One-fourth of furniture buyers will shop online

Home Channel News, Nov 22, 1999

Twenty-five percent of consumers intend to shop online for home furnishings in the next year, according to a recent survey conducted for e-tailer Furniture.com, based in Framingham, Mass. The survey of 1,000 consumers showed that 56 percent of Americans would like to shop for their homes more often but lack the time to do so.

It takes an average of seven weeks to shop for a major piece of furniture in the traditional way, according to survey respondents. Consumers reported difficulties associated with price (47 percent), quality (35 percent), identifying retailers that carry their favorite styles (28 percent) and lack of home decorating advice (24 percent). Two-thirds of those surveyed said they are "unhappy" with their home decor.