Why is furniture so expensive?

[Parm]

I've had a look in the Argos catalogue and there is some nice looking stuff, but how can anyone buy a sofa without sitting on it first?

Think Animus hit the nail on the head; "The problem is if you want nice furniture it costs..."

Just didn't think it'd be quite this expensive - and quite limited too, a lot of the stores seem to sell the same stuff, or slight variations of the same stuff. Gonna have to take a trip to IKEA, see what's on offer.

Thanks for some of the store suggestions - I'd not heard of some of them!

[TheAnimus]

i think theres an Ilva in manchester if you ever have course to find yourself up that way. Like Ikea in many ways.

[Steve B]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...uk-854382.html
is this true?

[IBM]

Give me a call. We do custom made furniture at a fraction of the cost of UK based stuff (mostly because it's produced overseas and takes about 12-16 weeks....we call it the wholesale model, you get the reduction in price, but you also get the extended lead times.)

Furniture costs because of the overheads. It might only cost them £300 to produce, but then they've got to ship it, store it, transport it within the UK, cover the costs of the admin staff, the sales staff, the support staff, the managerial staff, the rent, utilities etc. etc. etc. It all adds up, and most people who don't run businesses don't really think through the costs involved.

We're cheaper because it's a small family run business, secondary showroom location, and because we buy direct from the producers. If you're interested give me the details and we'll give you a 3D rendering and a no obligation price.

Some of our stuff (but it's not entirely up to date) can be found here http://www.cantik.co.uk

I couldn't anticipate a unit like that costing more than £450...if not less.

[Steve B]

that's what I liked about your shop when I first looked at the website IBM: everything is solid wood.
You go to a large furniture retailer now and it's all chipboard with veneer and it's crap. It's also almost as expensive as a solid wood equivalent.

[TheAnimus]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...uk-854382.html
is this true?

In all honesty i've no idea, pity i've found them to be a very good company to deal with, they screwed up a delivery, was only half there. I rang them up (this was at 10am) said that i'd taken a day off work, and was rather upset. They hired some Man with Van, and he'd picked up the stuff from them in east london, and was on his way to me within 2 hours. Impressive management, its when something goes wrong like taht you see how good they are.

[IBM]

that's what I liked about your shop when I first looked at the website IBM: everything is solid wood.
You go to a large furniture retailer now and it's all chipboard with veneer and it's crap. It's also almost as expensive as a solid wood equivalent.

Not everything is solid wood unfortunately, because sometimes we offer decorative surfaces that simply couldn't be carved into solid sheets without charging 50x what we do. But even then we use 2nd grade teak and mahogany for the structure (industry standard is chipboard or 3rd grade wood), with 10-15mm veneer (industry standard is 3mm) which gives you a beautifully finished product.

Although big companies have economies of scale to work in their advantage, they still have massive overheads to cover. In the end, unless they're a prestige marque, it means they have to cut corners and put up their prices. We're happy to make a living out of it, so keep the quality up and the prices low. Plus I get to go to Indonesia once a year to visit the suppliers....It's all good.

[format]

I just bought a couch for my room and another couch for my living room, both leather.
£50 for the 3 seater, and £75 for the 2 seater.
Both second hand, really good condition.

I love my bedroom couch too...

[char.aug]

You just have to shop for furniture in the right places.
Do a research on-line to see who delivers in your region.

[Disturbedguy]

Your first post and you spam a 2 year old thread?

[EvilMunky]

edit: apologies for continuing the spam of a year old thread. Still, I like my theory!

I have a little theory about furniture, and infact all things expensive that we need.

It's based on a cost per man hours used or miles travelled basis. When I buy a book I spend maybe 6 or 7 quid from a shop (yes yes, library / second hand / amazon etc, but hear me out) Maybe I get about 6 or 7 hours of reading from it. £1 per hour. Not bad.

When I see a film in the cinema, it costs me £8. I am in there for maybe 2.5 hours. Thats about £3.20 per hour.
When I get the train to work, I actually have a yearly season ticket which costs a f...shed load of money. However for the amount of days I actually use it, that equates to about £18 quid a day. Each day I travel about 110 miles therefore i think (unless my maths is that bad) thats like 16p a mile ish. Again, not bad.

Now take into account a sofa. Lets say for example you pay £2000. Lets says you sit on it for 2 hours a day each day of the year. Maybe you keep the sofa for 3 years. Thats 2190 hours or so. Something like 90p an hour. Sounds a little expensive. But maybe there are two of you who use the sofa. 40p an hour each. Maybe you use it more than that, I know I do. Drops the price even more. Which in my mind makes it quite good value.

Anyway, that's just my theory!

[Funkstar]

I'm with you on that EvilMunky. That's why I didn't mind spending what I did on my new sofa recently. I know it will last me 5 years +. Although because I am away a lot, the number of hours used will be a lot less than for others, especially as there is only me using it.

[scaryjim]

... because I am away a lot, the number of hours used will be a lot less than for others, especially as there is only me using it.

But that means it will wear last, so should last you longer...

[Steve A]

They are all robbing bas***, but its a funny story none the less

November - went shopping for a bed for the little Lad, didnt want anything flash as hes at the night time and no nappy training stage. Seen a bed £100 inc Mattress, i thought great, but i'll wait till next month til the sales are on.

January 4th - Went back to the shop as they had upto 50% off ... hmmm great the bed we were after had a 50% label on it


errr was £199 now £100 . . . . . . . i had to laugh, and asked the guy wtf was going on, he said errr ohh it must have been on offer last time ...... yeeeeeeeeer right,

sorry i really wanted to share that with you because it has been bugging me for weeks.

Thanks Hexus for letting me get that off my chest ... lol

[Flibb]

Now take into account a sofa. Lets say for example you pay £2000. Lets says you sit on it for 2 hours a day each day of the year. Maybe you keep the sofa for 3 years. Thats 2190 hours or so. Something like 90p an hour. Sounds a little expensive. But maybe there are two of you who use the sofa. 40p an hour each. Maybe you use it more than that, I know I do. Drops the price even more. Which in my mind makes it quite good value.

Anyway, that's just my theory!

If your wearing a sofa out in 3 years your doing more than sitting on it. Dirty monkey

[TheAnimus]

Who dosen't lounge on theirs