Recently, the American furniture retailer Havertys, established in 1885, released the financial report for the first quarter of 2021 as of March 31 this year. The report shows that the company's sales in the first quarter were US$236.5 million, an increase of 31.8% from US$179.4 million in the same period last year; same-store sales increased by 11.5%.

The company' s quarterly net profit was US$19.41 million, an increase of 9.6 times from US$1.819 million in the same period last year.

It is worth mentioning that the sales expenses of Havertys in the quarter as a percentage of sales fell to 46.4% from 54.4% in the same period last year, but the sales expenses increased by US$12.2 million. On the one hand, this is because the company has increased incentives for its sales staff and increased the bonus commission; on the other hand, the increase in sales has also driven the increase in sales expenses and transportation and delivery costs.

Clarence H. Smith, CEO of Havertys, said: "Starting from the second quarter of 2020, the market demand for home furnishings has grown rapidly, and this trend has not slowed down. In the first quarter of this year, our written orders have increased. A quarter-on-quarter increase of 10.8%. At present, we are addressing the needs of employee recruitment and discussing with major suppliers on ways to deal with supply chain challenges, so as to reduce our backlog of orders and grasp future delivery expectations.

"We are also discussing with suppliers about price increases, which will affect our retail prices and product mix. Although product costs and shipping costs have risen, given that consumers recognize the quality of the products and services we provide, the gross profit margin is still at a relatively high level (Editor' s note: the gross profit margin in the first quarter increased from 55.5% in the same period last year to 57.1%)."