The European market for office furniture is currently showing signs of a general recovery. Following two years of consecutive growth the market is expected to further improve its performance in both 2018 and 2019.

In such a context, CSIL decided to launch a survey with the aim of understanding and describing the expectations of European office furniture distributors and the main sector trends over the next two years.

The study was launched to get a better understanding of the prospects for the office furniture sector in Europe by gathering the expectations of the distribution companies for the period 2018-2019. The analysis involved around 100 office furniture distributors (dealers, distributors, interior designers, specifiers) located in Western Europe and surveyed by CSIL in September-November 2017.

In particular the analysis concentrates on:

• The office furniture market and forecasts
• Quantification and performance of the main customer segments
• Factors influencing the purchasing decision
• Average customer budgets by product category, for both corporate tenders and individuals
• Trends for single office seating categories, use of sit-stand desks and evolution of office furniture areas
• Use of e-commerce and prospects
• Expansion of product portfolio and new product categories to be introduced
• Location of suppliers and delivery terms

The countries were divided into four areas according to their geographical proximity and similarity in market characteristics. These areas are:

• Scandinavia: Denmark (DK), Finland (FI), Norway (NO) and Sweden (SE);
• Central Europe (DACH): Germany (DE), Austria (AT) and Switzerland (CH);
• Western Europe: Belgium (BE), France (FR), Ireland (IE), Netherlands (NL) and the United Kingdom (UK).
• Southern Europe: Greece (GR), Italy (IT), Portugal (PT) and Spain (ES);