If you are looking to make some updates around your home, there is no question that Pottery Barn can help.
With products across a wide range of categories and solutions for both indoors and outdoors, Pottery Barn is a very well-known home décor store.
As much as people love Pottery Barn’s style and products, they are often a bit disturbed by the prices that they pay for Pottery Barn products.
Unfortunately, these are some of the more expensive products for the home, and there are quite a few reasons behind this.
If you love Pottery Barn or are just simply curious as to why the products are so expensive, we have some reasons that will help you understand.
Here are the top ten reasons Pottery Barn is so expensive.
Why Is Pottery Barn So Expensive? (Top 10 Reasons)
1. Labor
One of the highest costs of any business operation is labor.
It costs a lot of money to hire workers.
Not only do companies have to pay for the workers to do their jobs, but they also must spend money on taxes and worker’s compensation.
Labor costs are high, and with a business like Pottery Barn, there are a large number of employees.
With the Pottery Barn company, employees are involved with every step of the process.
From designing the furniture and accessories to building it to packaging to selling and to delivering, this is a business that requires quite a bit of labor, and there is really no chance that this is going to stop anytime soon.
Although some systems can be designated to those machines and computers, for the most part, there are always going to be a lot of people who are employed by Pottery Barn.
If you have ever owned a business, you likely know that part of the process of owning the business is to ensure that all expenses are covered at the end when you sell your product.
If your expenses are covered, you can then be profitable, and for Pottery Barn to be profitable with all these employees, they have to sell products for a lot of money.
Even though the quality is good, and the products look great, a lot of their pricing comes down to employee costs.
2. Heavy Furniture
Many of the pieces of furniture that Pottery Barn makes are heavy.
Part of this has to do with the fact that they use real wood for many of their pieces.
These are very high-quality pieces that are going to last a very long time, but they are also heavy to deal with.
Not only do heavy products require more work when they are being made and maneuvered around the factory, but they also require more when it comes to shipping.
Shipping costs and the logistics of heavy furniture are really difficult.
In fact, when you purchase furniture from Pottery Barn, chances are you are going to have to pay some extra money for a delivery fee.
The cost of delivery adds up quickly because of the fact that it is going to require more than one person to handle the logistics and probably a special truck.
Most deliveries of Pottery Barn furniture are going to offer a service that brings the products into the home for you.
These furniture pieces are often too heavy to be left by the curb as the customers would not even be able to get them in their homes.
If you are purchasing smaller items from Pottery Barn, you likely won’t have these issues to worry about, but it is something to consider when wondering why the costs of these things are so high.
3. Higher Quality
Typically speaking, Pottery Barn is known to be a higher quality furniture outlet.
If you want products that are built to last and have been designed to withstand years of use by families with kids and pets, Pottery Barn is a great choice.
Of course, in order to make a higher quality product, the materials have to be sourced and the craftsmanship has to be really good.
Most of the time, the problem with craftsmanship is that labor is so expensive that cheaper, less-skilled workers are hired.
With Pottery Barn, you are not going to have to worry about that.
The people who are designing and building this furniture are highly qualified and are capable of completing this process for you.
Many people find that the Pottery Barn products that they purchase will last a lifetime.
Whether you are buying furniture, items for the home, or even kitchen related accessories, the quality is quite high.
The company as a whole had to work quite hard to earn this place in the market.
You won’t get away with putting out a less than perfect product and expect to keep your name as a higher quality distributor of goods.
Keep in mind that although you are paying a higher price for Pottery Barn products, the quality is probably going to be better than many of the other furnishings and accessories in your home.
Although some will say this is why Pottery Barn is expensive, others will say that this is what gives Pottery Barn its value.
4. Stylists And Designers
Have you ever looked through a Pottery Barn catalog and wished you could get your home to look as good as that catalog does?
This is no accident.
Pottery Barn wants you to see and understand that the quality of their products and the design are superior.
They work with countless stylists and designers that will work to keep the Pottery Barn style on the cutting edge yet traditional and of the highest fashion and design.
This takes a lot of work and a major financial investment.
When you look at a more valuable brand of furniture or home furnishings, you may not get this same impression when you look at the catalog or the style.
When a design or style team works to keep Pottery Barn on top of the home decorating world, it adds to the costs that you pay for their products.
You will find that you end up paying quite a bit more because these are not bargain-type designs, and they are going to help you pull your entire look around your home together.
The people who work for Pottery Barn are interior designers who know what people need in their homes.
These people study hard, and they work hard to make sure that Pottery Barn stays on the top.
You may pay a bit more for the products that are put on the market by Pottery Barn, but you can have complete confidence that your home will remain in style for years to come.
You may have noticed that there are many small companies that will create products that are considered to be Pottery Barn knockoffs.
The knockoffs are going to look like Pottery Barn pieces, but they will not have the same quality, and they will have lower pricing.
You may wonder why there are knockoffs for Pottery Barn, and this has everything to do with the fact that the Pottery Barn’s products are simply setting the trends and the pace for home decorating.
5. Time To Produce
It takes a long time to build a piece of furniture.
Pottery Barn does indeed sell quite a variety of products, but a large portion of their business is furniture.
Many products are made in a day or even in an hour, but there are many steps to building furniture, and the time will add up quickly.
There are steps involved when it comes to getting the furniture to be painted the proper colors, and the fitting of the furniture all needs to be put together properly as well.
Essentially, you have to assume that Pottery Barn took quite a bit of time to make their products.
The more time that the manufacturer spends on a product, the more it is going to cost you in the end.
Simply by having the product in their warehouse taking up space and having employees who need to work on it and move the furniture around, the pricing is going to increase.
Overall, we can’t say that it is a problem that Pottery Barn furniture is made a bit slow.
Chances are you are going to get a much higher quality finished product,
The issue simply becomes that you pay a bit more for the product.
However, if you were to try and find a local furniture builder to put something together that looks like it came from Pottery Barn, you will spend quite a bit of money.
Rest assured that the value here is what will set the Pottery Barn furniture and products apart.
6. Branding And Image
When you think about Pottery Barn, you probably imagine white picket fences, and beautifully organized spaces, clean countertops, and perfectly organized children’s rooms with everything color coordinated.
The branding and image of Pottery Barn took a long time to achieve, and they have spent a great deal of time working things up to be known as this type of company.
The process of branding the company to get to this point took time and money.
That money is covered in the cost of the products they sell to customers.
Overall, the branding of Pottery Barn is very specific, and they don’t want to be known as a value company.
Pottery Barn has no issues with being known as being a bit more pricey.
They would rather appeal to those who can afford their furniture and accessories without any issues.
This is how they have chosen to set their company up, and it likely will not change anytime soon.
In some areas of the country, you can find Pottery Barn Outlet stores.
These are going to have some products that may have slight imperfections, or maybe they simply didn’t sell well in the traditional stores for whatever reason.
This is the only place you are going to feel as though you have saved money on Pottery Barn products.
Outside of this, you can expect to pay a good amount for the things that you are going to purchase.
7. Marketing And Catalog
If you get the Pottery Barn catalog in the mail, you can probably understand that there is quite a bit of money that goes into this catalog.
Not only is the catalog well-laid-out and designed, but it is also quite heavy to mail and expensive to print.
Pottery Barn finds that many of its customers prefer these visual images of the products as opposed to shopping on the website.
In addition to marketing through the catalog, Pottery Barn does a ton of online advertising and even some social media content as well.
All of their ads are put together to properly show the brand and the styling that Pottery Barn can provide.
Companies that spend a lot of money on marketing need to make up for it somewhere.
Pottery Barn is making up for it by charging customers a bit more for the products that they are purchasing.
This is understandable, and it has to be done for them to compete, but it is undoubtedly a portion of what you are paying for when you buy anything from Pottery Barn.
With the companies like Overstock and Wayfair working to try and outsell Pottery Barn and create options that are similar to their product line, even more marketing has had to happen.
In the end, if you see a great Pottery Barn commercial and it makes you purchase the product, just know you are paying for a bit of that commercial when you make that purchase.
8. Solutions For The Whole Home
Through the years, Pottery Barn has continued to expand on its product line.
This means that not only can you get sheets for your baby’s crib, but you can also get serve-ware for your next BBQ.
Having solutions for the whole home has really helped people define a style they like in their home and then carry that style throughout the entire home.
Pottery Barn offers solutions that will go from your kitchen to bathroom to bedroom with everything in between.
You can pretty much get anything that you may want for your home to decorate or to make it more functional from Pottery Barn.
This has created an entire group of shoppers who trust and continue to support this brand.
Time after time, they will choose Pottery Barn simply because they know they will find something that will match and something that will hold up long term.
The solutions that Pottery Barn offers are all very good ones because people trust that the products are going to be in style as well.
Chances are if you head to a Pottery Barn store to get a set of new sheets, you will walk out with quite a few more items for your home.
In the end, the fact that Pottery Barn offers all of these impressive goods can help to ensure that you are going to pay quite a bit more for their products.
As a one-stop solution center, they can set their prices higher, and people will still pay.
9. Kids’ Furniture—Lack Of Other Retailers
Kids’ furniture is a big seller with Pottery Barn.
People love the options that include cribs and changing tables and then go all the way through the teen years with unique furniture for teens.
There is also lots of organizational furniture for kids as part of the line-up.
Kids’ furniture is not going to be as easy to find with other companies.
In fact, many people say they have a hard time finding great-looking furniture for kids’ rooms that also holds up over time.
There is no question that kids can be rough on their furniture.
They tend to be rougher when opening drawers, and they end up bumping into furniture much more than adults do.
Pottery Barn does an excellent job of making sure the paint on the furniture is durable and that it will not chip or splinter easily.
Many people purchase a Pottery Barn crib and use it for two or more children.
This type of quality in children’s furniture tends to actually save people money over time.
However, the initial price is really high, and it will stand out from the rest as appearing to be quite a bit more expensive.
Since Pottery Barn has become such an effective solution for those who need kids’ furniture, the overall pricing has also increased.
When companies can solve problems that customers are having, they can charge more money for their products.
10. Easy Decorating
Last but certainly not least, Pottery Barn has made decorating easy.
If you are one of those people who have no idea how to decorate a home, Pottery Barn can help you.
They don’t even have to offer design classes or services.
They simply can show you a line of products that will work well together.
They have coordinating accessories, and most of the time, they will be able to tie those products into other rooms in the home.
If you spend some time looking at a Pottery Barn catalog, most actual designs are relatively simple and only require the purchase of a few things.
If your home is a blank slate and you don’t know where to start, you can use the pictures, layouts, and styles featured on Pottery Barn to help you get the information you need.
Many people have said that they know nothing about decorating but have simply learned what they needed from Pottery Barn.
The way that the products match and how you can bring in colors but keep other things neutral helps to inspire people and help them put together a beautiful home.
The fact that you won’t need to pay an interior designer to come in and handle your home for you is just another reason why Pottery Barn is more expensive.
Since you save money on the interior designer, you can expect to make up for it when you purchase these products for your home.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you can now see why Pottery Barn is so expensive.
The pricing is very complex, and it is related to quite a few things.
In addition, you must remember that the current trend of wood being costly could have an impact on many of the wood products sold by Pottery Barn.
The bottom line is that the goods you get for your home from Pottery Barn will likely last.
Many people find that the pricing of the products is fair for the quality that you will end up with.
If you can handle the upfront costs, rest assured that you will spend quite a bit less money over time replacing the pieces of furniture and home goods you get from Pottery Barn.
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Shelly Summann says
Thanks for the article! Love LOVE Pottery Barn! Although, it doesn’t take a “rocket scientist” to figure out why their prices are so high lol. Or mabe it does …. But anybody knows if they want nice things, their gona have to pay. That’s all there is to it! But it’s well worth the money you spend there! I just wish they had coupons or something sometime. If they do, I don’t ever get lucky enuff to come across them! Heck, I’d love even a catalog so I can sit n drool over my favorite pieces! Haha! Some of their prices are kinda out of control and rediculous tho to be honest. But anyway, there my two sense! Lol!
Anonymous says
I love Pottery Barn style, but their prices are outrageous. I owned one of their couches and a matching chair for many years. The fabric faded unevenly and the cushions didn’t hold up as well as expected. And they were used only by myself and young son. I got rid of them