Why 2026 Will Reward Disciplined Furniture Retailers

Originally published January 20, 2026. This version was rebuilt from Census, the BLS December consumer price index and the Home Furnishings Association for the FIN archive, and the facts are as of that date.

Early 2026 rewarded stores that knew their numbers. Online shopping kept growing, and a policy idea out of Washington put financing, one of furniture's most important selling tools, in question.

The short version

• Online sales kept growing faster than retail overall.
• A proposed one-year cap on credit card interest rates drew pushback from furniture retailers.

Online keeps gaining

Census figures showed third-quarter e-commerce sales of $310.3 billion, up 5.1% from a year earlier and 16.4% of all retail.

Furniture shoppers were starting more of their search online even when they bought in a store. A showroom with a weak website was losing customers it never saw.

Furniture prices ease at year end

The BLS consumer price report released January 13 showed overall prices up 2.7% over 2025. The furniture and bedding index was up 3.6% from December 2024 but fell 0.4% in December, and living room, kitchen and dining room furniture dropped 1.3% for the month.

A monthly dip after a year of increases gave shoppers a little price relief. Retailers that knew their true landed costs could decide where to hold price and where to promote.

A rate cap and furniture financing

A proposed one-year cap of 10% on credit card interest rates drew a response from the Home Furnishings Association, which warned that a blanket cap could cut access to financing, especially for shoppers with weaker credit scores.

Many furniture sales close on a store card or a financing plan. If lenders pulled back on riskier borrowers, stores serving those shoppers would feel it first.

Retailers that offered more than one kind of financing, and tracked how much of their volume depended on it, were better placed whatever happened in Washington.

What discipline meant

Discipline in 2026 meant knowing where sales came from, online and on credit, and not leaning too hard on any one channel.

Related on FIN

• Furniture Shoppers Are Holding Back
• Furniture Sales Rose. Costs Are Rising Faster.

Sources

• US Census Bureau, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, 3rd Quarter 2025
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index, December 2025 (Jan. 13, 2026)
• Home Furnishings Association, HFA reacts to proposed APR limits