Room to grow: think you don't have room to display outdoor furniture? Think again

Pool & Spa News, Jan 10, 2003 by AmyJo Brown

If you're like a lot of pool and spa retailers, you figure you could profit from the growing casual furniture business. But you just don't have enough room to do it.

On the face of it, that certainly seems to be the case. After all, an average-sized furniture set takes up as much room as a hot tub--and casual furniture retailers usually display more than 25 sets in their showroom.

But you don't have to have a store full of furniture to enter the backyard market. Displaying smaller furniture groupings, cross-marketing products and offering a limited product selection all are ways retailers with only a little room can add a lot of backyard accessories.

A good use of space

Of course, retailers still must consider space. Casual-furniture retailers suggest setting aside a minimum of 65 square feet per average-sized furniture set (a 48-inch table with four chairs). This space allows customers to fully view the set and move chairs in and out to sit on them. Using this formula, you would be able to display 15 sets in a 1,000-square-foot space.

But not all displays need to consist of full dining and patio groupings. In tighter spaces, try displaying pieces that would fit on balconies or apartment patios. You can also omit some pieces, such as displaying a bistro table with only one of the matching chairs.

"It's quite a challenge, but as long as you achieve the ambiance that customers are looking for, you can still create an effective display," says Debby Tomasic, a design consultant for Patio and Hearth, a retail store in Dayton, Ohio.

Another space-saving trick is sprinkling accessories throughout your store. Fireplaces, planters, grills, arbors, birdhouses, benches and gliders can be displayed in much smaller areas, or even as accessories to pool and spa products.

"Focus more on impulse products rather than setting aside a specific section of your store just for outdoor furniture--a pair of chaise lounges, for example, or an outdoor heater by a spa," says Susan Bradford, owner of Bradford Designs, a retail store planning firm in Atlanta.

If you're really tight on space, you still aren't out of options. Choosing a supplier that offers quick shipping will allow you to keep your inventory low. Consider, too, the type of products you're selecting.

"Wrought iron will take up less space than a big, plush sofa," says Elaine Hoekstra, a store designer and owner of Retail Store Concepts in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Hoekstra has even seen retailers make use of wall space to help sell furniture displays.

"They'll show, on the wall, different styles of the same model," she says.

Retailers also can limit the number of displays needed with catalog holders and point-of-purchase displays that allow customers to thumb through other fabric styles or materials available.

Maximizing displays

But carving out space for backyard furniture and accessories is just the first step. Next, retailers must learn how to maximize the displays they have.

Putting furniture in natural settings can help grab people's attention and tug at the emotions that make them want to buy. One easy way to do so is to intersperse the outdoor furniture among your pool and spa products. This method creates the perception of an outdoor room as it might appear in the customer's backyard.

"People are looking for concepts," Bradford says. "They want to see a space as a room, not just a table and chairs to eat off of.... So I like to create a little frozen moment in time to show the products as part of an event."

Bradford suggests giving a sense of the activities that might go on around a spa. For example, she once designed a display by setting up a pair of chaise lounges with a small breakfast tray sitting on the cushion. Coffee and snacks were on the tray, as well as a half-written letter and a pen.

Other ideas include throwing a fluffy bathrobe over a nearby chair; or setting wine and dessert on a bistro table with slippers nearby, all ready for the person leaving the spa.

"Have a book with a bookmark in it," she says, "a breakfast setup--something to suggest what's going to happen after they're through with the spa."

Note how all of these little setting touches can be added to entice shoppers--without requiring additional store space.

The right accessories

In creating these captured moments, Bradford advises making sure the entire picture fits the concept. Consider the size of the spa when adding furniture to it. A two-person spa will look best with a chaise lounge or a small bistro table, whereas an eight-person spa will need a larger dining table. Also, look at the colors in the spa and choose complementary furniture.

Also, silk plants, fountains, garden statues or even area rugs can help showcase products, whether they are in full vignette groupings or partial product displays.

"We don't have the room to vignette furniture," says Bruce Aronson, owner of The Pool & Patio Center in Metairie, La. "So our philosophy is to arrange the store in a lifestyle manner. We fully accessorize with plates and glasses, flowers and tea carts."