Part three.

As we have been discussing in previous articles, as to how the credit crunch may have effected the sales of cane furniture, not just in the united kingdom but around the world, has has there been price increases on the world furniture markets not just in cane but also in other products that are imported from over seas.

At Cane Direct we are not to badly off because we bought our stock more than twelve months ago, so we are able to hold our prices at the current time, but smaller companies who didn’t do this may well have to put there prices up, which in this climate is not a good idea, but they may have little choice, the knock on effect of this will cause them major problems, because they will not be as competitive as companies like Cane Direct. The other option open to them, is not to have a price increase so that they can still turn stock over, the big problem with this is that they must take a reduction in their margins, this can have a terrible long term effect. Normally this route of action can only end in one way, and that is the lost of jobs, with in there company, because some how they must try to get back the loss of margin and the only way to do this is by cutting your over heads or selling more furniture, the idea of selling more furniture in a recession is a bit of a tall order.

At Cane Direct we do not have this problem because we bought well in advance and can offer our customers cane furniture, at a great price with out putting any jobs at risk.

Part two.

On our last post we were telling you about conservatory furniture, and can it beat the credit crunch that is going on all around us at the moment, i don’t think i have met one person who is not been effected by this credit crunch that is not just happening in our country but around the globe, i have just come back from a trip to Asia, and trade is very slow there as well, i stayed at my normal hotel which is always full, on this trip most of the rooms were empty. People are just not going on buying trips or holidays.

So now is the best time to buy your new cane furniture ready for summer next year. Don’T wait until the spring when prices will go up, winter time is the slowest time of year for any one selling conservatory furniture and with the credit crunch on top of that you can get your self’s some really good deals.

At Cane Direct we sell only really good quality furniture, but as with every one else we are offering some very special prices to our customers, have a look at our web site and you will see just how good our prices really are. We do not ever buy in sale stock like a lot of companies do, they marked it up and then reduce the price to make it look like you are getting a real deal, when in fact you will be paying the same as you would have out side the sale for your conservatory furniture. So grab a real deal and shop at Cane Direct.

PART ONE.

I have put part one because i think there might be a few parts to this post, in the current climate, will the cane furniture business be affected by the credit crunch? I think that this turn down in trade will and has effected most business, at Cane Direct we have made plans for this turn down, and will get through the next twelve months which i think are going to be the hardest, we have been trading for more than fifteen years and during that time we have been through a few recessions.

We offer our customers a wide range of furniture that will suit most pockets, we also offer a very good quality product at the right price, and no matter what the climate may be people are always looking for quality products at a good price.

We do not heavily discount our products, because i truly believe this can have a real detrimentally effect on any business. At the end of the day, a business weather it is selling furniture or carrots has to make money to pay wages, bills, and all the other wonderful over heads that comes with running a business, if you start to heavily discount your margins are reduced and you run the chance of being unable to pay your bills, even though the sales might be there you still have to cover your over heads.

At Cane Direct, we purchased our cane furniture over twelve months ago and paid for it, so what this means is that our prices will remain the same and will not increase, unlike some companies who will have no choice but to put up there prices because the dollar rate. All cane furniture is purchased in dollars you see.

When looking for cane furniture with a little difference the Emirates range is particularly popular, even though it cannot be split up into individual pieces it only comes as a set, however if by any chance you did, there is no reason why some pieces could not be sold on their own.

Prices start at: £5050.00

So if it’s a light tan dessert effect that you want for your furniture then the Nevada range is what you are looking for. This is one of the popular rattan and cane suites which have become so popular in conservatories in recent years.  This particular one is made to a high quality standard with a modern look to compliment most conservatories. It is also available with matching coffee table and of course a foot stool so you can relax in comfort.

Despite the name, a Monaco Suite set of cane furniture is not based on the Grand Prix.  For many suppliers, this range sells particularly well.

It has been built with a sturdy frame and woven carefully with what is known as “sea grass”,and it certainly does look the part as it compliments a conservatory setting with a perfect finish.

Now that we arec oming in to our quiet time for cane furniture, being the winter months when people do not really use their conservatoires as much as they do in the summer, it is a good time for us at Cane Direct to get ready for next spring and to look at doing our buying of furniture and fabrics.

As we mentioned in our last post we have just finished a buying trip to Malaysia, where we picked a great new range of furniture samples which should be with us very soon. Once we have picked the furniture that we are going to run for next spring, we then need to look at the colours ans styles of fabrics that are going to be in fashion for next year, this is probably one of the hardest jobs, of putting together a new range each year.

I leave this job to my buying team and do not get involved with it at all, i have a good eye for buying the furniture because i have been doing it for more then fifteen years, but to be very honest when it comes to picking fabrics i am not very good with designs and colours, and this is probably one of the most important parts of the job, because the fabric really does set the furniture off, it is the first thing that the customer sees, and if you do not have the right fabric on your furniture the customer will not even look at your product even if its the best looking piece of cane furniture in the world.

When we talk to our customers at Cane Direct, we often find that their ideas of cane furniture are really sort of stuck in the past.  When they visit our showroom they are bewildered at the selection, styles and fabrics that are now available.

Many many years ago, cane furniture was of a quite standard design, with maybe a choice of maybe three floral type fabrics, which was all well and good and our customers were more than happy with that and many of those cane three piece suites are still around today.  The industry of cane furniture has by no means stood still with new designs appearing every season.

One of the original suites that we sold at Cane Direct many years ago was called the Bahamas Suites, which was a bucket shaped chair, with a low back and foam filled cushions.  The bases were not sprung, as with today’s style of cane furniture, but our customers were very pleased with it as there was no where near the choice we are offered today. 

Like any other industry, cane furniture is constantly reinventing itself,  with different colour cane, different weaves, and even artificial cane which is suitable for indoor and outdoor use.  Surprisingly all these type of furniture are made in the same factories.  The newer more modern styles that are coming through, in the shops at the moment are the more box shaped cane suites usually in a cream or beige fabric.  At Cane Direct we can guarantee that our styles of Cane furniture are constantly changing, and who knows, this time next year a different style of cane furniture will prevail….. and you will know where to find it wont you?

Yesterdays post was a discussion on our new range of cane furniture from Malaysia, which we recently picked our self’s just last week, well i say picked what i really mean is that we have picked the first set of samples to be sent to us, its only when we get them in to our show room here in England, that we can check over the quality and that the size of the suites are a good size for the UK furniture market, there is no point in us ordering say two hundred suites that are going to be just to big for peoples conservatories, next we have to very carefully check out the quality of the furniture, remember these products are not coming from just round the corner, they are coming from the other side of the world, and once you have ordered them, you have have to pay for them before they leave the factory, so if the quality is not up to the standard that we are use to selling at Cane Direct, you all of a sudden have a major problem.

After that we have to consider the colour of the frames and also make sure that they are OK for the English market, once we have done all of that and the sample products meet all of our requirements, we then place the order with the factory, and of course the most important bit and probable the hardest bit is to try and decide just how many of each product of cane furniture you think you might sell.

On our post the other week, we were talking about where our conservatory furniture comes from and how we choose what furniture we are going to run in our range for the following season, most of the time our furniture comes from Indonesia, which we at Cane Direct have found to be the best quality furniture, and after fifteen years in the business we should know by now what is the best quality and where it comes from.

How ever one thing that we never do is become complaisant and are always looking for new ideas and new types of furniture from different parts of the world.

I have just got back from a trip to Malaysia on a fact finding mission looking for new styles of furniture for our show room and for spring next year,i must say a did see around ten or so different factories on my trip and the cane furniture has greatly improved from the last time i was there which was about three years ago, so i have ordered some great new samples from two of the factories which should arrive here in the UK, in about four weeks time, then we will decided which colours to have the furniture made up in, in time for the new season starting which is around March next year. The new products we have chosen are really special and very different from the type of products we would normally have in stock at Cane Direct.

We feel with conservatory furniture you always need to have that new and exciting fresh look to add to your range.