Is B&M Garden Furniture Actually Good Value For Money?
Buying from any budget retailer can be a real gamble, be it B&M garden furniture or risking dodgy furniture sets you found in a weird corner of Facebook Market Place. Just looking for a new kitchen table makes you consider hundreds of options that look the same but are priced totally different.
But what makes one piece of B&M garden furniture so different from the same piece at, say, John Lewis?
There’s a lot of tips and tricks you need to know when shopping at B&M. Read on for the ultimate list of pros and cons to consider when you’re trying to get value for money when buying cheap garden furniture from the budget retailer.
B&M Garden Furniture Pros:
Lily Relax Double Seat – £199.99
1. Saving Money
B&M’s motto is:
“At all of our B&M stores we offer customers leading branded products at compelling prices so they receive great value every time they shop with us and their shopping budgets go that bit further.”
And they’re not kidding. The below B&M garden bench costs £64.99 at full price, though you’ll often find B&M products massively discounted. At time of publishing, this bench was on sale for £50.
Rebecca Bench – £64.99
A similar wooden bench of the same length from Homebase will instead cost you £94.99.
2. Looking Good For Less
So you may be saving money with B&M garden furniture, but is it at an aesthetic price? You can keep costs low and still be on trend with a rustic wooden planter bench from B&M, at £99.99 when full price.
Isabel Planter Bench – £99.99
The same budget would also get you this bench planter from Frank.
Esschert Design Farm Folklore garden bench + planters – £101.50
Depending on your taste, we bet most people would prefer the style of the B&M garden furniture. So, it does seem you really can look good for less!
3. Same Product But Different Shop (And Price!)
B&M state that:
“Our products are mainly sourced direct from manufacturers and leading brand household names. This gives our customers the goods they want at the prices they want.”
Digging a little deeper, it’s clear that you can genuinely get exactly the same pieces of garden furniture from both B&M and other large furniture retailers at totally different prices. Take this Harriet Table and Bench Set:
Harriet Table & Bench Set – £399.99
You can buy this set from both B&M and Dunelm. They share the exact same specs and both retailers even use the same photograph to advertise. The only place you’ll find a difference is the price and it’s a big difference!
B&M Garden Furniture – Harriet Table and Bench Set: £399.99
Dunelm Garden Furniture – Harriet Table and Bench Set: £589.00
A shocking difference. You could be paying nearly £200 more for the same piece of furniture, depending on where you shop!
It’s not just furniture too. You can find big name brand bargains across the store at any time… remember when B&M were selling Victoria’s Secret perfumes for nearly half the price earlier this year? You never know what you might find!
B&M Garden Furniture Cons:
1. Online Unfriendly
There’s very little to be found online when looking for B&M Garden Furniture. Deciding on garden furniture is a pretty big deal, so not being able to order online is a problem. Most of us will go and view furniture in store to try it out, have a little sit down and check the quality. But not many of us will have space in our cars for a full-size arbour!
Cheltenham Arbour – £229.99
The majority of other retailers that sell garden furniture offer a delivery service to avoid that problem. While it will cost you more money, it saves you from trying to cram a full dining set into your hatchback. The price difference is probably worth it, as you can get something similar from Argos for around £50 more.
2. Season Dependent
B&M is known for its seasonal sales and sections, which affects the availability of the bargain store’s garden furniture. If you’re looking for garden furniture any time between around August and March, you won’t have much luck.
While seasonal stock dependency isn’t exactly unusual, you will find larger retailers such as John Lewis continue to stock their garden furniture all year around.
3. Lack Of Reviews
We’re all slaves to an online review these days, especially when buying large and expensive items. While you can go to a store and test their garden furniture, you can’t know how well it will last. Say you’re looking at buying a hot tub, you’ll be spending between £300 – £3000 so it needs to be good!
This hot tub from B&Q for example, comes with a review bar telling you how many stars actual customers gave it. You can also read people’s comments and find out how people rated the quality and value of the product.
Canadian Spa Rio Grande V2 4 person Portable spa – £1,125.00
It pays to be cynical and find out more about a product before you buy! However, B&M garden furniture has no online reviews on the website, so you can’t find out how real people got on when they bought the product.
B&M Garden Furniture: Value For Money?
Is B&M garden furniture worth the risk? That’s up to you! Often the same product is on sale elsewhere, so you can find online reviews if you’re computer savvy. Just be careful not to end up paying more than you need to!
If you love a bargain, you can always find big names at a better price – Check out Billie Faiers’s baby clothes and where you can buy the star’s kids’ range (hint – find them reasonably priced at a supermarket that rhymes with ‘pasda’!).
