Dining room furniture: Transitional furniture

Published: July, 23 2008

By Thomas A. Prais

While transitional furniture represents the least popular of the dominant furniture styles — namely, contemporary furniture, traditional furniture and Craftsman furniture (including Arts and Crafts furniture) — transitional furniture consumers represent an important consumer demographic for many furniture retailers. Transitional furniture shoppers in the dining category put a greater emphasis on style, quality and comfort than other dining room furniture consumers and tend, in the end, to be easier to please. They were far more likely to put an emphasis on base design and the combination of materials.

Ninety-six percent of surveyed transitional dining room furniture consumers reported being very or extremely satisfied with their purchase, compared to 90 percent of dining room furniture consumers of other styles. Only 40 percent of transitional dining room furniture consumers shopped at three or more stores before making a purchase, compared to 47 percent of other dining room furniture consumers. They were much more likely to have researched their purchase online — 70 percent of transitional dining room furniture consumers did so, compared to 48 percent of other dining room furniture consumers.

Forty-two percent of all transitional dining room furniture purchases were made by those age 24-34, compared to the 55-65 age group, who only constituted 8 percent of such purchases. Men were more likely to purchase transitional dining room furniture.

And while transitional furniture consumers tend to be associated with discount “lifestyle” furniture chains, the average ticket for transitional dining room furniture purchases totaled $1,460, compared to $1,337 for contemporary, at the low end, and $1,752 for traditional, at the high end. The average annual household income of transitional dining room furniture consumers was $80,900, compared to $76,352 for those who bought dining room furniture in the traditional style, $79,173 for those who bought dining room furniture in the Craftsman or Arts and Crafts style and $79,980 for those who bought dining room furniture in the contemporary style.