Did you ever stop to think exactly what you’re paying for when you purchase a living room, bedroom, or dining group–or any piece of furniture for that matter? Most people don’t stop to consider that there’s a lot built into the retail price of a piece of furniture–whether on sale or not–beyond the actual cost of manufacturing the furniture itself and the profit the retailer gets.
Production costs are just the starting point on which a host of other ancillary expenses are piled before the retailer can factor in their profit margin and determine the price they need to charge–or said another way, the price you’ll need to pay!
Once furniture is produced, it’s shipped from the factory to a furniture store or to a distribution warehouse where it awaits delivery to a retail store. Generally speaking, shipping costs add about 15% to 20% to the cost of the merchandise the retailer pays.
Manufacturing and shipping costs are unavoidable and represent the true cost of the merchandise. But there are a lot of other expenses factored into the ultimate retail price of furniture. Those added expenses are best classified as the “cost-of-doing-business”, and they are many for a traditional furniture retailer–especially for the “big guys”! They are the expenses the retailer must recoup before they can make a profit. In other words, costs/expenses that are built into the price you pay whether the item you purchase is “on sale” or not!
Traditionally, even smaller local furniture stores must have big showrooms if they’re displaying any significant amount of furniture at all because furniture is generally big, and traditionally it takes a lot of space to showcase (at least until Speedy Furniture came along). Large furniture showrooms are nice, but they add a tremendous amount to the overall cost factored into the price you pay!
First, consider just the cost of the showroom building itself–the rent/mortgage payment, insurance, taxes, and the maintenance expenses associated with it are proportionate to the size and “fanciness” of the showroom. The larger the showroom and the fancier it is, the larger the expenses and, therefore, the larger the “cost-of-doing-business” factored into the price of the items it showcases.
What’s inside the showroom piles on even more expenses! It takes a lot of heat to heat it, a lot of air conditioning to cool it, a lot of inventory to fill it, and a lot of personnel to run it–all expenses that must be factored into the overall product prices!
I wish I could say the expense pile-on ends there! But it doesn’t! There’s another huge cost generator not as visible, and those are the expenses associated with warehousing inventory. Warehouse expenses are similar in their magnitude to showroom expenses–rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, taxes, maintenance, and personnel! Stocking furniture is not cheap!
Finally, there’s one more cost-generator to consider; and that is expenses associated with delivery of merchandise sold. Expenses like trucks, insurance, vehicle maintenance, fuel, and delivery personnel add up to a lot of expense not nearly covered by the delivery fees most stores charge! (And, by the way, for those stores that tell you delivery is free–ask them who pays for their trucks, insurance, fuel, maintenance, and delivery personnel? Whether they admit it or not–“it’s in the price”!)
As you can see, traditionally, the “cost-of-doing-business” in the retail furniture business is excessive and prohibitive to offering genuine low prices. However, Speedy Furniture has re-engineered the traditional retail furniture business model to strip away much of the price-increasing “cost-of-doing-business” without sacrificing selection!
With signature display techniques that blend hi-tech with hi-touch, Speedy Furniture stores can showcase more for far less than any traditional furniture store! We’ve brought furniture retailing into the 21st Century, and the savings are huge and are passed on to you!
So, yes, whether it’s the traditional model or the Speedy model, “it’s in the price”! Traditional furniture stores’ excessive “cost-of-doing-business” is “in the price” as higher prices, and Speedy Furniture’s significant “cost-of-doing-business” savings are also “in the price” as lower prices–low prices that beat other stores’ sale prices everyday! We guarantee it!
When we say, “We’re designed to save you money,” we mean it! It’s not just a saying–stop in, and we’ll prove it!
