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MartinPrescott via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Demand for furniture delivery has fallen, JB Hunt said. <\/p>\n
JB Hunt Transport Services says demand for its “final mile” delivery has been depressed amid sluggish sales of furniture, appliances and other big purchases.<\/p>\n
Other furniture firms are being strained by what an upholstery firm executive called “historically low” demand for home furnishing.<\/p>\n
Consumers appear to have waited for Prime Day and other major retailers’ sales to buy appliances, electronics and other big items, according to Adobe.<\/p>\n
Americans are holding off on furniture and other big\u2014meaning both in terms of size and price\u2014purchases, according to a big shipping company.<\/p>\n
JB Hunt Transport Services (JBHT) is seeing tepid demand for \u201cfinal mile\u201d deliveries of large items, Chief Operating Officer Nick Hobbs said on a conference call Tuesday. Hobbs doesn\u2019t expect a shift toward big purchases any time this year, he added.<\/p>\n
Slow furniture sales are straining other companies, including luxury furniture retailer RH<\/a> (RH) and Culp (CULP), a North Carolina-based upholstery firm. “Historically low” demand for home furnishing has weighed on fabric sales, CULP CEO Robert Culp IV said last month.<\/p>\n \u201cThe end markets in this business remain challenged with demand for big and bulky products still muted, with soft demand for furniture, exercise equipment and appliances,\u201d Hobbs said, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense.<\/p>\n Americans were not undertaking renovations or buying many appliances<\/a> and big-ticket items this fall because of the tight housing market, Home Depot (HD) and Lowe\u2019s (LOW) said. Sales have since picked up<\/a>, although the growth may be coming from consumers trying to get ahead of tariffs, rather than shifts in underlying demand, experts have said<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Our industry has been in a bit of a malaise,\u201d La-Z-Boy (LZB) CEO Melinda Whittington said on a conference call last month. \u201cBut if the consumer is overall more strapped because of the broader macroeconomic trends, they will tend to stretch out their furniture purchases.\u201d<\/p>\n A number of consumers appear to have timed their purchase<\/a> of appliances, electronics and other pricey items to coincide with major sales at Amazon (AMZN), Walmart (WMT) and Target (TGT), Adobe said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, \u201coff-price retail\u201d items have been keeping JB Hunt busy, Hobbs said Tuesday. The company reported slightly stronger second-quarter revenue than expected<\/a>.<\/p>\n