Levels of Housing Transactions Are Down in 2005 and Consumers Are Less Inclined to Take out Debt Which Has Resulted in a Challenging Year for Furniture and Floorcovering Retailers in the UK

DUBLIN, IRELAND, (NAMC) - Research and Markets  has announced the addition of Furniture & Floorcoverings 2005 to their offering.
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c28886)

Furniture specialists saw their weakest growth for a decade in 2004 - and indications point to an even more challenging 2005. The key growth pillars of a strong housing market and robust consumer confidence have been eroded. Levels of housing transactions are substantially down in 2005, while house price growth in many parts of the country has become a thing of the past. This, combined with reduced consumer confidence - with consumers less inclined to take out debt - has had a significant impact on the market.

The report provides a breakdown of Furniture & Floorcoverings Expenditure. It looks at furniture and floorcoverings specialists by the following topics:

-- Key Drivers

-- Economic Drivers

-- Demographic Drivers

-- Social/Cultural Drivers

-- Supply Side Drivers

-- Channels of Distribution

-- Company Data Analysis

-- Furniture Market Shares

-- Floorcoverings Market Shares

-- Key Operating Statistics

-- Advertising

-- Outlook

-- Ongoing Consolidation In Home Market

-- Non-Specialists Gaining In Furniture

-- Floorcoverings Specialists Ongoing Dominance

-- Non-Specialist Furniture Assault

-- Strengthening Customer Service Focus

-- Strategies For Sales Growth

-- Further Big-Name Casualties Less Likely...

-- ...But Ongoing Profit Pressures

-- Core Growth Pillars

-- Housing Market Exposure

-- 2005 Growth Forecast

-- Mail Order Retailers

-- Smaller Furniture & Floorcoverings Retailers

Companies featured in the report include:

-- Allied Carpets

-- Argos

-- B&Q

-- Carpetright

-- DFS

-- Furniture Village

-- Homebase

-- Homeform

-- Homestyle

-- IKEA

-- John Lewis

-- Land of Leather

-- Magnet

-- MFI

-- Next

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c28886