Rule 1: What does cheap furniture mean to you?
In the first place, what do you actually mean by cheap furniture? Do you want something that looks like furniture but has been made of such cheap materials it will only last about as long as the box it arrived in? Do you want good quality furniture at rock bottom prices? Or perhaps you’re not too fussy about whether the furniture is new or not, just as long as it is usable and cheap!
Rule 2: Never say cheap!
Now, while you may know what you mean by cheap furniture, people involved in sales or marketing will almost
always avoid using the word cheap. This is because cheap has connotations of being unsuitable, unsatisfactory or quite simply inferior in some way or another. Most people like to have some pride in the furniture they sell, so they will use expressions like “competitively priced,” “economical,” “value for money,” or “low cost furniture.”
Rule 3: Where to look
OK, so you have a clear idea of what you want. Cheap furniture is available from the big national or international ‘home products’ or DIY chain retailers. Their buying power enables them to achieve huge economies of scale, but the constant drive to be the cheapest means both they and their suppliers are always looking to make every element of the package cheaper, thinner, lighter or smaller. This furniture is a much neater solution than nothing at all and is fine if budgets are small to non-existent, but don’t expect it to last one or more lifetimes. Don’t forget, the people who sold it to you will want you to come back and buy more replacements in the future.
If pre-owned furniture (another jargon term!) is acceptable, then the places to go are charity shops. Surprisingly some well known charities (particularly in the more affluent parts of the country), may not keep furniture in their shops but have warehouses stuffed with it and would welcome enquiries from potential buyers looking for cheap furniture.
Alternatively try the local auction rooms, the small ads in the local free papers or the notices in your local shops or supermarket. If you want to search on the internet, try terms like
government surplus furniture, government auction furniture, furniture disposal sale or bankrupt furniture stock.
Now we come to the sector in which Right Price Furniture operates. The furniture we sell is
not cheap, in the sense of being poor quality. But it
is cheap if you compare the prices with products of similar quality from major high street department stores. If you compare it with ‘exclusive’ boutique furniture retailers, it is incredibly cheap! We would say that if you’ve found our website then you don’t need to look anywhere else but, just in case you don’t believe us, try rule 4 below.
Rule 4: What to type in to Google
As we said earlier, using the word cheap won’t always produce what you’re looking for. We would suggest just trying to be as specific as possible about what you want. For example, rather than typing in ‘cheap bedroom furniture,’ try looking for ‘pine bedside cabinet.’ Checking the results will soon give you an idea of which companies are cheapest.
If you’re looking for other items as well, you will usually find them on the same website. If you have seen a particular piece of furniture on display somewhere, then try typing in the product code, such as NB30 or RMKB55. This can be more useful than the range names which are sometimes changed by different retailers.
We hope this has been helpful and good luck in your search for cheap furniture!