Huge difference in SOHO savvy of furniture versus equipment

Furniture seems an afterthought ... home workers are more knowledgeable about office equipment.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI-In terms of brand recall, there's a huge gap between furniture and equipment used in home offices. Consumers are likely to know the brand name of their computer, for instance, but they probably have no idea which company made their desk or chair.

That was among the findings in the spring 1998 installment of HOME OFFICE TRENDS(TM), a research study conducted by Wirthlin Worldwide that tracks developments affecting home offices. The study is based on telephone interviews with a representative sample of more than 1,000 U.S. households.

"Furniture seems to be little more than an afterthought among many home office users," said Richard Kennedy, executive vice president of Wirthlin Worldwide, an international market research company. "Consumers appear to be far more knowledgeable-and demanding-when it comes to the equipment that powers their home office."

Here are some of the other findings uncovered by HOME OFFICE TRENDS regarding furniture and equipment used inn home offices:

Computer use. About 80 percent of home offices boast a computer. Desktop models are preferred over laptops nearly five to one.

Furniture brand recognition. No furniture manufacturer has managed to carve out a significant reputation in the home office market. About 80 percent of home office workers can't even identify the brand name of their chair or filing cabinets. As for desks, about 70 percent of home office workers don't know which company made the one they're using.

Brands of furniture used. The most popular brand name in any furnishings category was Sauder, identified as the desk of choice by five percent of respondents. HON led the filing cabinet category with a mere three percent of mentions. When it comes to chairs, however, no manufacturer was identified by more than one percent of respondents.

Brands of equipment used. Here's an overview of the market share claimed by various equipment manufacturers:

-Computers: only IBM and Packard Bell are used in at least ten percent of home offices. Together, they received only one-fourth of the vote.

-Printers: Here, HewlettPackard clearly leads the pack. It's the printer of choice in one-third of home offices, twice as many as second-place Canon.

-Copiers: Hewlett-Packard again tops the list, but doesn't hold the commanding lead it enjoys in the printer market. Used by 12 percent of home office workers, HP is just a notch above second-place Canon (11%).

-Fax machines: HP, Brother and Sharp are in a three-way race for the favor of home office workers. The three brands equally share about one-third of the market.

Number of telephone lines. Slightly more than half of consumers with a home office have more than one phone line in their house. Overall, about 36 percent of home offices are equipped with two lines, 14 percent have three and five percent have four or more.

-Internet access. Among home office users, 45 percent report having Internet access at home, up from 25 percent two years ago. Meanwhile, just 20 percent of home office users say they have no interest in gaining Internet access, down from 36 percent in 1996.

For more information about HOME OFFICE TRENDS, call (616) 954-0200.