The Furniture Industry's "New Normal" Is Finally Here

Originally published November 10, 2025. This version was rebuilt from NRF, Adobe and company releases for the FIN archive, and the facts are as of that date.

By early November it was clear that 2025 would not bring the furniture rebound many had hoped for. Most of retail was growing into the holidays. Furniture stores were not, and the shopper's path to a purchase was shifting under everyone's feet.

The short version

• Furniture stores were one of only two retail categories to decline in October.
• Online spending grew, and traffic from AI shopping tools jumped.
• Dorel's home furniture business shrank sharply while it restructured.

Furniture misses the October bounce

The CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor showed furniture and home furnishings stores down 1.7% from a year earlier and slightly down from September. Building and garden stores were the only other category to decline.

Furniture tends to lag when housing is slow, but being one of two losers in a month when retail broadly grew was a sharper signal. Shoppers were spending, just not on the sofa.

AI starts sending shoppers

Adobe reported US online spending of $88.7 billion in October, up 8.2% from a year earlier. Traffic to retail sites from generative AI tools rose about 1,200%, and those visitors were 16% more likely to buy than other traffic.

The base was small, but the direction was clear. A shopper who asks an AI tool which sofa to buy arrives already narrowed down, and a furniture site that can't be read and recommended by those tools will miss those customers.

Dorel's furniture business shrinks

Dorel Industries reported third-quarter revenue of $298.6 million, down 15.7%, and a net loss. Revenue at Dorel Home fell 40.7% as it restructured, including ending its own manufacturing, while the juvenile products business held up much better.

Where this left the industry in mid-November

The new normal looked like a furniture store competing for a smaller share of a growing retail pie, against sellers that were faster online and increasingly found through AI. Suppliers built around big online accounts and low prices were taking the hardest hits.

Related on FIN

• Furniture Store Sales Fell 2.7%. Every Other Category Grew.
• Furniture Shoppers Are Holding Back

Sources

• National Retail Federation, CNBC/NRF Retail Monitor for October 2025
• Adobe, October 2025 online spending, Adobe Digital Economy Index
• Dorel Industries, Third quarter 2025 results