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Outdoor furniture startup

Outdoor furniture startup

Outdoor furniture startup is a business that focuses on providing an extensive range of furniture and accessories specifically designed for outdoor use. The idea behind this business is to provide consumers with the perfect furniture pieces that are designed to withstand the elements and provide maximum comfort.

The aim is to provide customers with a range of stylish and stylishly designed furniture pieces that are designed to last for years to come. Outdoor furniture startup offers a variety of different types of furniture such as chairs, tables, loungers, benches, and more. They also offer additional accessories such as cushions, umbrellas, and more to make the outdoor area more comfortable and inviting.

The furniture pieces provided by the startup are all made from high quality materials and are designed to last for years. Additionally, they provide helpful advice and tips on how to best maintain the furniture pieces to ensure they remain in great condition.

The pros and cons of such a business

In any business, there are advantages and disadvantages. And manufacturing of garden furniture is no exception.

Let’s start with the good, with the advantages:

  • Consumer interest will only grow. More and more people want to decorate their garden plots with comfort, style, and during the period of being forced to stay at home, this interest has only increased.
  • Small start-up investment. For mini-production start-up capital is not necessary.
  • You can stand out in the market: due to the author’s collections, handmade, additional services. For example, you can not just sell furniture, and offers design projects, consulting landscape designers.
  • To start production at the start does not need a separate room, if you have a private home. You can put it in the country house, in the garage, in the household room of a private home.

There are some disadvantages:

  • High competition. The market is flooded with Chinese cheap pieces of garden furniture. It is difficult to sell their products in large hypermarkets, because a small manufacturer can not offer a competitive price.
  • Seasonality of the business. Garden furniture sells best from spring to early fall. During the colder seasons there is much less. But, during this period, you can target those consumers who have enclosed terraces, pergolas, porches.
  • Dependence on purchasing power. Since garden furniture is not an item of prime necessity, it is not bought quickly.
  • The manufacturer depends on imported components. This is not a total problem, but it is there and it must be taken into account – due to fluctuations in exchange rates, the price of consumables is also not constant.

What to produce: what furniture is bought most often

There are stationary and portable furniture. Organize a budget production of stationary garden furniture does not work – you need a minimum of one workshop, machines for making the basics, welding machines, paint shop and a host of other things, not counting the warehouse, logistics, procurement of materials.

Portable furniture is easier to make, easier to transport and there is more room for creativity. Such include:

  • Chairs, armchairs, benches.
  • Sofas, tahtty.
  • Hanging chairs, rocking chairs.
  • Benches and loungers.
  • Swings.
  • Hammocks.

Since garden furniture most of the time is outdoors, it is exposed to humidity, temperature changes, can swell, rot, fade, covered with mold and mildew. So, you need to make furniture from materials that cover all these pains of the client.

In addition, the furniture should also be aesthetically pleasing. So the manufacturer has to learn how to keep this balance – practicality, reliability, style.

Given that in recent years, consumers are increasingly interested in environmental friendliness, nature, and garden furniture in the appropriate style will definitely be in demand.

Outdoor furniture startup

Material of manufacture

There are three variants:

  • Metal. It is durable, the most popular – it accounts for up to 70% of the market. Furniture can be forged, welded, combined with wood, glass, textiles. The addition of these materials makes rough metal furniture cozy and warm.
  • Wooden. It is an eco-friendly and plastic material that fits into any style of exterior. Making furniture from wood is easier than from metal, because there is no need for welding equipment, paint booths and it is easier to transport.
  • Wicker furniture – can be made of natural or artificial rattan. The first is expensive, so the finished product will not be in the budget segment. The second is much cheaper, but in terms of external characteristics, operation and service life is not inferior to the natural material. And it even withstands moisture and temperature changes better.
  • Plastic furniture – it is the cheapest, it does not look as attractive as previous options, and is not durable. But it can not be produced at home – you need a shop where you can melt PVC in special forms. And this is a harmful production, to work which you need to get a special permit.
  • And the rarest, but for the century option – it is garden furniture made of natural or artificial stone. It is expensive, but it does not care about temperature changes, rain, snow or frost. It has a disadvantage – it cannot be moved anywhere, it is stationary.

Production process, necessary materials

If there is no experience in creating such furniture, it is better to start with simple designs – chairs, chaise lounges, tables, shelves, simple cabinets. Do not forget that in the manufacture you need to consider not only practicality and durability, but also convenience, ease of assembly and transportation, and appearance.

Start the production with drawings – they can be developed independently, if ordered from a specialist. As for the appearance, you need to turn to designers for this.

The drawings will indicate the weight of the finished product, the method of assembly. This information will be needed for the end user, as well as for the documentation of the goods.

Room for work

Small-scale production is better placed on the outskirts of the city. The area of the room should be no less than 50 square meters. This does not include a warehouse for materials and finished products, a cabinet for administrative purposes and a place to rest workers.

Equipment

The minimum set for a small production: a drilling and milling machine, circular saw, jigsaw, aspiration system, grinders, set of reimus. In addition to the machines, you need hand tools, consumables, and spare parts for the machines.

Equipment – the biggest item of expenditure, it can go about $2000, given that the machines will not be new.

Personnel

For production need people with experience, who also know how to read drawings. To develop models will need a designer, and to promote the business internet marketer, sales managers.

In addition to specialists still need laborers: in the warehouse, in the shop, in the unloading and loading of finished goods. As for the accountant, then at the initial stage of business is not necessary to take it on staff – you can take a specialist in a remote part-time job or outsource the case.

Promotion and distribution channels

By itself the furniture will not sell, no matter how good it was. You can sell directly to consumers or through intermediaries.

Directly sell can be as follows:

  • From the warehouse. You can show the consumer a catalog and ship finished products from the warehouse.
  • Own stores.
  • Markets.
  • Internet store.
  • Social networks.

It is better to use several options simultaneously – selling offline and online.

Through intermediaries you can sell as follows:

Find dealers among retail stores.

Enter into a collaboration with designers.

Supply products to retailers of construction and furniture hypermarkets.

Costs and revenues

The most important thing: before you start production, you need to make a business plan with financial calculations. There should be several calculations: the best option and the worst.

Next, you need to properly determine the cost of production – the price of the constituent materials, fittings, finishing materials, logistics and promotion. Having determined this, a trade markup is made, but within your market segment.

When planning the revenue side, consider the fact that this product is seasonal and the greatest demand will be at the end of March to early September. To calculate the return on investment, you need to divide the cost of furniture for the end user to the initial investment for its production. With a good start and good sales will pay off such a business for about six months to a year.

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