Important factors when ordering outdoor furniture online
Shopping for patio furniture on the Internet allows you to discover new brands and stores that aren’t found in your local area. Viewing product lines offered by retailers across the country (or globe) can inspire and inform your purchase decisions. However, buying online comes with its own set of challenges. This section of our guide briefly covers key factors to consider when visiting a store via your laptop or phone versus traditional brick-and-mortar locations.
Color & Texture
Product photos displayed on websites and viewed on backlit screens tend to make colors look brighter than they are. If possible, request fabric, wood and metal samples to accurately gauge the true color, weight and feel of the materials. It’s surprising how a tactile experience can impact your perception of color and quality. Swatches may be individual or part of larger rings or booklets.
Comfort
Online-only retailers don’t have a physical location to see seating items in person. Consider seeking manufacturer showrooms or brick-and-mortar stores that also carry the items to test the comfort level. If there’s no convenient location, search for online reviews from customers who have already purchased them. They may be able to provide personal insight. It’s less of an issue for chairs or benches with metal or wooden seats that may have removable seat cushions. However, upholstered loungers and sofas may vary greatly in support and comfort.
Assembly
Do items come complete or is some assembly required? Sometimes, to minimize shipping costs, manufacturers ship tables and chairs disassembled in a flat container (i.e. knocked down). These ready-to-assemble (RTA) products are like many of the furniture pieces you might buy at IKEA. Be sure that there are plenty of instructional documents and videos to help you. Pay close attention to any specialized tools that may be required.
Shipping Costs & Service
Unless you’re shipping small items, most patio furniture is going to ship via a freight carrier. Less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping can be very expensive. This is especially true if you order heavy items like steel-framed sofas or cantilever outdoor umbrellas with cement bases. Most online retailers offer free shipping, but that’s typically for curbside delivery. You’re responsible for getting the items from the street through your doorway and to their final destination.
Premium Shipping
If you have physical limitations or want to avoid throwing out your back, you might enquire about additional services. White Glove services (sometimes called Final Mile), for example, move everything from the truck to your preferred location. They can perform light assembly and remove the packaging. Complex assembly for items like cantilever umbrellas and shade structures is typically outside their capabilities. These premium delivery services cost extra but that can be negotiated into a volume purchase price. The increase in e-commerce and delivery of high-value items has spurred growth in demand for White Glove services with a CAGR of 12.7% through 2020. Unfortunately, White Glove may be unavailable in some areas.
Availability & Lead-time
Most online retailers don’t have a physical location where they store inventory and coordinate shipments. Instead, they drop-ship items from manufacturers’ warehouses to your residential or commercial location. Consequently, online retailers are beholden to the stock levels maintained by manufacturers. During the Spring and Summer months, most patio furniture manufacturers carry high volumes to meet seasonal demand.
Best-Sellers vs Custom Orders
Manufacturers often have “quick ship” programs with even higher stock levels for their best sellers or quicker restocking. Slower-selling items are kept in lower quantities. With all the custom option combinations, manufacturers cannot maintain high availability for everything. As you evaluate brands and specific items, know your customization may take 12-14 weeks to deliver. Even common out-of-stock items could take 4-8 weeks, as many manufacturers ship from Europe, Asia or Australia.
Return Policy
Virtually all manufacturers will replace or repair defective items, or those that break down while under warranty, free of charge. You’ll probably have to take a few digital photos and deal with some back and forth communication. However, the exchange process is not too painful, assuming the replacement is in stock.
Subjective Returns
Subjective returns are another matter. If your order includes items with custom options, subjective returns are probably not allowed. It’s likely that few other want that exact combination. Additionally, woodgrains, weathering and marble patterns are going to vary from piece to piece. Consequently, most manufacturers won’t allow returns for slight variations from product photography. Those that do charge fees for the return.
Typically, there is a restocking fee that is calculated as a percentage of the sale price. You’re also responsible for shipping charges both ways. This includes returning the items to the manufacturer, and also the cost the retailer incurred to ship them to you. Free shipping is certainly not free to the online retailer. They’re willing to absorb the cost and subtract it from their margin for the entire order. However, they won’t be out of pocket should you decide that the tangerine sectional sofa you bought doesn’t quite match the orange color of the marigolds in your backyard.
Customer Service & Reviews
There’s a huge difference in customer service quality between online retailers. Some stores have call centers with people who simply take messages and forward them to knowledgeable personnel. Eventually, you may get great information, but it could take a few days for them to get back to you. Others only provide information that is already available on their website. Or worse, there is no phone number and you can only correspond with their AI assistant. Why is it that the options they provide never seem to be exactly what you’re looking for?
Top Notch Support
The best online retailers provide customer service that is responsive, thorough, flexible, reliable and committed. If you’re investing in high-quality patio furniture, you will likely have many questions and want to work with someone who goes above and beyond to ensure you have the information you need in a timely manner. It’s a big investment, so it’s important that you feel confident about the items and trust your retail partner.
Are they available nights and weekends? Can they provide volume discounts? If so, how quickly do they respond to requests for quotes (RFQs)? Do they keep customers up to date throughout the process? How do they interact once the order is delivered? Some retailers seem to disappear once the delivery has been made. Look for online retailers who follow up to ensure all pieces arrive safely and respond as you have questions post-purchase. Ask how they work with customers and look at testimonials and reviews from past customers.
Online support can also help you source replacement parts should components break or canopy fabric and upholstery cushions wear out.
An informed customer is a prepared one
Purchasing luxury patio furniture is an investment that should not be made without research and preparation. You’re ready to make a well-informed decision, if you made it through our entire buying guide. Choosing the right furnishings and retail partner will make enjoying your al fresco dining or patio lounge arrangements easier and without worry.
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