We had a customer this week who had been totally confused and asked why should she pay more for one carpet than another . A fair question and one not often answered fully when people are browsing.
Most of the cost comes from the raw materials used, in general:
Most of the cost comes from the raw materials used, in general:
- Manmade fibres tend to be lower cost than wool – cheaper to produce
- Lower grade/ priced wool - be wary of the quality (it can be recycled wool, yak/goat hair, low grade wools from outside Europe/New Zealand)
- Felt/ manmade fibre backing costs less than natural jute,
- Different cost/quality adhesives can be used to stick carpet together or with woven carpets its the time and extra materials to actually weave the materials in place that costs more
- The number of tufts per row and how tightly packed the rows will effect how much fibre is used to make the carpet (known as ounces per sq yard)
- Some have added benefits like stain guards, moth proofing, anti-allergen treatments
Bearing the above in mind it can be useful to work the cost of production backwards to find out how good your carpets raw materials might be. As an example:
A carpet £9.99 per square metre including VAT
- Take off the VAT of £1.67 the value is now £8.32
- From that a the retailer needs to make their profit
- From that the supplier needs to make their profit
- From that the manufacturer/yarn producer needs to make their profit
- It would probably only leave a few pounds at most for the cost of the raw materials
How long can you expect carpet that costs just a few pounds per square metre to last if you walk on it everyday, often with abrasive footwear (like trainers, grippy soles)? We suspect it may not be that long.
So the next question is to ask how long you want it to last? Do you want a carpet to keep looking good for years or have something more short term that you might want to change more frequently? You could change it every 5 years and pay half the price or pay more for it to last 10 years?
We like to ask lots of questions to find out exactly how good, comfortable and long lasting our customers need their carpets to be. Never be afraid to ask why something is more or less than another, you need to know what you are buying!
In our next blog I’ll explain a little as to what benefits some of these price and quality differences have for you as a customer.