The relocations of the major companies from Romania, as more and more office buildings are delivered onto the market, could trigger an almost 20% increase in office furniture market this year.
Having reached 50 million euros last year, the office furniture is one of the most dynamic niches of its respective market.
"The office furniture market became more balanced, more settled, with major surprises unlikely occur, it reached maturity. And the maturity of tastes is also characteristic for the demands coming from Romanian companies' clients," said Bogdan Staicu, chief executive officer of Mobexpert Office, the office furniture department of Mobexpert Group, the largest player on local furniture market.
He says the most attractive clients for furniture traders are multinational companies that already have an office design culture and also a clear image on how the final assembly should look like.
"This client is very demanding and also very sensitive to fine details whose importance it learned in time," said Staicu.
Despite all these things, Romanian companies are learning from the multinationals' experience.
"Romanian corporate clients start resembling the foreign ones more and more, they are visibly more exacting every year, their demands are clearer and refer to the concept of arrangement, instead of simply purchasing separate pieces and arranging them (...)," added Staicu.
No matter if its about multinationals or Romanian companies, the recipe is similar - imported furniture for the headquarters and for top management's offices.
"Generally, multinationals prefer imported furniture for the Bucharest-based headquarters, while for the production facilities and for the spaces dedicated to public relations and with lower representation, they prefer furniture made in Romania," believes Cristian Florea, chairman of Samas Office Romania, a joint venture between local producer GreenForest and Austrian group Samas, specialised in office furniture production.
Although imports are preferred both by multinationals and by local players, it is the design that makes the difference.
"Romanian companies are more conservative regarding furniture design, whereas multinationals go for an up-to-date design, according to the company's international standard. Moreover, the open space arrangements are much more frequent in multinationals," added Cristian Florea.
Under the circumstances, the headquarters' appearance has become an increasingly important part of the business.
Demand for office furniture has been rising continually for a few years, with the market growing by some 20% in the first six months of the year alone, against the similar period of last year, according to data provided by Corporate Office Solutions company.
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