NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — When it comes to purchasing home furnishings, retailers can look for Millennials to be comfortable with online transactions as nearly 40% favored e-commerce and home delivery for their most recent furniture or home goods purchase.
And nearly 77% expect to spend the same amount or somewhat more for online furnishings purchases in 2023, according to the results of the 2023 Roth MKM Millennial Survey.
The characteristics that are most important for buying furniture online are highest quality and lowest price (44% each), with low shipping costs important to about 25% of Millennials.
That same group of shoppers, in their mid-20s to early 40s, is also motivated by low price (51%) and high quality (49%) when buying furnishings in-store, with all other factors, including convenience, selection and product availability, far behind in importance at less than 20% each.
In looking at decorating trends among Millennials, the Roth survey found nearly half (47%) are updating the look of a room or multiple rooms at least once a year, while 27% prefer to do so every couple of years.
With an avowed penchant for using e-commerce — 60% have bought furniture online and kept it — Millennials said their favorite online store for furniture and home products was Amazon (21%), followed by Ikea (16%), Walmart (13%), Wayfair (13%) and The Home Depot (8%). When asked which site they’d recommend to family and friends, the top five remained the same, with 58% naming Amazon and about 50% mentioning Ikea.
About 63% of all Millennials have bought furniture and home décor through Amazon, although that number drops to 52% among Millennials earning more than $75,000. For the higher-income group, Wayfair was the top channel, used by just more than 54% and edging out The Home Depot by less than a percentage point.
Among furniture brands in general, Ikea (13%) was considered the favorite among Millennials, followed by Ashley (9%), Wayfair (3%), La-Z-Boy (2%) and Bob’s Discount Furniture, Crate & Barrel and CB2 rounding out the list with less than 1% each. When asked which retailer best served their needs, Millennials kept Ikea (15%) at the top, followed by Ashley (6%), Wayfair (5%), Amazon (4%) and Rooms To Go (3%).
Millennials are also comfortable in the virtual world, with 21% saying they have used virtual reality applications to show furniture in their home, and another 53% noting they would consider using the technology.
The 2023 Roth MKM Millennial Survey polled 2,500 U.S. men and women ages 22 to 42 in November 2022. The survey looked at overall spending habits as well as the key categories of home furnishings, apparel and footwear, health and wellness, beverages, healthy food and snacks, CBD and cannabis, sexual wellness and pets. Roth MKM is a full-service investment bank. It conducted the survey in partnership with MFour Mobile Research.
