Office chair and couch demand is back. That’s good for one furniture maker.

livemint.com:

Businesses and shoppers who for the last two years pulled back on outfitting their homes and offices are back to buying chairs, couches and desks, which may be a boon for furniture maker MillerKnoll. The global design company, which sells everything from Eames chairs to desks, rugs and lamps under the brands Herman Miller, Knoll and Design Within Reach, for the first time in a couple of years saw organic order growth in the three month-period ended June 1. For differing reasons, two of MillerKnoll’s major customer groups slowed their furniture-buying in recent years.

Businesses cut plans to order office equipment when workplaces emptied during the pandemic, a drop-off that lingered in the face of hybrid work. Meanwhile, consumers who bought furniture with abandon in the early days of Covid pulled back as the economy and a frozen housing market in the U.S. put a damper on home-improvement purchases.

MillerKnoll executives have been working to spur orders. While revenue was down 7% in the latest quarter from the previous year, organic orders—a measure that strips out the effects of currency fluctuations, acquisitions and disposals, and an extra week in fiscal 2023—rose. And it’s starting in two important areas: corporate clients in the Americas, which make up about 50% of MillerKnoll’s revenue, and global retail customers.

“We’re reaching a point of inflection," said Chief Financial Officer Jeff Stutz. “Growth in this industry is never a convenient straight line—there tends to be some fits and starts at the early part of a recovery—but we’ll take it," he said. “And we have to keep that moving forward." To do that, the company is adapting to new needs from customers and expanding its offerings.