This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of world and Italian furniture sector. It defines the factors that influence consumers choice of the product and analyze the furniture preferences in the different cultural environment. Furniture industry The consumers furniture preferences in different markets Daria Troian Master in International Management 2009-2011 UNIVERSITY OF TRENTO Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................... 2 Furniture market outlook ................................................................................. 3 1. World furniture market outlook ................................................................................................. 3 2. Italian furniture market .............................................................................................................. 5 Factors that i flue ce co su er’s fur iture choice ......................................... 10 3. Factors that shape consumer preferences ................................................................................ 10 4. Role of the appearance ............................................................................................................ 12 5. Role of the culture ................................................................................................................... 14 Different furniture preferences among the countries ...................................... 16 6. Product appearance and design ............................................................................................... 16 7. Different furniture preferences among the countries............................................................... 18 Conclusions .................................................................................................... 25 Bibliography ................................................................................................... 26 Appendix ........................................................................................................ 27 1|Page Introduction Manufacturers and retails are continuously expanding their business horizons. The aim to go with its o p odu t a oad is usuall a o pa ied the se ies of i te alizatio halle ges : diffe e t distribution chains, adaptation of communication strategy and different sectors can usually face a necessity of their product adaptation. The degree to which local consumer accepts the standardized product can be explained by their geographic origin and cultural affiliation. So, it is therefore important to fully understand and conceptualize the influence of the culture on consumption behavior. This paper looks on furniture business, its structure, organization and competitive forces. The main characteristic of the good is a high dependence on consumer esthetic preference. Appearance, design and quality apart from price are the main competitive filed for the producers. Therefore, while considering the internalization of the furniture businesses is it always a dilemma to which extent their standardized product could be offered unchanged and whether they need to be adapted to the local market tastes. This work is aiming to define the how the modern furniture market look like, what are the main players and the main destination. In further step, we would like to analyses what are the factor that actually influence the consumer choice of the furniture and to see whether the external look is among the one of the major ones that influence consumer choice of the furniture and how cultural origin of the consumer would affect their choice of the furniture style and in particular whether the geographic origin can influence the perception of the aesthetic beauty and external features preferences in the furniture. As the example of the analysis we are considering in closer the Italian manufacturing companies. Made i Ital fu itu e is positio ed i the a e age a d high a e age o su e s’ i o e segment. This allow to mostly concentrate on the exteriors factor of the product and neglect the price range to evaluate the differences between consumers of different countries in their choice of the furniture. For this reason , I was analyzing the interior design of the houses in several countries and had an opportunity to interview sales representative of the Italian manufacturing companies of a matter of challenges and strategies on doing business abroad. 2|Page Furniture market outlook 1. World furniture market outlook Starting the discussion of the furniture sector it is important to understand the market structure, main competitors and major geographic export destinations. Furniture purchase has been steadily growing the priority item in the household spending all over the world. By 2011 the market share of the furniture is growing up to the US$ 347 billion for the 70 most important countries. The market value is increasing despite the sharp shortcut seen in 2009, thus it has been amounting to the US$ 267 billions1 Figure 1: Percentage breakdown of world furniture production Other low and mid income countries 12% Germany Japan 7% 4% United States 15% France 3% China 34% Other high income 15% Poland 2% (CSIL, 2010) Canada 2% United Kingdom 2% Vietnam Brazil 2% 2% 2 The dominant markets of higly developed countires encounter for the production of the 52% of the furnitre where the production share of lower income countries is steadly growing, bringing own 1 (« 2 », 2010) (CSIL, 2010) 3|Page diversity in the prodduct apperence, price and quality to the markets. This is explained by the highly incresed production lines investment into the new palnts outsourced to the developing countries. However, this tend to support the needs of price sensetive consumers who would define their choice based on price, and the price inelastic ones, who would look for quality and particular design. One of the tendencies of the furniture markets is an opening of the new markets and stead consumption grows of the furniture goods. Words trade has grown from US$ 95 billions dollars in 2009 to US$ 207 billions in 2011.3 The traditional furniture manufactroing countries are still hoilding the dominance in the ther hands, taking use of name, tradition, quality, design and unique immagies in different furniture niches. The consumption path would look like quite predictable. The developing, big economies under the force of globalization, investment and trade open and are turning into the destination of the exporters. Figure 2: Forecast of consumers’ yearly changes 2011 % Growth World Asia and Pacific Middle East and Africa Central Easter Europe and Russia % Growth South America North America Western Europe 0.0% 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0% 7.0% (CSIL) The new emerging markets, like Russia, India, China, Brazil are nowadays major clients of the exporters. 3 (CSIL) 4|Page 2. Italian furniture market In this paper we are going to look mostly at the issues and challenges raised by Italian furniture manufactures, about their history of development, major specialization, their talent and design, distribution and marketing strategies while doing business abroad. The Italian furniture producers have been dominating the market for a considerable amount of time. The ade i Ital s ols e e the sig of ualit , u i ue ess a d outsta di g desig a d ee appreciated and recognized on the old markets and now progressively winning the consumers preferences on the developing markets. The unique district organization, worldwide reputation, premium niche positioning are getting the furniture exporter on the leading places among the first class furniture clientele. Italian furniture sector is in top five export sectors, with being second biggest in Europe and fifth biggest in the world, having 10,3% of the World market by 2009.Based on the huge market capacity, the Italian producers are mostly concentrating on the foreigner markets. Due to this particularity, the Italian furniture manufacturers are well familiar with the with foreign markets on its earlier stage of globalization and now when the international trade linearization is demanding new strategies and product adaptations The major markets of the interest of the Italian exporter were changing with time path, initially they were France, Germany United States, but recently with economic, political and social development of Eastern Europe the situation has changed. We all go to Eastern Europe and East : as ould sa Ginacarlo Nieddu, and sales representatives of many other small and middle furniture producers in Cerea, in one of his interview. Despite the fact that western European markets in their total are the major dominants of the Italian Exporters, I have been given a feeling that the greatest interest is shown in the Ukrainian and Russian market, based on their demand, size and Made on Italy brand loyalty. 5|Page Figure 3:Italian Export structure Export Spain Switzerland US Russia Export UK Germany France 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% (CSIL) Describing the Italian furniture market, it is worth mentioning its structural organization- industrial district clustering. The structural characteristic of the Italian wooden–furniture industry is a concentration of the manufactory in the industrial districts. The major concentration of which is spread in the North-East, which together with Lombardy, Toscana and Marche are the major regions of the national furniture manufacturers. This type of organization is formed by tight cooperation and presence of many small companies that are specialized in a particular furniture segment. That regional concentration of the industrial entities has enriched the specialization, labor work, high attention to design and know how thus stimulating the sophisticated internal demand. Those districts have major regional classification: in Lombardy 23% of the manufactories, Veneto (18 %), Tuscany (10, 2%) and Friuli (4, 5%)4. There are big amount of the districts among which the most important in design and furniture sector could be considered the following: 4 1. Bassa Veronese e Bassa Padovana 2. Brianza 3. Pesaro 4. Treviso – Pordenone (Minutella) 6|Page 5. Bari – Matera 6. Forli' These industrial districts were born to add maximum value to the zone with determinant economic characteristics, to concentrate their activities in particular sectors in which with a time path have developed their competitive advantages. The necessity to always satisfy growing standards in quality e security has brought the companies to concentrate their forces and attention in the markets niche 5 This structure enables manufacturers to produce each piece with a great quality and high degree of differentiation, e greater process orientation due to very lean organization of small entities, thus providing a more incentives for innovations. High advanced technology used in the furniture industry is due to close co-operation with machine manufacturers, but also a close of investment of the owners of small companies, furthermore they contribute to the engineering of new machines. Machine producers in turn co-operate in the creation of new furniture plant. There are several product group can be determined in the furniture sector.      Upholster furniture Dining and living room Kitchen furniture Office furniture Hotels Upholds furniture is the largest product group in Italy at € , illio a d ep ese ti g at 9% of the market. This is the main sector in which the Italian industry is the world renowned so most upholstered products are currently domestically produced. Dining and living furniture was the next la gest p odu t g oup a d alued € , illio . Mu h of that has ee t aditio al i st le. This se to has been declining while more contemporary styles have been becoming more fashionable. 6 5 6 (Camera dei deputati) (CBI Market Information Database) 7|Page Figure 4: Production of furniture in Italy 2005, as % of total value 18.8% Parts 31.0% Other 8.1% Bedroom Dining and living Kitchen 12.2% 8.1% Non-upholstered Upholstered 13.6% 7.8% (CBI Market Information Database) Retail and wholesale distribution in Italy is centered primary on small family-owned businesses. Because of this mark-ups on products tend to be among the highest in Europe. Because of the fragmentation of retail outlets, the use f agents and distribution is widespread. The distribution model in Italy could be grouped in the several classes:    Independent sales representatives Associated sales Modern distribution 7 The major characteristic of the distribution channel is strong presence of sales agents who represent different manufacturers. This sales channel is accounting for more than 80% of sales both on national and international level. The future however is seen in the hand of the big retailer, who can provide 7 (Minutella) 8|Page space for representatives of different furniture segments, styles and other participants of home décor channel. Globalization and intensive opening to the foreign markets is taki g pla e i the ’s. Both with it opportunities and risk, Italia companies are losing low and average cost furniture markets in the top export countries. In details, French and German markets became the major targets of the newly industrialized markets with affordably low margins. As the result of the new tendency the Italian manufacturers are repositioning themselves in the high income niche of the market. This switch was further assisted but the rapidly developing fashion industry and stabilizing Made in Italy brand. The adaptation strategy of many companies was recon centration on quality and design, or specialization in particular segments like furniture for hotels, or directing themselves for the cooperation only with particular countries.8 8 (Gradinetti, Chiarvesio and Guerra) 9|Page Factors that influence consumer’s furniture choice 3. Factors that shape consumer preferences As the result of the internationalization of the companies, manufacturers were faced with a need to analyze and understand the new markets they are going to enter. Regarding of product, the main challenge is to g a the o su e ’s s path , atte tio , at h thei p efe e es and buying habits. To do so, it is important to split the consumers buying habit into several factors and carefully study and understand the possible differences of those in the markets. In overall there have been many research papers published on the topic what are the factors that influence purchase motives and frequency. The literature classifies and structures these factors in different ways. For instance division into inner and outer factors, distinguishing three basic categories: personal psychological and social factors to which Kotler adds the cultural factors as an independent category. One of the major issues is to understand the o su e ’s behavior. In consumers behavior we consider not only why, how and what people buy but other factors such as where, how often and under what conditions the purchase is made. The major factors that influence the behavior can be grouped in the following:9  Psychological- motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes  Personal -age and life cycle stage, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality and self-concept  Social -reference group , family , roles and statuses  Cultural-culture subculture and social classes All of those factors can influence and create the certain rules in the sphere of consumer choices. Those rules once determined, should contribute to the business ability to catch the scene of the new markets. In our cases, we would like to concentrate on factors that are considered to be the crucial while choosing furniture. One of the important points in furniture selection is usually individual taste. However, furniture must meet several criteria for a satisfactory selection: it should be comfortable and appropriate for its 9 (Arowosoge and Tee) 10 | P a g e purpose, it must be functional for possible multipurpose use, there must be enough space for the furniture; it must have a long physical and psychological life, it must be easy-to-maintain, finally, it must be affordable. Furthermore, individuals must have enough knowledge about the product specifications of furniture while making their selection. Factors such as being functional, durable aesthetic, usable and economic reflect the product value of the furniture.10 In parallel with technological, economic, social and cultural changes; differences arise in both i di iduals’ attitudes and behaviors and in their adaptation process to the changes in their environment. Thus, preferences of consumers with different socioeconomic and cultural characteristics differ as well. Besides that factor it is worth mentioning that position and importance of those factors is the subject of social demographic and economic characteristic of the potential consumers. On the other side taking into consideration of the Italian furniture exporters, we have to lessen the importance of the of cost factor and keep in mind the non-price elastic consumer. Figure 5: Factors influencing consumer’s furniture choice Durability Suitability for the area Apereance Compatibil ity with the other objects at home Being fashionab le Economy 10 Functiona lity (Oztop and Erkal) 11 | P a g e Among the following factors that influence consumer buying decision, literature highlights the importance of aesthetic factor. On a stage where price is no longer the most important, person would follow its personal perception of beauty and aesthetic taste. Several studies would define that appearance factor is positioned among the top 3 considered by the buyers in the furniture choice. Thus, fo e a ple, i the esea h of o su e s’ hoi e of du i g fu itu e i Nige ia the color/design factor is placed on the second important stage, mentioning around 80% of the positive answers form correspondents.11 The same type of the research hold among the consumers in Turkey would identify the aesthetic role on the 3rd important place.12 In addition to the literature review, the professionals form the field while refereeing to the Italian business usages would always mention the importance of design and quality combination with rather common in Italy personal (sales agent) approach as the main fo e a d a d ele e t i selling the furniture abroad. The Italian furniture consumers are the people design oriented and brand minded buyers. 4. Role of the appearance Therefore in our further discussion we will to concentrate on the appearance factor of the product. The appearance is the external visual characteristic of the piece of the furniture, it always transpose some message to consumers. Based on a literature review, six different roles of p odu t appea a e fo o su e s a e ide tified: Table 1: The Six Roles of Product Appearance for Consumers Appearance role Influence on consumers Attention drawing Draw consumer attention in-store Categorization Functional 11 12  Influence ease of categorization  Offer possibility for differentiation from the product category  Show features/functionalities  Serve as a cue for features/ (Arowosoge and Tee) (Oztop and Erkal) 12 | P a g e Ergonomic Aesthetic Symbolic functionalities  Serve as a cue for technical quality  Show parts for consumerproduct interaction  Show consequences of use of overall appearance aspects (e.g., size, roundedness)  Serve as a basis for aesthetic appreciation  Fit with home interior and other products owned  Serve as a basis for symbolic product associations  Communicate brand image (Creusen and Schoormans) According to the research the aesthetic and symbolic roles were mentioned most often. The preferred shape (e.g., rounded or angular), color, or size were found to differ depending on the way in which product appearance played a role for subjects. For example, bright colors may be valued from an aesthetic point of view but may diminish the impression of quality (i.e., functional value). This makes it difficult to optimize all roles and illustrates that the product value that is most important for consumers when purchasing a specific kind of product should be the starting point in the design of the product appearance. Furthermore, the influence of shape, color, or size on a certain kind of product value—aesthetic, symbolic, ergonomic, or functional—differed between subjects. 13 13 (Creusen and Schoormans) 13 | P a g e Figure 6: Percentage of subjects that mentioned each of the different appearance roles 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Aestetic Symbolic Ergonomic Fuctional Attentional Categorization (Creusen and Schoormans) 5. Role of the culture To understand whether the Italian manufacturing companies entering foreign markets would face the different aesthetic perception of their product, it is important to realize whether the influence of the culture on consumer choice is a vehicle to consider. It obviously subject to a question whether in the period of high speed of globalization the cultural factor can play its role on shaping consumer tastes the way it did before. The personal comment of the professionals, working in the business of several years, would notice the quite difference of the market structure for the last 10-15 years. The general tendency under growing speed of information flow exchanges, and access to new business representative, have to some extent the importance and the influence of the culture on the consumers choice. There are fewer choices based on geographic location, and more choices based on the fashion tendencies, and personal perception of the beauty. However, taking into consideration that individuals taste and preferences are the subject of culture formation of personality, nowadays culture would play a role of unconscious instrument in taste formation, would create or contribute to the pe so al likes a d dislikes . 14 | P a g e Culture is the complex of values, ideas, attitudes and other meaningful symbols that allows human to communicate, interpret and evaluate as members of society .It is the primary reason behind a pe so ’s a ts a d eha io . Although, diffe e t so ietal groups have their own culture that affects consumers buying behavior, the extent to which it influences the behavior might vary from country to country. Each cultural group can be divided into groups consisting of people with common life experiences and situations, also known as subcultures, such as nationality, racial groups, religion, and geographical areas. The third cultural factor is social class, which is constituted of other variables: occupation, income, education, and wealth.  CULTURE- Cultu e is the ost fu da e tal dete i a t of a pe so ’s a ts a d eha io . The growing child acquires a set of values, perceptions, preferences, and behavior through his or her family or other key institutions.  SUB-CULTURE- Sub-culture includes nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographical regions. Many sub-cultures make up important market segments, and marketers often design marketing programs tailored to their needs.  SOCIALCLASS- Social classes are relatively homogenous and enduring divisions in a society, which are hierarchically ordered and whose members share similar values, interests, and behavior. Social classes do not reflect income alone but also other indicators such as occupation, education, and area of residence. Every culture has smaller groups with shared values and beliefs due to common life experience and situations. These groups are very important to marketers since many of these subcultures make up important market segment. Every society has some form of social class structure; this class system is different for every country in point of distribution and ratio. Income point of view, every society is divided into three classes; rich, poor and middle. Following the different source of the information, we can make a conclusion that cultural identity of the person is indirectly influencing his taste and preference formation; contribute to the subjective vision of a beauty and harmony. Through the environment, the person develops it tastes and preferences in the objects that surround his daily life. In addition to that being subject to social influence and general opinion, the individual would tend to accept the common thought of what might be perceived more stylish, of a better taste of a in accordance with a fashion tendencies. 15 | P a g e Different furniture preferences among the countries 6. Product appearance and design Starting the conversation about the appearance, we should switch to the lower level on the definition, and move to the fact of design. Design is a fundamental, creative instrument on the final look of the goods. Therefore saying about appearance we intuitively mean the design of the piece and would ungroup this to the level of the design elements. This would give as a broader picture of the countries difference or similarities of a particular look of the object. There have been many discussions on what of design is, and very few precise answers can be gathered on that. According to the Wikipedia source Design describes fundamental ideas about the practice of good visual design that are assumed to be the basis of all intentional visual design strategies. On the other hand, design is Design could be viewed as an activity that translates an idea into a Blueprint for something useful 14 Finding out what the customer wants is the first stage of what designers do. The designer then builds on the results of that inquiry with a mixture of creativity and commercial insight. Although gut instinct is part of the designer's arsenal, there are more scientific ways of making sure the design hits the mark. Different designers use different methods - combining market research, user testing, and prototyping and trend analysis. In our case we are going to speak not on design level, but on the elements levels. Firstly, because specific characteristic of the furniture which can be the great mix of styles colors, line ad shape, and therefore it makes difficult to identify pure style preferences. Instead of that we are going to use the design elements in order to find similarities. Form follows function is known as the 3 f's of Design. Form refers to what something looks like, and function refers to how it works. 14 What is design 16 | P a g e Design Element Description Area that stand out of the space. It can be geometric or organic, natural Continuous movement of the point, basic component of the shape. Lines in design form the shape of the object, could create geometric(straight lines )forms or abstract( curved lines) Is a perceived surface quality Shape Line Texture Form is a three dimensional object. There are two types of forms geometric and natural. Form The choice of the furniture design is a cycle event. The idea is brought from the designer, which, in it turns, is influenced by design traditions and environment he has grown. His ideas go to the markets and those by their feedback, buying tendencies, markets preferences come back to the producer/designer with what is most liked form those proposed to the consumers in particular markets. This close cycle of information interchange slowly educates the designer to o su e ’s tastes a d o su e s tastes to the diffe e t desig e ideas. At this poi t the goods are getting integrated to the new markets and being recognized in the new markets. Figure 7:The value chain of the furniture sector-role of the design Goods flow Row materials, Initial works, DESIGN Furnture producers Intermediate agents DIstributors Final consuemrs Information flow Italian furniture is highly recognized in the world by its design. In the recent period some companies are strengthening their forces and capabilities in appearance attribute of their products, using it as a competitive advantage element in the differentiation strategies. 17 | P a g e 7. Different furniture preferences among the countries Alessandro Zamarco, sales representative of Francobruno Group with over 20 years of experience, in his interview, in the discussion about cultural difference would mention that back 10-15 years the differences among countries could have been noticed with a greater extent. However the ease and free access of the consumers to the different information sources made it rather simple for the new information to be enquired and shared. For now due to the widespread access to Internet any consumer can directly purchase from any producers from internet. The increasing number of showroom present in different countries can influence consumers taste, educate or change the perception of beautiful to what is fashionable. Therefore in the same country it is easily to find people like both modern and classic, or other furniture styles. “o toda , it is ha d to sa a out the e t e e diffe e es a d ough app oa h fo o pa ’s adaptation is taking to face new consumer tastes. It would be rather suitable to say about dominant tendencies in furniture stiles, particular design element like color, forms, materials and ornaments that are more commonly preferred on the particular market. Concerning the adaptation strategies of the company, here as in many other sphere the modularity approach is taking place. Besides that the tight collaboration between the companies in the furniture industrial districts made it possible to simply adapt the product on its final stages to the consumer preferences. Thus, while visiting the production warehouse of one of the furniture company in Cerea, Franco Mario, I could have seen a huge amount of row furniture, which then after clients desire is going to be colored, finished with accessories and other techniques to the conditions that consumer wants. Besides, taking into consideration that in such district company decides to specialize on particular furniture type, in order to satisfy the diverse need of the client companies, for instance textile producers and dining room producers, would cooperate to propose a client individual set of furniture which includes the elements of two sector players. Thus having possibility to propose individual solution to each o su e ’s Italian furniture manufacturers can remain competitive on different markets. 18 | P a g e However, despite the evident smooth in tastes across the countries, we can still catch some differences an interesting moments in how people decorate their homes and what for what kind of furniture they still have a high demand. Besides the expertise opinion, articles and studies I have decided to look inside the homes and apa t e t’s people li i g i diffe e t sides of the o ld i seek fo diffe e es a d si ila ities national wise. This became possible due to the two rather recent web page, one of which is AirBnb.com15 and Normalroom.com16. The first one house and room database for the sub renting purpose, on this website I have found photos of rooms in different locations and downloaded first of the ase o ost popula criteria. Where the Normal room.net is a database for pictures uploaded by the average user for the sharing of experience noncommercial purpose I have tried to study the pictures on the several criteria:       Line(curved, straight) Pattern (geometric, floral, abstract) Form (smooth, angled) Materials(wood, plastic, metal, glass, ceramic etc) Color(brightness, temperature) Quantity of accessories and furniture styles As the result of this analysis and other resources available including the personal observation and opinion of expertise in the sector, I would like state some evident attributes noticed in different design of several markets. For example Sweden, Norwegian and Finish apartments would be characterize by bright mild colors, simple lines furniture and natural materials used. The motto of the Scandinavian design is natural simplicity, rationality and spaciousness. There quite common furniture is simple geometric forms form the light natural colored woods. Concerning the furniture style there you can mostly find country styles or modern furniture. Classical design is considered as the desire to 15 16 (AirBnb) (Normal Room)/ 19 | P a g e highlight you financial status and therefore is not appreciated by national traditions and social rules. Other common feature is sympathy to worm but mild colors that are closely mirror the color of the nature and bring sun during the long winters. To continue the discussion about it is worth mentioning the most favored materials are wood, glass and sometime chromed metal. In the picture bellow you can see the typical examples of the interior of the Scandinavian countries. Due to that fact the Italian furniture manufacturers are not highly present in the countries. Figure 8:Norwegian and Finish apartments (AirBnb) (Normal Room) The other major destination of the Italian furniture manufacturers are Germany and France. The consumer of those countries would anyway have the preferences toward the classic design and more concentrated in big malls distribution .The last tendency is in direction of modern furniture design. Consumers in Germany for instance would highly appreciate the advanced technical functionality in office furniture; they are very attention to different technical modification that broadens functional capacities of the future. What concerns home future, French consumers like Barocco, country styles, they keen on traditional lines, reach accessories and high décor. One of the most popular furniture style is Province- the countryside furniture, made of natural wood, richly decorated by the floral ornaments and pastel colors. 20 | P a g e Figure 9: Console: examples of French preferred styles (Franco Mario Furniture shop) The other interesting feature is the presence of small cupboards around 100 -150 cm high, which is very frequently placed under the window. In the system f distribution, the rather particular feature is a furniture purchase via the distributor catalogue or modern website catalogue. This feature is not commonly spread in other countries, like Italy for instance, where people are still keen on previous furniture expectations in the showroom or other sales point. The shared experience of the both expertise identify the week Italian furniture presence in the North and South American market. It is partially explained by own strong furniture industry. However, I would like as well to consider this market for some consumer choice differences. US consumers are in favor of modern design of the furniture geometric shapes and new construction. They value lot functionality and technologically advanced pieces of furniture, widely using the high tech materials-plastic, glass and metal. Pragmatic Americans prefer a direct light therefore they would most probably choose the small light points. A good example of the office furniture market: America consumer would prefers minimalist, bold color set that perform uniquely functional role, where in European office it is quite often to see high palette of colors, particular design d even decorating elements. Even home kitchen furniture should be a suitable carcass for the all massive and numerous technical equipment they keen to use in their daily life, with a massive electronic panels. On the other hand the South America region is quite coloristic and individualistic in their tastes of the home decors. Thus they prefer bright colors natural materials like dark wood, stones and very often use small ceramics to decorate their apartments. The furniture in these houses would be 21 | P a g e dominantly of country style, with reach plant ornaments, curved lines and intensity of colors. They like both excessive accessories at home and rather intense décor on the furniture itself. Figure 10:Mexican apartments (AirBnb) The other two major Italian furniture export markets are Russia and East countries. As have been mentioned by Mrs. Nieddu in his interview, the Russian consumers became the main target market for the Italian producers. Therefore, we would like to see in more details how the Russian consumer is different from the other markets. The Russian consumer has different tastes and like different furniture style, but what is very common is the desire to show off welfare. In any case the majority of Russian consumers would prefer classic style, Barocco, elegant line, rich decorations, and noticeable design-all in one everything that can be suited under the category expensive and noticeable. Italian designer to adapt to the test, would abandon its characteristic minimalism, and create the items rich of decorations in gold, silver shiny accessories and complex ornaments and glamorous textiles. They like to demonstrate their social status, because the Russians buying Italian furniture belong to medium and above medium social classes. The high attention is given to details, decoration in leather, shinning crystals, natural woods and stones elements. One of the peculiarities of the market is love to accessories from expensive row materials like statues, lamps etc. 22 | P a g e Concerning the color, dark solid glance colors, which create the filling of stability and power, are in most favor. Natural dark wood color, black, viola silver and gold color are at demand on the market. In contrast to Scandinavian countries, where the simplicity of lines, geometric forms prevails in the interiors Russian design and furniture would be full organic ornament, curvet lines, multilayers and combination of different materials. Figure 11: examples of Russian preferred styles (Giancarlo Nieddu) The combination of different styles is very common for the Russian consumer. They can easily pool together the classic design, with modern accessories and Asiatic carpets. This is one of the major advantages of the new and growing market- is a there space for many market players and consumer childish trust to made in Italy brand representatives. East countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain etc. are the famous advocates of the strong cultural influence on their daily life. Furniture sector and consumers furniture preferences are not exclusions. The preferences of the upper-class buyers are in the classic style or mix between the last one with traditional elements, highly appreciated also rococo-barocco style. Among the most popular material natural, fine wood in dark colors, richly decorated by golden ornaments and combined with metal and glass accessories or furniture element. With regards to the office furniture Mr. Zamarco, has shared couple of examples of national peculiarities. For example, all 23 | P a g e the office tables should supported by a front panel which allows to cover the female legs from possible observation, or the other example where the chairs and arm-chairs are preferred with non-metallic armrest to avoid the eventual discomfort during high temperature. On of other interesting example can be semi –obligatory p ese e of the s all ta le e t to the a age ’s main desk. This one serves to as guest table on which the tea is usually served. 24 | P a g e Conclusions The furniture industry is an example of the good for which external look can be the one of most ТmporЭКnЭ МrТЭОrТК Пor ЭСО МonЬumОrЬ’ МСoТМО КnН КЭ ЭСО ЬКmО Эo ЛО onО oП ЭСО МompОЭТЭТvО poаОrЬ for the companies. Central to these strategic decisions by organization is an understanding of the degree to which standardized product can be offered unchanged or whether they need to be adapted to local markets. DОЬpТЭО ЭСО ПКМЭ oП СТРС ЬpООН РloЛКlТгКЭТon, МonЬumОr’Ь Пorm НТППОrОnЭ РОoРrКpСТМКl гonОЬ Нo vКrв their behavior under the cultural context. This might be seen as a barrier for a quick entrance, to overcome this barriers Italian furniture manufacturers have developed have deeper understanding of local cultures and their influence upon purchasing behavior. With regards to the different design perception by the clients in Russia, Germany or Scandinavia, the companies have acquired enough knowledge about what is most frequently bought in those markets and they have developed their response to the series of requirement . Firstly, their principal force is a close contact with a client, sales representatives perform a role of a personal purchase assistant, carefully following and monitoring the requirement and wishes of the consumer. Secondly, the district organization allows companies to specialize not only on the specific furniture type production but also to subdivide the processes of the production. In this way there is always a possibility to change , adapt the final look of the product, its color, finishing etc. In addition to that , the collaboration of the different companies that work in the interior design industry and close location of the last ones, are allowing for the companies to adapt somehow personalized service for the any consumer wish. To sum up the said above, I would like to mention that despite the diminishing influence of the culture on the phenomena of aesthetic taste, it cannot be undervalued. There are still slight differences in color, material, texture , styles that taken into account can serve as an additional competitive tool for the furniture manufactorers. 25 | P a g e Bibliography ,А . : я . 2011. <http://realty.mail.ru/articles/6036/osobennosti_nacionalnogo_interera_pochemu_rossija_ne_evropa/>. я, И .И . 2010. <http://www.deltacredit.ru/kvartal/print.php?id=4304>. « ». я . 1 08 2010. <http://www.neg.by/news/9279.html>. AirBnb. <www.airnb.com>. AroаoЬoРО, O.E.G. КnН N.T. TОО. "EvКluКЭТon oП МonЬumОrЬ’ МСoТМО oП аooНОn НТnТnР." African Journal of Biotechnology 9.Academic Journals (2010): 3109-3115. Camera dei deputati. "I distretti produttivi e tecnologici." 30 September 2010. <http://www.camera.it/561?appro=92&I+distretti+produttivi+e+tecnologici>. CBI Market Information Database. "CBI Market Survey: THE DOMESTIC FURNITURE MARKET IN ITALY." 2006. Creusen, Mariëlle E.H. and Jan P.L. Schoormans. "The Different Roles of Product Appearance in." n.d. CSIL. 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" АЦИ А И" И А. <http://www.multiservice.kg/stili-interera/neskolko-strok-o-natsionalnosti-interera.html>. . я я : . <http://telepat09.ru/kuhni.html>. 26 | P a g e Appendix Table 2: National Characteristic of the interior design Interior traditions Moto Type of the space Color/patte rns Wall, floor, ceiling, decorations Japanese Furniture Light Decoration Rationality simplicity elegance Open space, freed Light, smooth surfaces Furniture of the different height forms the natural wood and other wooden species. Mild light Minimal, textile drawing Spain Bright , emotional, comfort Small functional space Natural colors, warm and light brownish, Red and golden accents. Patterns, ethnic, pictures with birds. Pastel colors, Accent on the yellow, green. Floristic ornaments Light walls, the floor is covered by ceramic mosaic Massive wooden or metal furniture. A lot of light Italian Bright , emotional, comfort Small functional space Beige, green, golden orange., geometric patterns Wooden furniture with a huge amount of details A lot of light French Luxury , elegance, comfort Comfort matter more than space Saturated viola, cherry colors, bright red, and beige, Brightly colored walls, decorated floor for colored ceramic mosaics, stones, wooden girders on the ceiling The walls are decorated. Woods are colored in light colored or covered Interior textile, statues, ceramics, metal, colored glass dishes, photos, souvenirs. Souvenirs, reach accessories, Moreno glass, interior textile Wooden , of the light colours furniture with a great amount of The preferences in the excessive and elegant lightning Affection to a small details, accessories and statues. 27 | P a g e English Aristocracy, classics, functionalit y Scandinavia Simplicity, minimalism n Asian ( Bright emotionalit y golden. Lilia patterns, laces by the transparent color, Classicism, huge multilevel and multifunct ional space divisions Spaciousn ess, functionali ty, rationality All nuances of the red, yellow, green, crème.Patte rns lines, squares. High ceiling, decorated with elegant chandelier Shades of beige and gray. Patterns: geometric shapes Wooden light floors, light walls The small space Blue, yellow, red. metallic decorations . Preferences to a small tables and small chairs. Fireplace, carved staircase, furniture, leather, velvet and wood, the library Light wood furniture (functional and simple, easy to assemble) systemsТ Narrow windows in the house. Light point system and lamps with shade Preference is given to natural light. Popular fixtures (lots of) The walls are Minimum Diffuse, decorated of furniture. muted light. with rough trunks are Tissue and plaster. Floor popular forged is decorated fixtures with carpet Interior textiles, tableware made of porcelain, paintings, photograph s Almost no decoration (interior is textile) Ethnic dishes, musical instruments , rugs, pillows, coins, etc. я) 28 | P a g e