In 2008, for the first time, CSIL put together the profiles of the world's largest furniture retailers in a CSIL report called "Profiles of 50 major furniture retailers worldwide ". CSIL estimates that currently about 19% of worldwide furniture sales are made by "Major Furniture Retailers" which are covered in the new CSIL report. In this first edition we tried to outline the new challenges of the distribution market at a global level. The report provides rankings by geographical region (North America, Europe, Asia), detailed company profiles, financial data and full contact details on about 120 pages. The Major Retailers listed in our report have headquarters in 13 countries of which 9 are in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, UK), 2 in North America (Canada and US) and 2 in Asia (China and Japan). To draw a picture as precise as possible we considered Furniture Retail Chains (like Ikea, Rooms To Go), Department Stores (like JC Penneys, Macy's), Hypermarket Chains (like Wal Mart, Bailing Group), E-commerce, Mail Order specialists (like Otto Group) and DIY Stores (like B&Q). The report does not include furniture retailer specialised exclusively in office furniture. The total number of profiles included in the report is 54 (25 in Europe, 23 in North America and 6 in Asia). Information in the profiles includes: (i) data provided by the retailers to CSIL during interviews, during the preparation of other CSIL reports and in the course of current research work; (ii) data in company reports, particularly for companies listed on stock exchanges; (iii) information from catalogues, public relations material and websites; (iiii) sector magazines.
