subscribe to news The Furniture as Business Forum brought together directors of small and medium-sized enterprises

The Mebel 2023 conference programme presents the 23^rd Forum of Small and Medium Furniture Enterprises – Furniture as Business. The event is organised by EXPOCENTRE AO and KVK Imperia Forum. The forum is devoted to current technologies for furniture sales in 2024 through marketplaces, retail, wholesale, dealers, distributors, DIY, and for the hotel and restaurant segment.

According to Imperia Forum’s representative, today's event is built around the main sales channels and their activation in the period of economic turbulence and complexities of modern geopolitics.

According to the Association of Furniture and Woodworking Enterprises of Russia, furniture production decreased by 4-5% in Russia in 2022. The tentative forecast for 2023 said that the furniture industry would add about 5-7% in physical terms. The reality turned out to be somewhat different.

The forum opened with the Analytical Session on Effective Furniture Sales Strategies in 2024: State, Trends and Prospects for Furniture Business Development. Svetlana Fedorova, General Director at Express-Obzor, which is the first marketing company specialising in analytical market research, presented an overview of the Russian furniture industry.

“Contrary to forecasts, furniture production in value and in kind terms continued to grow. In the first nine months of this year, the value growth has been about 30%. The current production volume is 308 billion roubles. This is partly due to the general rise in prices in the country. In physical terms, the growth is 27%,” said Svetlana Fedorova.

The forum continued with a special presentation of principles of selecting a furniture sales channel: opportunities, supply problems and ways to overcome them. Though there is a great diversity of sales channels, it is important to understand that each company has its own sales channel or a combination of them. Various strategies can be used to overcome these challenges such as finding new suppliers or optimising logistics. This block is devoted to how not to make a mistake in choosing a sales channel.

The next part of the forum consists of four workshops on selling through marketplaces: an algorithm for successful entry based on the average check and type of furniture, on selling furniture through Russian Post, retail, wholesale, distributors and dealers, on selling furniture to furniture shopping centres and new buildings, and on selling furniture to hotels and restaurants (HoReCa): how to get into a closed channel.

Practitioners also presented their cases and shared specific recommendations for successful business.

Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO