For many customers it is the first time they have purchased this type of furniture, and like anything in life, when you have never done it before you are not quite sure of the questions you should be asking, and that is why we at Cane Direct have spent a lot of money and time creating our web site to give our potential customers the chance to read all of the questions you would want to know when making a purchase for the first time.

Once armed with information we have supplied the customer can then start to shop around and ask the all important questions, confident that not only do they have the questions to ask, but they also more importantly have the answers. We have gone in to great detail not only about the different types of cane quality but also the different grades and qualities of foams that are on the market, not only have we gone in to all these aspects in great detail, we have also given the customers what we call a quick buying guide, should they wish not to read page after page of in depth text about our conservatory furniture  In tomorrows post we will discuss each article and how we can support our claims.

One thing our customers can be sure of is the quality of our furniture will remain the same as always, no matter what new styles we pick our customers can be guaranteed a first rate product, with all that has happened through last year and the credit crunch it could be very tempting for our company to go the route of using low budget suites within our range, and we have given this much consideration, and felt it was better to stay with the quality that we have supplied for more than fifteen years, in the long run it is more cost effective to buy right in the first place. Our factory is well aware of the current problems we are having here in the UK, and have agreed to put no price increases in place for the coming year, which is good news for us all, because we will not have to pass the increases on to our customers, which in turn means we can be even more aggressive with our prices compared to our competitors, on balance they are only slightly less than our products, but more expensive if you way up what you get for your cane furniture from Cane Direct.

There are large amounts of cane and rattan comming out of China, but the quality is now where near that of the rattan and cane that comes from Indonessia, the reason for this is because the cane from China dose not grow in the same way, it cannot grow any where near as thick as the canes from Indonessia, and in turn this means that they can not produce grade A cane, which is so importent to our business.

Sure if you are selling a product that is not marketed with guarantees like at Cane Direct, then there is no problem with buying your raw material from China, for the simple reason that you are not going to sell the end product as up market furniture.

The other problem with this type of furniture from China is that the weavers are not as skilled as those from Indonesia, because they have not been weaving any where near as long, don’t get me wrong they have not just started to do this type of work, they have been making cane furniture for many years, but no where near as long as the people of Indonesia.

Christmas is upon us once again, and here at Cane Direct we are preparing to wind down for the Christmas period.  Historically, at Cane Direct we tend to close for a two week Christmas holiday, but over the past number of years, we have received so many calls from customers asking about our opening hours over the Christmas holiday.  Whatever the time of year, our Cane Furniture is still definitely in demand.

The internet side of our business is very busy at the moment, and just when we think we can relax a little, we seem to get another rush of customers.  At the moment, we cannot keep up with the demand for our Havana cane dining tables.   The majority of our customers are requesting delivery before Christmas, quite naturally, and this does not pose a problem for us.

The Havana range of cane furniture is a big favorite amongst our customers.  It is a classic design, and has a very comfortable three piece suite with a high back and beautiful side panels.  There is a large range of accessories to match with this range, and our customers are always absolutely delighted with it.  It is becoming an increasing trend for customers to put a cane dining table in a conservatory, and the Havana Dining table fits this bill.  The cane table is available in four, six and eight seats, comes with a toughened glass and beautiful cane chairs.  Even though the eight sweater is a large table, because of the intricate cane and wicker detail and the glass top, it does not over power a small space in the way that a heavier oak type dining table would..

So in the run up to Christmas at Cane Direct we are certainly still taking orders up to the last minute for our cane and conservatory furniture. We will be closed Christmas day and Boxing Day, but will be open for business after that.  Please look at our extensive website, and should you have any questions regarding any of our cane, wicker, or rattan furniture, simply call our free phone number and speak to one of our sales advisors.

Over the past number of years, retail has undergone a huge revolution in cane furniture.  Only now are many people realizing this, and as for retailer themselves, if they fail to be involved with this monumental change, their business will most certainly fail.  This is a sad but very true fact within the retail industry. 

A few years ago the majority of our customers ( including myself) would nor have dreamt of buying furniture on line.  Maybe a CD, or a DVD or even the odd item of clothing we would risk buying because they were fairly safe items and we knew exactly what we were purchasing.  Buying an item such as cane furniture would just be inconceivable.  How times have changed.  The internet offers such an enormous choice which was not at all possible in the past.  The better websites offer so much information, and detail and photographs that it is just like talking to a well informed customer service advisor, all at your own convenience whether it be six o clock in the morning, or ten o clock at night.  Our website at Cane Direct, is so informative, and easy to read, and for any customers who do wish to actually speak to a sales advisor, they are only a phone call away, even on a free phone number!  We offer close up photos including comparisons with less well made cane furniture, and close up photos of our cushion manufacturing process.  Everything you need to know about Cane Furniture and outdoor cane furniture you will find within the Cane Direct website.

Companies are now realizing that there is not the need for large flashy showrooms, as everything can now be easily displayed or explained on their websites.  Our all weather cane furniture, last year, was delivered all over the world!  Proving that our website was reaching far further than we ever imagined when our business began 15 years ago.  Deliveries were made as far as Southern Spain, to customers who had never even been to North West England, never mind visited our showroom to try the cane furniture.  At Cane Direct our terms are clearly explained on our website, that if you are entirely happy with any of our cane furniture, or all weather cane furniture, we will come and collect it from you.  Incidentally, this has never happened in all our years of trading.

So for those customers who are fairly new to internet shopping, this is definitely the way forward,   and the way of shopping for the future.  At Cane Direct we offer excellent quality and assurance that is as equal as if you were visiting our Cane Furniture showroom.  We look forward to you visiting our website, and remember we are only a phone call away should you require advice or information regarding your purchase of cane or conservatory furniture.

Occasionally customers come to the showroom, and choose their furniture for their conservatory requiring it immediately.  Considering that most high street retailers or department stores offer a 10 week delivery and very often more than that, at Cane Direct we can still offer immediate delivery at your chosen day and time.  All our cane furniture frames are in stock, leaving just the cushions needing to be made up to your own specification, which can be done within a couple of days at a push.

Many of our customers who already have cane furniture, use Christmas as a time to replace old furniture.  Maybe they  are having friends or family staying with them, and they would like to update their cane and conservatory furniture.  Others maybe having Christmas parties, and feel they would like to re new their cane furniture to give a conservatory a completely different style.  Again, at Cane Direct, we can accommodate this from our large range of stock offering ideas, and our unique try before you buy scheme. As we have said most of our frames are in stock, and if our customers are deciding to buy a completely different type of cane three piece suite, say with a higher back, or wider arms, it does not always follow that the another different style of cane furniture will fit into the same area.  At Cane Direct, when we deliver  our furniture we always bring a selection of items from that particular range for our customer to try out and find out for themselves in the comfort of their conservatory.  Everyone knows how difficult it is to visualize furniture, so our customers are always grateful for this service, so as they can see which combination looks the best.  Try asking your local department store to do that… That is if you can be bothered to wait for the ten week delivery, when you really wanted your cane furniture in time for your New Years Eve party!

One such deliveries that spring to mind is a delivery that was done to a house with a huge conservatory spanning the whole of the back of the house which made been built to house the family snooker table.  As the area described was so large, this idea worked so well.  With the full sized snooker table at one end of the conservatory, and three cane sofas complete with side tables and a large centre table at the other.  The cane furniture was sprayed in a dark green colour, to compliment the snooker table. The conservatory also contained huge amounts of real foliage to finish it off.  The overall look was stunning.

Another delivery that comes mind, was to to large house in the South of England.  When our driver pulled up at the electric gates, there was a massive swimming pool.  These customers had ordered furniture from our outdoor cane furniture range.  The four loungers were placed by the side of the swimming pool, and the eight seater outdoor cane furniture dinning table was placed on the patio.  The customers were thrilled with the furniture. So much so, that we received other orders from our range from some of their friends who were quite taken with the quality of our outdoor cane furniture range.

Many of our customers who decide to have a conservatory built use the space as a play room.  Again, cane furniture is a winner in this situation.  A ten year guarantee is given on the frames of our furniture at Cane Direct.  Our cane furniture regularly outlasts the traditional sofas that can be bought from large companies.  Our range of fabrics makes it easy to find a suitable child friendly fabric, as many of our fabrics our washable.  Making them ideal for a playroom.

Needless to say, the majority of our deliveries do go to conventional type conservatories, which all look different, and all look stunning.  That is why so many of our customers return to us after years, for new cane furniture or a re-cover as they are unable to wear out the frame!

Keep looking and you will find many fantastic companies totally specializing in Cane and Conservatory furniture.  Included in this heading will be many companies selling only to trade.  So, you may well find the perfect three piece cane suite for your brand new conservatory, with the exact fabric you had in mind.  Only to be told that they cannot sell it to you, as you are not a trade customer.  This problem occurs time and time again. And is so disappointing for the purchaser.

Many of the companies selling cane furniture, have fairly decent websites, but, don’t give proper descriptions or photos of the furniture.  This leaves the customer with a dilemma, as when you spend a lot of money you need to be 100% sure that this is the right product for you.  Choosing cane or conservatory furniture from one tiny picture and very little product information is quite risky.

Take a look at the Cane Direct website.  This website is dedicated to selling Cane and Conservatory furniture to the general public.  The site is clean and crisp and is so easy to navigate.  The photos have been specially taken so as to display different images and not just lifted from trade magazines.  Great detail is taken to show even the bases of the furniture, and every question you can think of is answered as if you were in a shop face to face with a sales advisor.  Close up photos of the cane furniture show the different weaves, styles and colors in great detail leaving the customer in no doubt that they are dealing with a very professional company.

The Cane Direct website also has a shopping basket included, so the customer can buy on line.  The system is so easy to use, so for those customers who do not wish to speak to a sales advisor, this is an ideal option.  All the information required is easily accessed, but the sales advisors are only a phone call away for your new cane furniture.

The credit crunch bites!! But not at Cane Direct we purchased our cane furniture. As we explained in our last post we purchased our furniture over twelve months ago, and believe me we purchased a heck of a lot!. What this means is that we can still offer our quality products at last years prices,  so there will be no increase, unlike our competitors, we were not in the position to do this.

What has happened this year, is that all the prices in the furniture industry have had to go up, it first started at the start of the year with the oil prices increasing at a rapid rate, so the factories had no choice but to put their prices up because of the massive increase in energy, most of the factories are run by oil you see.

Then came the increase in shipping costs also because of the oil prices, on top of that the cost of the raw materials for cane furniture also went up, at the time it was not so bad because the dollar rate against the pound so good, we were getting over two dollars to the pound, so we did not have to worry to much these increases, not the case now the dollar rate has dropped badly against the pound and is looking to drop even more over the next few months with out making any recovery in the near future.

Oil prices have gone down, but its funny once a factory has a price increase they never bring the prices down again, but at Cane Direct you do not have to worry our cane furniture will stay the same price for the next twelve months.

As we have been discussing in previous articles, as to how the credit crunch may have effected the sales of cane furniture, not just in the united kingdom but around the world, has has there been price increases on the world furniture markets not just in cane but also in other products that are imported from over seas.

At Cane Direct we are not to badly off because we bought our stock more than twelve months ago, so we are able to hold our prices at the current time, but smaller companies who didn’t do this may well have to put there prices up, which in this climate is not a good idea, but they may have little choice, the knock on effect of this will cause them major problems, because they will not be as competitive as companies like Cane Direct. The other option open to them, is not to have a price increase so that they can still turn stock over, the big problem with this is that they must take a reduction in their margins, this can have a terrible long term effect. Normally this route of action can only end in one way, and that is the lost of jobs, with in there company, because some how they must try to get back the loss of margin and the only way to do this is by cutting your over heads or selling more furniture, the idea of selling more furniture in a recession is a bit of a tall order.

At Cane Direct we do not have this problem because we bought well in advance and can offer our customers cane furniture, at a great price with out putting any jobs at risk.