture products made from reed, rattan, wicker and fiberglass). The wood furniture market was the largest segment in the global household furniture market with 68.5% of the total share, worth $161.3 billion in 2018. This large share in the market was due to the fact that customers prefer wood furniture over metal and plastics furniture for aesthetic reasons and for day to day use as it is more durable.

The home furniture market can also be segmented on the basis of area of use of the furniture, into the bedroom furniture market, dining room furniture market, living room furniture market, and others (this segment includes furniture products intended for use in other areas such as the bathroom and laundry room. For example, laundry hampers, garden chairs and tables.). Among these, bedroom furniture was the largest segment in the global household furniture market with 53.3% of the total share, worth $125.5 billion in 2018.