Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Knowing Who Are You buying Patio Furniture From?

Introduction
It is very important to know who you buying patio furniture from? By knowing who is selling your patio furniture, then your expectation will be different. You will expect differently if you buy from the Manufacturer Website, the Internet Retailer Website, Affiliate Website or buy from Mom and Pop Website.
It can be difficult who you are buying your garden furniture from.
Some people thought that we are the manufacturer but in fact we only carried their brand name. Customers assumed we had stocks inventory for the merchandises we sell, but in fact we don't and only order from the manufacturer when we got the order. They thought that we are the shipping company but in fact the manufacturer ship directly from there warehouse to the customer. We call drop-shipping arrangement which is very popular practice since to carry everything is not possible and will cost a lot of money for huge inventory and capital.

So my question to you, How do you know who you are buying garden furniture from? Or what kind of website you are buying from?

Manufacturer Website
Most patio furniture manufacturers do not sell their furniture directly to general public because they know it is not fair to their retailers or dealers. If they sell directly to the public then this action will destroy their incentive and no retailers or dealers want to sell their products anymore. But, if you can buy directly from the manufacturer, there are some advantages which you have no middle man and as a result the products they sell is sometime cheaper. Buying products from the manufacturer can save you a lot of frustration.

However, the disadvantage of buying from the manufacturer is that you have no space to negotiate when it comes to problems. Usually, the middle man will help you solve the problem and talk to the manufacturer. Since he or she has more bargaining power as their reseller compare to you as a customer. You can also talk to manufacturer if the middle man will not help you or use this technique to complain to the manufacturer about the middle man.

Internet Retailer Website
Internet Retailer Website only sell on the internet. They do not carry stock / inventory. Many operate the business from a home and others have a set an office with employees in home.

An Internet Retailer operates by taking order on their website, and then follow up the order by placing the same order what the customer buy to their supplier. The supplier can be the manufacturer or the authorized distributor. The supplier will handle the order and ship to the customer which this arrangement called drop-shipping. Forward the tracking number and all the shipping information to the Retailer. Most of the Retailer get this tracking number from the supplier but do not forward it to the Customer. As a customer you should ask them so that you can track them down and schedule to receive the merchandise when possible.

Mom & Pop Website
A small business may be defined as a business with a small number of employees. The term "mom and pop business" is a common colloquial expression for a single-family operated business with few (or no) employees other than the owners. Many Mom & Pop business have their own website and ship products from their own warehouse. They have more manufacturer leverage than the Internet Reseller, and they also manage to ship the order for you. They behave like a manufacturer and if manage professionally, they become the best of both worlds.

The disadvantage of doing business with Mom & Pop store comes when online sales are only a small percentage of their business. You may tell from their website which have poor coordination, broken links, poor navigability and difficult to find it in the search engine due to lack of knowledge in search engine technique. As a result, tracking down orders and after sales service sometime is a problem for them. However, I have seen so many Mom & Pop stores are professionally managed which I would like to introduce to you later.

Affiliate Website
Affiliate Website does not sell any product, it only redirect your click to either one of the 3 kinds mentioned above. You won't know until suddenly your click is forwarded to somebody website. There is nothing wrong with this practice which now becoming common and acceptable. Affiliate website owner make their money from commissions.

So.... Which One Are We?
We are a little bit of everything. Everything that good for the Customer. This is that describes about us.
1. We are one of the few manufacturers that provide you with all the products.
2. We are an Internet Retailer Website that deal with reputable manufacturers and provide an excellent service.
3. We are a Mom & Pop store with professional employees who dedicate for Retailer Website.
4. We affiliate with other reputable and well known Suppliers to get the most complete patio products for our customers.
5. We do Research and provide Report about patio furniture for our customers so that customers don't have to do their own research.
6. We don't mark-up the price or take any $$ from the customers. All price are the same as the retailer price list.

In Conclusion
In our experience, most orders go as we expect. It is normal, if Customers want to get good quality products, excellent services and reasonable price. However, orders occasionally go wrong. It can be different expectation of the products, can be damage caused by the freight company, or even difficult when comes to assembly the products. Anything can happen. The best advice you can follow is not to choose one kind of business over another, but simply to understand who you are buying from. If you want more personal service, find an Internet Retailer who will deal with problems when its appear; If the products show the manufacturer's brand makes sure you do your homework and have some researches about the manufacturer policies; If you don't like to deal with a middle-man, purchase from the Mom & Pop Website.

P.S.: Be sure to tell your friends about us.