With spring starting to bloom, many people are starting to think about their gardens and purchasing new garden furniture. But when is the best time to start buying? Here, we’ve revealed all the trade secrets about the best time to purchase garden furniture.
"The peak time for ordering garden furniture is actually the Easter period"
- White Stores
The Most Popular Time Of Year
Of course, the most popular time to enjoy garden furniture is the summer. But if you leave your buying this late you may find yourself disappointed. Not only will many retailers be sold out by the summer, but those that do have stock will only have limited choice left meaning you’re unlikely to get your first or even your second choice of garden furniture. Plus, this will be the tail end of the stock and you’ll find that many items won’t be delivered until September time when summer is pretty much over.
The peak time for ordering garden furniture is actually the Easter period. The days are starting to get longer and warmer and people are really starting to think about using the garden again. However, White Stores has noticed that this peak is getting earlier and earlier as the years go on.
Especially in 2021, thanks to numerous factors including the coronavirus pandemic and the global shipping crisis, lead times on garden furniture arriving are increasing and therefore it is important to order as early as possible to avoid disappointment and to avoid missing out on summer entirely.
This leads us to a commonly asked question, “will it arrive sooner than advertised?”
At White Stores we have a very accurate tracking system, with some buffers built in which take into account potential delays, in order to provide the most accurate estimated delivery date possible. So, the answer is that the date is as accurate as possible, however, the estimated date is designed to be the latest this should arrive to you. Of course, if anything changes, our customer will be the first to know and will be updated via regular tracking information emails.
Lead Times
With the British summer only lasting a couple of weeks, suppliers have to try and work out the demand for each item at the beginning of the year, with the aim being to have enough items to meet the demand but not to end up with a warehouse full of bulky stock that will not sell for the next ¾ of the year.
The lead times for new stock to arrive is approximately 3 months so once an item is sold out it can take a while to replenish the stock. White Stores keeps plenty of stock of our most popular items in our warehouse within the UK which allows us to keep up with customer demand for certain lines all year round.
When Will It Be Back In Stock?
Many of our items will never show as “out of stock” on our website and will always offer the next lead date for when the item will be next available. However, if the item is actually out of stock, that means that we currently have none on order and there could be a long wait for this item. You can enter your email address to be informed of if/when the product will be coming back into stock. An item that is not on order is not guaranteed to come back into stock at all, so registering your email address will give us an idea of how popular the item is and let us know whether it is something we should be reordering.
When Should I Order?
Taking all of the above into consideration, as well as the fact that the coronavirus pandemic has increased the number of people taking “staycations” and spending more time and money on their garden, it is important to order early on to avoid disappointment.
Our advice is that if you see something you have your heart set on, not to dither and to order as soon as you have decided that it is what you want. The longer you hold off, wondering whether there will be something better, cheaper or arriving sooner, the more likely you are to be disappointed when an item sells out.
We would recommend the months March-April are a great time to buy so that you won’t have to worry about missing out on summer altogether!
If you are unsure about ordering garden furniture online and feel you want to wait until stores reopen, we have a solution for you. Our virtual showroom tours can be booked through customer services.
