FURNITURE ACCESSORIES MARKET: AN EXPLORATORY APPROACH AT EUROPEAN MARKET LEVEL

In this article, we aim to identify the views and attitudes of major furniture manufacturers in the European Union on the current situation and trends of the European furniture market and furniture accessories. If for the furniture market has been made more studies and research along the way, for the furniture accessories market this is the first qualitative research to be carried out both at national and European level, a initiative caused by the fact that we have not identified other secondary sources with the exception of data taken from a representative producer, which supplies over 80% of furniture accessories to major furniture manufacturers in Europe. National and European statistics do not highlight the market for furniture accessories, although in our opinion it is of great importance for the reference industry. In this context, a qualitative research has been carried out whose main objective is to identify the role accessories have in the ergonomics and design of furniture of all categories, regardless of their destination (house, office, hotel, restaurant etc.). The specific objectives of qualitative research are: to identify the opinions and attitudes of the managers of the major furniture manufacturers on the importance of furniture and furniture accessories at the industry level; identifying the views and attitudes of the furniture managers in the furniture industry on the specific market trends in terms of the dynamics of consumer preferences on this market.