Adult Bedroom Furniture: Furniture Market Gender Differences

Published: June, 04 2008

By Thomas A. Prais

As anyone familiar with furniture stores knows, men and women take different approaches to home decor, and furniture stores that want to appeal to both genders need to understand how they differ and how they are alike. When it comes to adult bedroom furniture, those points of difference are rare, but very important—especially when it comes to the amount spent and preferred furniture styles. Regarding the latter, men chose Craftsman furniture more often than women, and women chose transitional furniture more often than men.

Men are less likely to buy adult bedroom furniture—they accounted for only 29 percent of all purchases—but, according to data from this year’s The Retail Experience consumer survey, men who purchased adult bedroom furniture spent an average of $2,184, or 24 percent more than what surveyed women spent on their adult bedroom furniture purchase. Thirty-one percent of all adult bedroom furniture purchases by surveyed men totaled $2,500 or more, compared to 23 percent by women.

When it comes to what’s important to the respective genders in the adult bedroom furniture category, women were slightly more likely to have listed style/design as a top purchase consideration. Even so, style/design was the most cited purchase consideration among either gender, followed by quality, value and comfort.

Male and female adult bedroom furniture purchasers showed an equal propensity (about 56 percent) to research their purchase online. However, among surveyed adult bedroom furniture consumers, men were much more likely to employ Consumer Reports-style Web sites and blogs as sources. (Consumer Reports-style Web sites were used by 35 percent of men and 23 percent of women; blogs by 12 percent of men and 4 percent of women.) The dominant online resources for adult bedroom furniture purchasers, however, were retailer sites (used by 86 percent of men and 87 percent of women) and manufacturer sites (used by 42 percent of men and 47 percent of women).       

Some other gender similarities and differences among adult bedroom furniture consumers that furniture store owners might like to keep in mind included:

• Only 33 percent of men agreed much with the statement “I enjoy shopping for furniture,” compared to 53 percent of women.
• Men and women share similar attitudes about furniture brands, though on several survey questions men put a little more faith in furniture brands than women. Specifically, men were more likely to seek out furniture brands (27 percent of male adult bedroom furniture consumers sought out furniture brands, compared to 23 percent of women), and more likely to equate furniture brands with product longevity (53 percent of men made that association, compared to 45 percent of women).
• Men and women share similar attitudes about green furniture, but different attitudes about what counts as green furniture. Sixty-two percent of female adult bedroom furniture consumers felt that green furniture should be made from eco-friendly materials, compared to 53 percent of men. Men were twice as likely (12 percent to 6 percent) to expect green furniture to bear the National Forestry Stewardship logo.
• Men’s adult bedroom furniture purchases were more likely (20 percent to 11 percent) to include a platform bed.

The most important difference between the genders, at least for furniture stores deciding what to stock on their showroom floors, comes down to a matter of furniture styles. Men clearly favored Craftsman furniture (including Arts and Crafts furniture) for their adult bedroom furniture purchase (see chart below). Women, too, favored Craftsman furniture, but just barely, with traditional furniture coming in a close second.