NEW YORK -- As a growing number of cities and states across the U.S. order business closures and stay at home orders, area rug retailers expect rug sales to slow for the next six months, according to an anonymous survey by RugNews.com.

 

RugNews.com queried several independent area rug, home furnishings and flooring retailers, and national retailers in a snap survey that explored area rug expectations during the worldwide shutdowns of businesses to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe.

The majority of respondents expect the market to return to normal within the next three months, but most expect the appetite for area rugs to decrease for the next six months. Still a small handful remain cautiously optimistic anticipating demand for area rugs to increase slightly in the next six months.

 

Survey respondents, the majority of which were still open for business at the time they responded, said that they plan to source and buy new area rugs, with an equal number saying they will purchase rugs for their stores in the next month or in the next one to three months. One independent retailer will not purchase new rugs and is permanently shuttering its business due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Most surveyed independent rug and flooring retailers and national chain will wait a month or between three and six months before they will begin purchasing new rugs.

 

According to the survey, the majority will or might source new spring 2020 area rug designs remotely by working via email and browsing vendor online catalogs, with some indicating they will also learn more about new rug designs by watching vendor product and showroom-tour videos and requesting samples.

As India begins a 21-day nationwide lockdown of businesses and residents on March 23, and Turkey begins instituting more restrictive measures on businesses, travel and residents, American rug vendors are losing two of their most valuable sources of production.

And closer to home, most surveyed retailer respondents are already experiencing a "slight disruption" to their supply and distribution systems, with a handful reporting "major disruptions" as business offices and facilities across the U.S. close.