In this blog, we’ve compared ourselves to the retail and supermarket giants, Marks & Spencer. Read on and decide who does it better below (spoiler, it's us!)…


The Price Tag

Firstly, people may not know that M&S even sells garden furniture. The brand doesn’t advertise it and it doesn’t feature on any promotions that we have seen. However, they do stock a range of rattan, wood, and metal garden furniture.

As you would expect with M&S the price tag is like that of their groceries, high-end and expensive. For example, one rattan footstool will set you back £199, and even the ‘cheapest’ coffee table costs £99.

The other problem with these expensive price tags is M&S doesn’t sell many garden furniture sets. Most of their furniture is mix & match, which gives you some freedom with your garden layout.

And while we focus on selling sets, which provide our customers with a complete experience, with M&S, you’ll have to spend a fair chunk of change to create the set you like. However, they do offer some dining sets which you don’t have to mix & match and, in that case, it may save you some money.



Our range offers enough

shapes and sizes for every

garden size and occasion.


What We Offer & The Online Shopping Journey

At White Stores, we do not offer a mix-and-match service, but we do offer the option to add extra chairs (in pairs) to your sets should you choose to. The reason we don’t offer this is because all our sets are fully assembled.

Additionally, we feel that our range offers enough shapes and sizes for every garden size and occasion, meaning that customers won’t need to build their own set as they can already find a piece of furniture that meets their needs. This also saves our customers a hefty price tag when mixing and matching items.


Another difference between the two is the online shopping experience. When shopping on White Stores’ website we believe we have made everything easy to find by categorising all items in a way that is simple for consumers to find what they’re looking for.

However, on the M&S website, though you can categorise your search by material, colour, size, shape and more when you initially land on their garden furniture category everything is sorted together meaning that you will see everything from armchairs to sofas, to parasols, to bases and everything in between, this can be overwhelming and a difficult way to shop.



Availability

However, as Marks and Spencer’s range is not as large as White Stores, some customers may find it okay to browse this way. As of summer 2022, currently available on M&S, there are 83 garden furniture items, meaning your choice is limited. Whereas at White Stores’ we have over 1,000 items meaning that there is plenty of choice.

Whilst choice is often a good thing, we understand that too much choice may be difficult for consumers, which is why we have a team of experts on hand 7 days a week on the phone and in our showrooms.

Being able to visit our showrooms, view the furniture in person and get advice from our knowledgeable sales team is something that we feel sets us apart from retailers like M&S.

Though you may be able to view garden furniture in some larger M&S stores it is unlikely that the staff in those stores will have any specific knowledge, other than what you can learn yourself from the website, on those products and therefore will not be able to offer advice to help you choose the best item for your garden.



If you’re interested in shopping with White Stores, click here to find your nearest store, or speak to one of our friendly customer service advisors.