Why is the price difference in furniture so big?
We have all experienced it at some time or another. You go looking for a new sofa or a new dining table. At some point, you find a piece of furniture that you like. You then look at the price tag and are shocked by the price of the product. The opposite can also happen, when you come across a beautiful-looking table that is much cheaper than you would expect. Where do these price differences come from and what do they say about the quality of the product, for example?
The price of an item, and certainly the price of furniture and similar consumer goods, is actually always made up of the same components. It does not matter whether the product is expensive or cheap, the price is always a combination of several factors. The main factors that determine the cost of a table, for example, are: Material costs, design costs, labour costs and transport costs. Of course, there are other things that play a role as well, but in this way you can roughly derive the price of a product.
If you come across a product in a large furniture shop or a well-known home furnishing district, there is a good chance that the piece of furniture you have in mind can be found in several homes. The advantage of such furniture is that it is produced in large quantities. In this way, all the costs specified above are divided over a larger number of products. For example, designing a sofa set, for a very unique design object, will probably take more time than for a regular sofa. The edition of the unique sofa set might be only a few dozen. This means that the designer will have to be paid from the proceeds of a few dozen pieces. This component is obviously higher than when the sofa set is sold thousands of times.
You can go a step further and choose custom-made furniture. With this, the possibilities are incredibly flexible. Probably every wish is negotiable for the maker. Of course, the costs for this are usually very different from those for a piece of furniture in a shop. Custom work is simply very expensive, so it is wise to take this into account beforehand. If you do opt for custom-made furniture, it is wise to clearly establish the price in advance. That way you will not be faced with surprises if the product turns out to be much more expensive than agreed.
Materials such as steel and wood are extremely sensitive to price fluctuations. This is because these raw materials are very popular in various industries and the supply is not always stable. Therefore, a wooden table with steel legs, for example, will vary greatly in price over time. If wood is cheap on the world market, wooden tables will automatically become cheaper again. If wood is scarce, more has to be paid by the producer, and the scarcity increases, which also leads to a higher selling price. It may seem complicated to take this into account when buying furniture, but it is worth paying attention when you are spending a lot of money.
Another big factor in the price is the shop where you buy it. You can imagine that a large shop, with many staff and advisors, also has a lot of costs to keep the shop running. This is often because the items are sold more expensively than, for example, on the Internet. On the other hand, there is a certain amount of service, and you have somewhere to turn if you have problems with delivery, for example. It is very easy to compare prices online, but you cannot see the article in real life first. In addition, it is sometimes more difficult to get in touch with the seller if there is a problem.
If you take the time to find a good deal, a physical shop or home furnishing centre can be very interesting. Products such as tables, chairs and sofas take up a lot of space on the shop floor. If they remain unsold for too long, it is important for the shop to use that space for a product that does sell well. The product will then probably be sold out, and sometimes it is even possible to negotiate a lower price than that stated on the price tag. On the Internet, you have less of this effect, because the spaces in warehouses are less expensive.
As you can see, the price of a product is a combination of many different things. It is by no means always the case that a cheap sofa is of poorer quality than a very expensive one. It is often the case, however, that if something seems too good to be true, it is wise to at least do some research beforehand. For example, read the reviews of other consumers who have already done business with the company in question. On more and more sites it is also possible to read product reviews, specifically about a certain dining table or a sofa you have in mind. This way, you can at least read in advance whether other customers are satisfied with their purchase.
