{"id":289649,"date":"2026-02-18T08:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T08:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289649\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T08:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T08:30:07","slug":"sofa-so-bad-chinas-home-furnishing-sector-hits-a-do-or-die-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289649\/","title":{"rendered":"Sofa so bad: China\u2019s home-furnishing sector hits a do-or-die moment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>China\u2019s more than 100,000 home furnishing companies &#8211; most of which are micro businesses &#8211; have entered a tumultuous phase as a property slump and <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/business\/china-business\/article\/3335776\/consumer-brands-china-face-fraught-future-amid-frugal-spending-forecast?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">persistent deflationary pressure<\/a> prevent them from making profits.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">With no property resurgence in sight, the industry, which employs millions of labourers across the country, was likely to see thousands of players expelled from the highly competitive market this year, according to company officials and analysts.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cInvolution is the name of the game in the home decor market,\u201d said Yan Jun, a senior executive with Shanghai-based Jinghan Stainless Products, which designs and makes steel windows for household use. \u201cClients want to save furnishing costs and keep trying to bargain down prices while more competitors, who are desperate to get business, are willing to offer huge discounts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In mainland China\u2019s business lexicon, involution refers to fierce competition that drives down prices and undermines sustainable growth. In some cases, manufacturers sell products below cost just to keep rivals at bay.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Home furnishing and residential property are closely intertwined in China, as a buoyant construction industry and sizzling housing sales once ushered in surging demand for home decor.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">According to Hunan Zonghengjia Brand Consulting, the mainland\u2019s home decor sector generated revenue of 2.68 trillion yuan (US$387.9 billion) in 2025, up 2.8 per cent year on year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"China\u2019s more than 100,000 home furnishing companies &#8211; most of which are micro businesses &#8211; have entered a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,160714,23852,160715,219,147264,160713,11086,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-289649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-chinas-property-slump","tag-consumers","tag-delfationary-pressure","tag-economy","tag-falling-home-prices","tag-home-fuirnishing-business","tag-involution","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}