Home furnishings is the fastest growing category of merchandise selling online, saya a new report “Shopping for Home from Home” from research company NOP World’s Roper Reports. Roper’s survey of online adults earlier this year shows that 25% have purchased a home furnishings item online in the past year, up from 17% a year before.
The percentage of consumers who bought books or computer products was up 4 points each in the past year and the percentage who bought apparel fell 6 points.
Consumers are most likely to buy what Roper defines as household goods, such as linens, and home furnishings, such as lamps. 14% of consumers bought household goods online in the past year, up from 6% a year earlier, and 10% bought home furnishings vs. 3% a year ago.
They are least likely to purchase major appliances (2% this year vs. 3% a year ago) and furniture, 1% each year. Consumers bought cooking utensils at the rate of 5% each year and small appliances at the rate of 5% this year and 4% last year.
Online buyers of household products are more upbeat than other consumers, Roper reports, with 61% saying it’s a good time to buy the things they want and need vs. 47% of all online shoppers and 31% of all consumers. 23% of online buyers of household products had purchased a home in the past year, compared to 4% of the general public.
In addition, household goods buyers are more likely than the average online shopper to have purchased travel services in the past year: 47% vs. 32%.
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