Furniture and home furnishings sales in the United States have slowly increased in recent years, but as always, it will take concentrated efforts to keep the momentum going. March sales domestically brought in $8.79B, up from 2015’s March revenue of $8.506B according to ycharts statistics.

Home furnishings stores must continue to offer styles that cater to the desires of their customers, especially as the country continues to recover from the housing market recession of 2007-2009 that devastated the home furnishings and real estate industries (see our earlier article, “Home Furnishings Industry Rebounding Says Economic Census”).

One approach involves capitalizing on the success of the tourism industry. As the economy rebuilds, travel and tourism — specifically domestic travel spending — has increased exponentially. According to a travel report from Statista, U.S. residents spent $802B traveling the states in 2015. Thus, identifying and utilizing the sentiments that draw people to popular domestic tourism destinations could increase sales to those wanting their interior designs to mimic their favorite vacation spots.

Staycation Renovation

Specifically, home furnishings stores can tap those known customer preferences by featuring key pieces or selected sets based on the most popular travel destinations. 

The U.S. was the leading source market for cruises in 2014 with U.S. residents making up 11.21 million of the 22.04 global cruise passengers while the travel report cited beach locations and city centers as the most popular destinations for North American travelers.

Applying this knowledge, home furnishings managers could produce an ocean-liner-themed guest room or a big-city-style living room, offering design elements similar to those a traveler would experience walking the shoreline or out on the town in New York.

Creating an in-home vacation-style beach house — a staycation renovation if you will — can be accentuated by adding a nautical theme with swatches of driftwood to the decor. Ourboathouse.com brings the beach is without a sunburn or grains of sand stuck in the hair.

Incorporating kid-friendly designs, a bedroom with a maritime theme may excite the younger ones about taking a cruise one day. HomeKlondike features a crib mobile with ornate sailboats and a hand-painted ring buoy. Beds with frames shaped like a boat and wooden plank walls give these bedrooms the ultimate nautical motif.

Bring the City Life into the Home

Docking at the city port, we ask, what is it that makes urban cities so appealing? To find out, design firm Sasaki surveyed 1,000 people living in six of the most prominent cities of the country: New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Austin, and Washington, D.C. Some of the key categories explored included architecture, parks, and open space, activities, transportation and urban planning.

Architecture – 57% of people stop to admire buildings that are historic while 38% are captivated by the unique design elements or publicly featured art on a building.

Take Away – “People are attracted to buildings with character, a story, and an identity — and tenants are often willing to pay a bit more to get that.” Applying this concept to ornate or unique pieces will make themed sets more desirable – attach an “about” tag or create a story of what it could represent for a consumer. Juxtaposing various-sized pieces could allude to select architectural highlights of the city such as tall skyscraper-like bookshelves or metallic Chrysler-Building-styled lamps. Playing off city landscape colors such as orange sunsets over skyscrapers and burnt orange undertones in a furniture set could bring some nightlife fun into the home.

Activities – The majority of city dwellers reported enjoying new restaurants as well as attractions. Austinites in particular were drawn to farmer’s markets, outdoor concerts, and food trucks.

Take Away – While neon signs aren’t for everyone, lighting itself can set the mood. Vintage marquee lights aren’t just for rustic weddings; they can create an intimate setting, bringing in a touch of restaurant-style outdoor ambiance. Additionally, offering a natural wooden crate table with a splash of color appeals to the farmer’s market crowd and serves as a functional seating and storage area. Pops of color mixed with vintage show pieces help merge modern city art with the history people admire in architecture.

Thinking Outside the Box

Unusual tributes to the big city make for long-term statement pieces customers might invest in. Artist Rick Bulan of Golden Gate Furniture was featured in a CrossCheck article due to his unique repurposed headboards made out of metal from the Golden Gate Bridge.

The windy city of Chicago recently sent out a press release announcing that domestic visitors to Chicago passed 50 million for the first time in 2015. While replicating the infamous bean or Cloud Gate sculpture might not be plausible, expressing the reflective nature of the art piece by using mirrors to highlight another piece that features a city skyline could establish the framework of a Chicago-themed set.

Tapping into consumer preferences requires viable solutions for customers to take home their home furnishings getaway; that's where CrossCheck's payment tool Multiple Check makes it all possible. Multiple Check allows customers to write 2-4 checks, guaranteed by CrossCheck and deposited by your business within 30 days.

Customers are thrilled that they can bring home their new home furnishings in the moment and merchants secure the sale. To discover the ease of Multiple Check at your place of business, download the free insider’s guide.