Why Are Camping Chairs So Expensive But Terribly Made?

A camping chair is an integral part of camping. A thermal pad can’t replace the comfort of a chair. There are places where a chair is the perfect camping gear over a mat, thermal protector, or hammock. A chair is the ideal camping gear to sit in front of a river, waterfall, or meadow.

Getting a cheap camping chair is easy but getting a decent quality chair at a reasonable price is tough. Similar to most camping gear, chairs are very expensive but terribly made. In this article, we analyze a few of the reasons.

Made in China

Camping chairs are made of cheap aluminum rods and nylon clothes. These materials are inexpensive and readily available. 

Most of the camping chairs are made in china. As a result, the quality of these chairs isn’t that great. Even though sometimes the company that orders these chairs try to maintain a certain quality, the manufacturer most of the time does all the quality control without third-party influence.

In China, a single manufacturer sometimes makes similar products for multiple companies. Therefore, several American companies may sell the same camping chair made by the same Chinese companies. The only difference would be the cloth color and a few minor changes.

These Chinese companies compete with each other for orders. Therefore, they lower their production cost to lewer potential customers. But one downside of reducing the production cost is that it lowers product quality. Thus, even though we have many camping chair manufacturers, the quality of these camping gear’s quality is going downhill.

Competitive Market

Before going into the camping gear, let’s talk about the RV business. The RVs are exorbitantly pricey, but the quality is terrible. Moreover, there are hundreds of RV makers in the US, but most of them have a bad reputation for quality. It’s primarily because there are too many players in the RV business. 

Most of the owners of these RV businesses came to make money. Therefore, they lack experience and business ethics. Thus, they are making terrible RVs.

Similarly, too many people are competing to capture a small market share in the camping gear industry. Therefore, everyone is trying to sell a product that costs less to make. 

Camping gear is a seasonal business as there are only a handful of months available for camping in the US. Companies have very little window to do business. Therefore, not only does someone have to sell a decent amount of chairs in this short window, they also have to make a decent profit.

As a result, most business owners go to China to order the cheapest camping chair possible, import them, and sell them here at a higher margin. As a result, consumers get shoddy camping chairs which are expensive. 

Most camping gears are expensive. It’s primarily because the business owners know that these products are used for pleasure and leisure. And only those people who go camping have extra money to spend. Therefore, businesses can get away with charging extra for cheap products. 

Lightweight Chairs Cost Extra

Camping gear has to be made with special care. Otherwise, these will become heavy. For example, a cheap chair would weigh too much for backpack camping.

Only a handful of companies make decent camping gear that is well-made, lasts longer, and weighs less. However, these companies spend a lot of time and capital doing their research to produce camping gear. 

As the camping market is small but requires decent money on R&D, the product these companies produce cost more. A big business can use its production power to lower costs. But most camping gear manufacturers are small businesses.

Moreover, making a lightweight but sturdy camping gear needs some decent R&D, and the raw materials are also costly. It’s why well-made camping gear and chairs cost more.  

Furthermore, camping gear manufacturers have to compete with Amazon and Walmart.