Bookings Dip After Five Quarters of Growth, But Confidence Remains Firm
The Solomon Coyle 2025-Q3 to Q4 Dealer Market Outlook Report is now available, offering the latest snapshot of business conditions and distributor sentiment across North America’s commercial furniture industry.
Key Insights from the Report:
Lingering economic uncertainty may finally be catching up with the commercial furniture channel which, after five consecutive quarters of positive growth, is showing a drop in Bookings and Backlogs as well as slowing growth in Billings. Diving in:
- When asked three months ago, dealers had predicted over 2% growth for Q3 bookings, but are subsequently reporting a 1.6% decline.
- Dealers remain optimistic for the near term, forecasting over 3% growth in Q4 before flattening out in the first quarter of 2026.
- Billings growth – which had jumped sharply last quarter to 8.8% – cooled but remained healthy at 3.9%.
- Like billings, backlogs contracted in Q3 by 1.6%
- There were no sharp changes in sector-specific pipelines but pay attention to the regional pipeline changes, which show Canadian dealers’ pipeline growth picking up considerably whereas the U.S. West continues to decline.
Distributors from across North America contributed to the quarterly Market Outlook survey, providing forward-looking data on bookings, billings, backlog, and pipeline activity. The report draws on input from 205 respondents across 171 unique distributor branches in the U.S. and Canada.
To view the current report, visit: www.solomoncoyle.com/dealer-market-outlook-report/.
For inquiries regarding participation, email support@solomoncoyle.com.