Patio Furniture Buyers Guide and Reviews

Store name: BackYardCity.com
Website: www.backyardcity.com

Description: This is another internet only store. I think they drop ship all their orders from manufacturers. This is pretty much a store that resells other products. The selection is average along with the site design and usage. The prices appear competitive to other stores selling the same items. I would only buy from this store if the price was less than other stores or I could not find the items anywhere else.

Type of store: Internet Only

Types of products: Patio furniture selections include Benches, Swings, Chairs, Tables, Adirondack, sheds, sets and many other products related to pool, outdoor furniture. The patio furniture is made from all kinds of materials including teak, cedar, redwood, recycled plastic, aluminum and others.

Customer Service: Their customer service average. The customer service policies are very much what you would expect from the industry.

Sales Knowledge: Average.

Quality: Good, they do not manufacture any products, just drop ship from other companies.

Shipping: Good, most all products shipped on time.

Price: Good

Selection: Good

Notes: There is not much detail about the store or who they are on the website, just the product information. I called the store to get some information and the sales staff was not very helpful. The person I spoke with was eager to get me off the phone if I was not going to buy something. There is average selection of products and the overall experience was average. The site design and navigation works but lacks information found on other sites. I would use this company if I could not find the products I am looking for from another vendor.

Improvements: I would try to improve the sales knowledge of the products and be willing to spend more time with customers. The person on the phone indicated more than once that they are really busy and needed to help other customers.

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Store name: PatioFurnitureUSA
Website: www.patiofurnitureusa.com

Description: This is strictly an internet store. They have a warehouse in Omaha Nebraska where they do store some of the more popular items. This internet only store is part of a larger group of stores ( netshops ) that sell just about anything and everything. There are actually several stores related to patio furniture including Adirondack, Teak Gazebos, benches, patio swings and more. Navigate to this site and then to the netshops logo to see the other stores. This company will drop ship most products directly from the manufacturer to the customer’s location. They primary shipping company is Fedex.

The sales staff and customer service handle about 200 stores. There is good knowledge of the products but not the type of knowledge a manufacturer or small reseller would have.

Type of store: Internet Only

Types of products: Patio furniture selections include Benches, Swings, Chairs, Tables, Adirondack, Gazebos, sets of all types and just about anything else related to outdoor and patio furniture. The patio furniture is made from all kinds of materials including teak, cedar, redwood, recycled plastic, aluminum and others.

Customer Service: Their customer service very good. The customer service policies are very much what you would expect form a larger store.

Sales Knowledge: Average.

Quality: Good, they do not manufacture any products, just drop ship from other companies.

Shipping: Good, most all products shipped on time. Good communication with customers.

Price: Good

Selection: Excellent

Notes: This is a very good internet store. They have good security, know how to handle customers and answer the phones on the first ring. This is a large company in that there are over 200 internet only stores they own and operate. It is like going to a big box store except using the phone. Good selection of items in many different materials. Websites are very well organized and easy to navigate.

Improvements: the one area for improvement would be the sales staff is a little more knowledgeable about their products. Their business model however makes this very difficult in that they have a sales staff that must know thousands of products in 200 stores. They would be able to direct you to some items of interest but you would be on your own to find specific items.

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Store name: Cedar Store
Website: www.cedarstore.com

Description: CedarStore is located near Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. They started business in 1992. They started making their own furniture mainly out of cedar and have grown by leaps and bond since. They have a good internet program and ships patio, garden and outdoor patio furniture worldwide. They make most of their own products locally in their factory and resell/redistribute products from other manufacturers. They have a wide selection of products, more than most other stores. They have great product knowledge for they make the patio and outdoor furniture themselves.

Type of store: brick and mortar with internet sales

Types of products: Patio furniture selections include Benches, Swings, Chairs, Tables, Adirondack, Gazebos and just about anything else related to furniture. Furniture is made primarily of cedar.

Customer Service: Their customer service very good.

Sales Knowledge: Excellent.

Quality: Good.

Shipping: Good, most all products shipped on time. There are a few times the products where on back order and took 2-3 weeks to ship. Pretty common in this industry.

Price: Good

Selection: Excellent

Notes: I like this store in that they are also a manufacturer of their products. Most stores that make their own patio and outdoor deck furniture have outstanding customer service, sales knowledge and policies. The one outstanding feature for this store is their wide selection of products. A shopper can find almost anything they need from this store. Their quality is good but the thickness of the wood is average compared to other stores. Overall, a great store.

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Store name: Applegate Furniture
Website: www.applegatefurniture.com

Description: Applegate Furniture is located in Canfield Ohio. They are a brick and mortar store that also sells on the internet. This patio furniture store is unique in that they have very good business relationships with several Amish families that build patio and outdoor furniture by hand. They bring the products down to the store once or twice a week. Applegate Furniture store then resells these products locally and via the internet. Most of the sales are local although they are trying to grow the internet business.

Type of store: brick and mortar with internet sales

Types of products: Benches, Swings, Chairs, Tables, Adirondack furniture made of cedar, poplar, recycled plastic and a few others.

Customer Service: Their customer service is the best I have found. Ask for Tiffany or Paul. See notes below.

Sales Knowledge: Excellent.

Quality: Excellent

Shipping: Good, most all products shipped on time. There are a few times the products where on back order and took 2-3 weeks to ship. Pretty common in this industry.

Price: Good

Selection: Average

Notes: This is one of the stores that I used in my business. They drop shipped all my orders for me for over 4 years or so. They have the best customer service of any of my stores that I worked with. If a product was damaged during delivery, they would replace it with no questions asked. They usually sent out a replacement part and not an entire patio furniture product.

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I once had a client that asked if I could put wheels on all the patio furniture pieces she was interested in. This was an older lady that wanted to move the patio furniture around her deck based on the season. She could not lift the heavy pieces so putting wheels on them really made sense. The customer also wanted a hole drilled in the patio tables to put an umbrella. I have had several requests for the umbrella whole but not the wheels.

I was also interested in this question so I contacted the deck furniture manufacturer and they indicated that they could put the wheels on. There would be a fee however ( $30 per piece ). Most of the big stores ( certainly all the larger manufacturers, chain stores etc ) would never accommodate this type of request. This is a good argument that purchasing outdoor deck furniture from a smaller manufacture has its’ benefits.