In the office furniture industry, even the biggest players can’t ignore the economy if they want to show shareholders solid performance.  Knoll is currently #1 on the federal government’s list of office furniture suppliers with 2009 sales in the 121 million dollar range. However, even with this market advantage their second quarter revenue for 2010 saw a 4.9% dip. This decline impacted almost every part of their product line. According to industry blogger John Schwartz, Knoll has attempted to counter this trend by offering significant discounts on their usual office furniture prices.

Dealers benefit from these lower prices by being able to afford more inventory. Ideally, a portion of the cost savings are passed on to customers in the form of lower retail prices. Still, the cost of new office furniture is a lot for some business consumers to stomach when their own earnings are down. So, the used and refurbished office furniture markets are still a prime alternative for businesses that want truly steep discounts of 50-75% less than the cost of new items.