First of all, I’ll admit I’ve not really shopped at Lakeland. I’d always thought it targeted the older homemaker.
So when I recently discovered that Lakeland was voted the second-best UK shop for buying homeware, I had to do some digging.
Who is Lakeland?
Lakeland is a family-owned business that’s been trading for over 50 years.
It has a pretty strong high street presence in the U.K and has built a reputation for selling quality homeware products, notably kitchen equipment like bakeware, gadgets and utensils.
Your grandma probably has something from Lakeland for baking cakes.
Why should I shop at Lakeland?
1) 3-year guarantee on all products
Now on the face of it, you may not think that this matters for things like baking tins and lemon juice squeezers.
But Lakeland sells a pretty wide range of electrical items – everything from kettles to slow cookers to coffee machines.
A 3-year guarantee on household electrical products is a major benefit of shopping at Lakeland.
The majority of electrical retailers will only offer a 1 or 2 year guarantee, with the option to pay extra to extend the length of the guarantee.
This is a particularly strong incentive if you’re buying a branded product. While Lakeland does sell a lot of own-brand items, this guarantee applies to all brands that Lakeland sells.
The guarantee states that if you’re not 100% satisfied or an item is faulty, you can return it for a refund or replacement for up to 3 years.
And when I contacted Lakeland about a replacement, it confirmed that a replacement product would get a brand new 3-year guarantee too. Again, this policy is not very common with other retailers.
Summary: Get the longest free guarantee you can – it adds value to your product in the form of longer protection.
2) Price match guarantee
A great benefit that, when combined with the 3-year guarantee, makes Lakeland arguably the best-value shop for household items.
A bit like the John Lewis price promise, if you find something that Lakeland sells for a cheaper price somewhere else, just let them know. It will match the cheaper price.
While the specific conditions are not obvious to find, when I contacted customer services, they confirmed the following criteria must be met:
· Sold by a UK retailer
· Same make and model
· Same colour
· In stock
This is great for expensive branded items where mainstream retailers can sometimes fail to spot cheaper prices offered by lesser known retailers. But this doesn’t include sellers on sites like eBay.
I recently got a price match on a KitchenAid blender which knocked £35 off the original Lakeland price and gave me the 3 year guarantee too (when the other retailer offered only a 2 year one).
Summary: a price match can save you serious cash in just a few minutes. It’s always worth checking.
3) Hassle-free shopping
Lakeland certainly epitomises a customer-first approach to running a business.
Getting a product at the best price and with the best guarantee is one thing. But dealing with a long-winded process to resolve any issues can put you off buying from a company again.
Fortunately, Lakeland is great at dealing with product issues and has great customer feedback. It's also one of the few big retailers that still place call centres at the heart of its customer service.
Summary
By combining two great features of Lakeland – a pretty sweet price match policy and an industry-leading product guarantee – you can ensure you’re getting the best value.
Lakeland may not have the biggest range when it comes to branded products, but it’s worth checking if they sell what you’re looking for. You might not think of Lakeland when it comes to big brands like Nespresso or KitchenAid, but it’s always worth keeping them in mind.
