Boosting Customer Satisfaction With Commercial Outdoor Furniture

14th June 2024

Making the most of your outdoor space isn’t just about aesthetics. Investing in commercial outdoor furniture can also help your business to thrive throughout the summer months.

Many studies have been done on the effects of the outdoors on our mental and emotional wellbeing and their findings can tell us a lot about how outdoor seating can help our businesses.

For example, one study by US company, Superior Shade, found that offering a simple outdoor seating space could increase hospitality revenue by up to 30%.

If you have outdoor space included as part of your establishment, could you optimise it and give your business a boost this summer?

When is the best time to start thinking about investing in commercial outdoor furniture?

Ideally, you want to be thinking about investing in commercial outdoor furniture well in advance of summer. Utilising the quieter autumn and winter months to prepare means you can get your outdoor spaces sorted with little disruption to your customers.

However, in the UK, with our unpredictable weather, you can start to refresh your outdoor seating at any point throughout the year to take advantage of the little pockets of warm summer weather.

The psychological impact of commercial outdoor spaces

A growing trend in commercial interior design is biophilic design. This sees elements of the natural world brought into the design of commercial or urban spaces, in order to offer a better connection with the natural world.

This is particularly popular in cities and other areas that are not a natural environment. Whether it be flower walls, water features or small garden spaces, having access to natural surroundings has proven to lift spirits, reduce stress and increase happiness. The perfect recipe for happy customers.

If your business has access to outdoor space then you too can start to take advantage of the powerful effects of the natural world.

Simply providing commercial outdoor tables and chairs can be a great start to giving your customers a healthy dose of nature.

Outdoor spaces are the future of hospitality

In the wake of the pandemic, al fresco dining and outdoor seating have become a norm for many cafes, bars and restaurants. As a result, we’ve seen many large cities offering urban planning initiatives to help their hospitality businesses open up outdoor spaces to their customers.

In New York City, they created an “Open Restaurants” scheme that waived application fees and allowed restaurants to expand their seating areas out on streets, pavements and car parks. Paris created ‘terrasses’, which also allowed their businesses to utilise the pavements and parking spaces.

We’ve also seen many urban businesses offering outdoor seating due to an increased focus on sustainability and climate change. Cities such as Copenhagen in Denmark and Manchester, UK, have made changes to their city centres to limit vehicle traffic and create pedestrian-only access. All of this helps to provide businesses that may not have access to outdoor space, with areas they can expand into.

These extra opportunities for expansion don’t just help businesses in providing a better customer experience, they also help to increase business revenue and customer satisfaction. Creating these relaxed and stress-free environments encourages customers to linger for longer, socialise and effectively spend more money!

If you’re looking to increase your business revenue and customer satisfaction, why not chat with our team to see how our contract furniture could help?