The first half of this year has seen a huge increase in our sales of China Tableware and Dinner sets. I am hearing from the customers that the reason they are buying from Havens online is because there is now a general lack of availability of China and Glass on the high street with even John Lewis dropping many established Dinnerware ranges. The consumer is also telling us that we are competitively priced which in these challenging economic times is important to everyone.
Most of the large stores have gone down the casual crockery route. There are volumes there and clearly the price is attractive to the consumer. we have noticed that there is still a discerning customer that wants not just a casual look but wants china that looks good for a supper with friends or for more formal dining.
This is reflected in our best sellers lists:
Top 5 casual dining dinner sets:
- Wedgwood Jasper Conran Casual Cream and Blue crockery – Cream out sells the blue but not by much.
- Queens Sanderson Dandelion Clocks dinner sets – Retro design from the famous Sanderson design studio.
- Maxwell and Williams Tableware Breeze black and white square china– New black design on the white East Meets West china shape, adding a touch of style.
- Maxwell and Williams Sprinkles Spots crockery – Very casual crockery, a mix and match of Pink, Lilac, greens and Blues
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Portmeirion Pottery Crazy Daisy casual dinner set – Fresh vibrant colours which brighten up any dayThe interesting thing with all of the above dinnerware patterns, with the possible exception of the Maxwell and Williams Sprinkles range, is that they all look just as good as kitchen crockery as well as scrubbing up for fine dining.
Top 5 Fine China Dinnerware designs:
- Villeroy and Boch New Wave china – There seems to be no let up in the sales of this iconic white wavy china. a favourite of Michelin starred restaurants, certainly creates a statement at your table.
- Denby Monsoon Lucille Gold dinnerware – Introduced in 2010 Lucille Gold is the result of a design collaboration between Denby Pottery and the fashion and homewares brand Monsoon. seems to be a favourite china on Wedding Gift Lists
- Thomas China Medaillon Platinum tableware – Reintroduced after an enforced short absence this fine silver banded china has returned to the best sellers list. Probably because collectors have been starved of supply over the last 2 years as Thomas china have sorted out ownership issues.
- Wedgwood Jasper Conran Platinum Band Fine Bone China dinner set – Another silver banded china set. The Jasper Conran dimnerware is made of Bone China, has the cache of the Wedgwood and Jasper Conran bhrand names and is also very popular with the brides.
- Portmeirion Sophie Conran White China tableware – The unstructured look of the plates and bowls makes this a quirky tableware design. I have put this range in the fine dining class but it could just as easily been in the casual dining best sellers.
The fine china market is still fairly focused on interesting shapes and platinum or silver banded china tableware. The simplicity of design makes them very usable everyday too.
We sell many other designs from most of the famous china tableware manufacturers and certainly many of the patterns will be featuring in the best sellers lists in the future.