In This Issue
Wyevale Garden Centres announces sale of all remaining centres to British Garden Centres
Wyevale Garden Centres sells remaining trading business
Lets get Floral on Thursday at Glee for Greenfingers
Prongcroft brings fresh approach to garden care
Westland commit to £1.5m TV campaign for peat free growing media
GTN Bestsellers looks forward to new product bonanza
SBM switches to sole distribution deal with Stax
spoga+gafa 2019 - GTN Xtra photo tour
Elho launches more innovations at spoga+gafa
Bulldog turn spotlight on brand loved by pros and enthusiasts
Bulldog Pedigree goes from strength to strength
5p-a-pot payback encouraged Pennells customers to return 135k plastic pots for recycling in August...
Glee Retail Lab: sponsor EKJU explain's why it's a 'must see' feature
How to keep those bins 'wheelie' clean and fresh
Foundation funding awaits student horticulturists
Essex centre's August Christmas launch 'went bananas'
Tom Chambers launches Heritage collection
Ellen Mary to host Great British Growing Awards at Glee
Prinmeur's Christmas doormat supports Greenfingers charity
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Could your choice of uniform help save the planet?
Garden product sales climb by 38%
Malcolm Scott Consultants appoints new associate
Growing media still nearly 8% up
Mourners give ex-GTN staffer Bob a 'psychedelic' send-off
Still more growth for Wild Bird Care
Veg remains 40% up despite a quiet August
August dip for plant sales
The best of last week's
IGCA 2019 - 250 delegates from across the world visit UK garden centres
Dobbies link-up with Downton Abbey movie looks like an industry first
Council cleared of 'unprofessional conduct' over Hare Hatch Sheeplands garden centre
Who made it on to shortlist for Glee 2019 Buyers Power List?
Wyevale group shuts down e-commerce
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Garden Centre Photo Tours
Garden Centre Photo Tour - RHS Wisley New Plant Centre
spoga+gafa 2019 - GTN Xtra photo tour
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Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
Learn trade secrets from Pret’s Guy Meakin at Lunch! show
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Glee Retail Lab: sponsor EKJU explain's why it's a 'must see' feature

Retailers seeking products of the future and the latest in-store merchandising ideas need look no further than the Retail Lab at Glee. Now in its third year, this inspirational feature area, in association with the Horticultural Trades Association, is bursting with ideas. In fact, 61% of Glee’s visitors say they will attend Glee 2019 as a result of seeing the Retail Lab last year. Here, we meet one of the sponsors of this year’s feature – Latvian timber furniture and garden accessory manufacturers, EKJU – to find out more about why they have got involved with this thriving area of Glee 2019.

 

Why has EKJU chosen to be a sponsor of the Retail Lab?

End user trends are extremely important to us and our knowledge of these are invaluable to our retail partners. We are close to trends throughout Europe in markets such as France, Germany & Scandinavia.  For some product categories trends align in these markets and we can share the knowledge on trend developments in outdoor living, grow your own & vertical planting. We will be showcasing products linked to these trends at Glee.

 

What appeal does the Retail Lab hold? Why should retailers/ merchandisers/ buyers visit this area?

We believe the retail lab offers interactive insight into the future trends and therefore this is a great tool for visitors to help grow future sales, be it products, concepts or merchandising ideas.

 

What products/ranges will EKJU be supplying?

Some of EKJU’s best furniture products are being used to bring people together at the lab. The ‘Raised Bar Set’ and ‘Cesis Table & Bench set’ is being featured in the HTA bar area. In the Urban City zone, EKJU’s grow your own products are heavily featured. The ‘Garden’s Table’, ‘Raised Six Section Planter’ and the ‘Four Level Vegetable Bed’ are all being featured.

Additionally, the unique ‘Hanging Pot Shelf’ will be showcased, which is ideal for ‘grow your own’ enthusiasts with a smaller available outdoor space. This product has been designed for growing herbs and plants, as well as a decorative option for displaying flowers, supplying a fantastic vertical planting solution. The shelving sets are available in 3 treatment options – green, brown or grey and come complete with fixing kits for assembly on a wall.

 

What current trends are shaping your business most? How do you see this changing in the next 12-24 months? 

Our love for timber has always meant we hold sustainability sacred to our mission. We recycle all timber waste from production and see more and more companies adopting this type of stance wherever possible. We are finding there is even more appreciation than ever for sustainability in 2019 and is a movement that we see continuing into 2020 and beyond.

 

Increased awareness of climate change and heightened sustainability movement against single use packaging have been 2 recent trends that have led to a buoyant traditional ‘grow your own’ market. There has also been a shift towards younger audiences interested in ‘grow your own’ leading to alternative space saving products for end users who have smaller gardens and outdoor spaces.

 

Outdoor Living is becoming more and more popular with rising temperatures meaning more time spent enjoying the outdoor space and a willingness to decorate the garden in similar themes to inside the house.  As a result, this is likely to increase popularity in painting outdoor furniture and accessories a consistent colour throughout the garden. After extensive market research in identifying the top trending colours’ in European gardening, Grey treatment is now available across the entire EKJU range.

 

This enables the end user to create a grey collection consisting of timber furniture and accessories, to complement the desired decorative look and colours in the garden.  At the same time garden sizes are reducing in size in the UK and we are focused on creating products that adapt to all sizes of gardens. Most importantly we create products that are simple for the end user to build, which is key to ensure people’s busy lives are not taken up by frustration during assembly. We have been taking this a step further with assembly videos which demonstrate how to assemble our key products. Our focus on customer experience will continue into the future.

 

What can you tell us about your plans for Glee 2019?

Our heritage as craftsman and focus on quality underpins our strategy of supplying the best range of sustainable timber garden furniture with the end-user’s comfort in mind. Our products offer a solution for end users regardless of the size of their outdoor space and we remain focused on delivering high standards on all of our range. At Glee we will be showcasing products both traditional and on trend and showcasing our new grey treatment, which now joins our green and brown treatment options. We look forward to welcoming people to our stand - Hall 6, stand Q20-R21.

to be at Glee, and we are sure retailers will be pleased with what we have to offer.

 

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