Online Shopping for the Home - US - April 2021
Overview
 
What you need to know
Home categories, including décor and furniture items, became essential during the pandemic – especially the latter. Shifts in lifestyles and the increased time indoors exposed the shortcomings of living spaces and identified new needs. The closing of nonessential stores and increased virus concerns accelerated the adoption of ecommerce across categories, which also put a spotlight on those aspects of the online experience that need to be improved to enhance the customer journey when shopping for the home.

Key issues covered in this Report
●	The impact of COVID-19 on consumer behavior and the furniture and home décor market
●	Types of home items consumers are interested in purchasing online
●	Consumers’ approach when shopping for the home
●	Future drivers to shopping for the home online

Definition
This Report explores how consumers are shopping online for home items – inclusive of both home décor and furniture. For the purposes of this Report, the home décor and furniture categories include:

Home décor: Picture frames, vases, decorative bowls, candlesticks/candleholders, candles, diffusers, wall art, clocks, trays, coasters, lamps/lighting (table lamps, floor lamps, lanterns), mirrors, collectibles/keepsakes, sculptures/artwork/figurines, decorative pillows/throw blankets, rugs/doormats, baskets, fake/silk flowers or plants, holiday/seasonal décor, home décor items. It excludes paint, wallpaper, window treatments (eg drapes, blinds).

Furniture: Upholstered furniture; sleep equipment (eg mattresses, springs, cots, waterbeds); sleep sofas, daybeds, futons and other dual-purpose pieces; living room, dining room and bedroom furniture (excluding mattresses/sleep equipment and sleep sofas/other dual-purpose pieces); office furniture, including computer-related furniture; outdoor/patio furniture and all other furniture, including kitchen, dinette, etc.

This Report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Home Décor Retailing – US, April 2020 and Evolving eCommerce: Furniture Retailing: Incl Impact of COVID-19 – US, May 2020.

This Report includes consumer research fielded in February 2021. The Report was written March-April 2021, and the analysis reflects the state of the category and pandemic during this time.

Economic and other assumptions
Mintel’s economic assumptions are based on CBO estimates released on February 1, 2021. The CBO’s previous forecast for US GDP to fall by 5.8% in 2020 was revised after a stronger second half of the year, and the updated estimate indicates negative 3.5% GDP for the year. The CBO forecasts GDP to grow by 4.6% in 2021 and projects unemployment to continue to fall to average 5.7% for the year.

COVID-19: US context
The first COVID-19 case was confirmed in the US in January 2020. It was declared a global health pandemic and national emergency in early March 2020. Across the US, various stay-at-home orders were put in place in Spring 2020, and nonessential businesses and school districts closed or shifted to remote operations. The remainder of 2020 saw rolling orders, as states and local governments relaxed and reinforced guidelines according to the spread of the virus in each region. Since the onset of the pandemic, consumers have shifted to shopping more online across categories – including for the home. As lifestyles shifted and new needs came up, many consumers opted to shop online to improve their living spaces.

Vaccine distribution began in December 2020, and it is expected take anywhere from July to December 2021 for 70-90% of the population to be vaccinated to reach herd immunity. Mintel anticipates business operations in the US will remain in a state of flux through 2021 as the vaccine is widely administered.