Did you know that quality gardens and outside seating areas is now the 3rd most important attractor for customers?
This means you can quickly increase your footfall if your outside area makes a good first impression.
With a large garden you have massive potential to increase your trade opportunities outdoors.
Some clients have advised us they have doubled their outdoor trade by making weatherproof areas, ensuring comfortable furniture, and brightening up with parasols and plants.
It doesn’t take a lot of cost to make a big difference and increase customer spend.
Our Outdoor Furniture Experts have put together 5 top tips to help you maximise your outdoor trade this year if you have a large garden or outdoor seating area.
Please bear in mind that when referring to large gardens, our experts are referring to spaces that take 20+ tables or that are approx. 200sqm+.
1. First Impressions Count
Is your garden visible from the road or frontage of your venue?
If so, it is the biggest advert for your venue, and needs to attract customers by showing them what kind of experience they’ll have.
If your garden or seating area isn’t visible from the front, you can still create a great first impression by presenting a smart, clean and brightly coloured frontage. This will attract customers inside where you can grab their attention further and clearly direct them to the outdoor seating area.
You could advertise the garden with directional signage at the front of the property, make it easy for people to get to, and ensure you promote the garden online with photos.
We advise investing in brightly coloured planters, hanging baskets, outdoor furniture at the front if possible, welcoming signage, coloured parasols and canopies.
2. Who Are Your Customers?
Who are your customers and who spends the most?
With a large outdoor area, you’re likely to be catering for customers of all ages, and from a variety of backgrounds.
Ensure that your outdoor furniture is appropriate for old and young, and that you offer different seating arrangements to cater for various group sizes.
Comfortable, easy access dining tables and chairs are better for older customers and they may favour sitting nearer to your building.
Take a look at the Rattan Range, or the Pacific Range for comfortable dining table and chairs sets.
Family friendly picnic tables are ideal for grass areas, especially if you have a play area or activities in your outdoor areas. The Greendine® Recycled Plastic Picnic Tables are an environmentally friendly option to look at here.
If you need the flexibility to cater for different group sizes, think about the type of furniture that you can move around and push together to create communal tables. The Castle Range Tables and Benches, or the Pedestal Tables paired with some Bexley Range Chairs are both great options to allow for flexibility.
In order to get the most out of your outdoor garden, we would advise having a mixture of commercial outdoor furniture to appeal to different customer needs and demographics.
3. Get Creative With Zoning
To break up a large area, provide interest, and help customers decide where to sit, we recommend zoning large outdoor spaces.
This can be easily done by investing in different types of outdoor furniture and placing in separate areas.
Zoning is a particularly easy option to look at if you have different ground surfaces. For example, if you have patios or decking as well as grass, this will naturally break up areas into different zones. We recommend you keep tables and chairs on hard standing and use picnic tables and tables with benches for softer ground.
Large outdoor areas enable you to install outdoor shelters, outdoor bars and serveries. These provide great focal points, and provide weather proofing for the ever-changing British weather!
Read more about how you can implement zoning in our blog post on creative ways to maximise your outdoor trade.
4. Events and Private Hire Spaces
Many of our hospitality clients with larger gardens are choosing outdoor shelters and dining cabins to provide them with outdoor function spaces.
Our outdoor gazebos can have added PVC sides for added weather protection, but this also adds privacy if you are hiring spaces out for individual functions.
Commercial Gazebos also enable outdoor seating and dining areas to be used during the cooler seasons, as they are sheltered, cosy spaces, especially with the addition of patio heaters and a few rugs and cushions.
The Woodberry Commercial Metal Gazebos are a great place to start. We offer bespoke sizes which means that we can work with you to create the perfect shelter for your venue – no 2 venues are the same, so no 2 bespoke gazebos will be the same.
Whilst some larger bespoke sizes may require planning permission, we do offer a range of standard sizes which are all under 2.5m meaning they don’t require planning permission. These can normally be delivered and installed within a few weeks, but please contact us for more before ordering as the delivery and install times may vary depending on location and a number of other factors.
From a furniture perspective, you will probably want to move furniture frequently to accommodate different style events. If this is the case, then we recommend that you opt for lighter weight furniture that can be easily repositioned by staff without too much hassle. If you’re unsure what furniture will be best, our experts are able to discuss with you and help you decide.
5. Make It Bright & Interesting
Low cost touches that have impact could make all the difference.
Our experts recommend considering the following:
- Adding cushions will increase your customer dwell time and provide a more premium experience
- Brightly coloured parasols will add colour, shelter, and shade, inviting customers to sit outside even when the weather is hot or wet
- Planters with real or fake plants will look smart, divide areas, and soften a large space
- Festoon lighting can be used to create a warm and intimate atmosphere as the sun goes down
- Quirky features like flower walls, statues, outdoor games can all be bought for a small cost, but will add big character and create a memorable experience for your customers
These are beyond basic needs but they will create a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere that will encourage footfall, increase dwell time, and encourage repeat custom.
Free Site Surveys & Advice
Our team are frequently out visiting clients venues for free site surveys to advise on what outdoor furniture and shelters would work hard in the space that they have.
We’d love to help you too, so whatever your venue size, location or current range of furniture, why not have a chat with our team of friendly experts to discuss your requirements.
Give us a call or email to get in touch. Or you can now contact us via webchat too.
01926 889922