Its now only 23 days till the curtain goes up on what undoubtedly is the landmark trade event for the UK gardening industry – Glee 2022. With a new position in the calendar in June, it remains to be seen just how the industry will react to the change in the buying cycle. For Westland the final touches are being made for this important event.

Featuring their largest ever stand it represents an almost herculean effort, and as always is a whole enterprise affair. Projects like this require input from all parts of the business. Marketing, Design, Technical, Sales , Finance , Manufacturing and Transport all have vital roles to play in a delivering a successful show.

Marketing Manager Laura Mallinder who is organising the event explains “We have a fair-sized stand this year, and we need every inch of it to do justice to some of the incredible initiatives we have for our customers. Whilst the stand is split into three zones; innovation, retail and networking, the stand merely brings to life what drives us at Westland, we all simply want to give our consumers and customers more success. Customers will be familiar with our main stand, where we weave together new products within a garden setting. But a new area for us is Welcome to the Westland, a fully merchandised garden sundries area, where we have taken the opportunity to showcase how to bring our products to life in a real-world setting. The whole team can’t wait to introduce our customers to what they have been working on for 2023.”

Laura counted off some of the statistics about this year’s stand : 600m2 of carpet, 120 pallets of stock, 119 bespoke graphic panels, 80m2 of turf, 65 LED floodlights, 42m of gondola, 30 trolleys of plants, and she also added that they have the largest and most impressive hanging basket you might have ever seen in your life, and hauling it up, 6m into the air, was what was keeping her awake at night.

Whilst each of the gardening divisions are represented with major displays across all areas of the business, the Hardware team have taken the opportunity to bring to Glee full displays of Kent & Stowe, Visiroot propagation; and for the first time ever, they are displaying the new garden essentials merchandising system (GEMS). Customers are encouraged to bring dimensions of the unloved outdoor area where plant support lives in their store. Westland are then offering to create a 3D visual on the stand of how it could be transformed. Click here for more details.

In another dedicated area, Westland will also we demonstrating their new digital platform Westland Live. Click here for more details.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

The Outdoor Essentials department is an awkward part of the garden centre – generally un-loved and under-traded. Typically it’s a collection of stands of different heights that don't match, products of variable quality with little or no information to help the purchaser, overall, not a reflection of your brand’s values and falling short on the impact of other categories like tools or garden birds. Yet it’s a big category, worth an estimated £75m at retail.

Jonathon Laker at Westland thinks there's a better way. “We call our system G.E.M.S – it stands for the garden equipment merchandising system, and its for all of these gems that are hiding in the under-cover area. It's modular, the same size and height as the back wall – and it's got a five-year life span. We can be supply it as an island or a back wall, and we’ve even integrated accessories into it so you get the maximum possible attachment and link sale.”

It features 11 stands that are infinitely flexible, and most importantly, designed to sell. For example, you can have a run of 11, or an island unit, or a combination of an island and a run around a corner. The stands cover everything from netting, bamboo canes, plant supports stakes to trellis, bulk rolls and essentials, organising these sub-categories in the same way you are used to for your seed sales (complete with out-of-stock cards). You can see the entire system at Glee.

Designs will be bespoke to each centre with a view to installation and merchandising during the period from September to Christmas, when this part of the centre is quieter.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

UK consumers clearly love their watering cans as 95% of them own one, but Westland’s research shows that two thirds of people are not really satisfied with the way they work. Martin Ward a Senior Brand Manager at Westland is on a mission to fix this, he says “Watering cans are heavy to hold under a garden tap and the handle often gets in the way, they are also irritated by the to-ing and fro-ing to the tap to get the job done, as well as all that splashing and wasted water.“

He went on to explain “This is why we have developed the Flopro CanCan – its the watering can that you can attach to your garden hose, which makes filling it a doddle ,and when you want to fill it directly from the tap, the large aperture is at the rear of the can and so not impeded by the handle.”

But there’s a real added-value feature that solves another common consumer complaint with a conventional can – the rose-end often drops off, gets lost or leaks. The CanCan comes with a rose that is stowed on board when not in use, clips securely to the spout and critically has a fine rose that flips up out of the way to allow faster pouring when required.

Delivering an improved sustainability footprint for all Westland products is a priority, and the Flo Pro Can Can is made in Europe from 100% recycled plastic.

The Flopro Can Can, designed by Westland in the UK, has a 7.5-litre capacity, comes in outers of 6 or display pallets of 96 and is designed to sell for around £15.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

A £500k marketing investment by Westland into their market leading tools brand Kent & Stowe is really paying dividends.

Since its inception Kent & Stowe has always provided incredible gardening tools, tools with an enviable reputation for quality, borne from a gardening heritage inspired by the work of the landscaping genius Lancelot “Capability” Brown.

Following a major piece of consumer research into the relationship consumers have with their tools, Kent & Stowe is now focused on delivering 'extraordinary' for their consumers.

Marie Williams, who is Head of Category for hardware at Westland, explains:“It’s wonderful that consumers love our traditional gardening tools; but what is fascinating, is that they tell us that with a Kent & Stowe tool in their hand, they feel they can achieve anything: we wanted to bring that emotion to life, in our advertising, on our products, and at point of sale”.

She went on to explain what has been achieved so far. “For 2022 we have totally upgraded our offer, bringing a major boost to the brand presentation in store, on packaging and POS, which has been upgraded to improve the explanation of the benefits. We have also added a flash of colour, a flash of the 'extraordinary' that goes into each of our products. Additionally, we have invested £250k in advertising in both the national press and specialist gardening press, and a digital campaign that has been seen by millions. The level of engagement we get from the social aspect in itself has been extraordinary.”

The results have also been exceptional, with sales of the range, and flagship products like Eversharp secateurs, Capability trowel and the Perennial spade, exceeding all forecasts and predictions.

Williams added: “This campaign has really shone a spotlight onto this extraordinary range, delivering spectacular results for our stockists, and we will be significantly increasing our spend on Kent & Stowe in 2023.”

When pushed on what format this additional spend might take Marie, refused to rule out a major TV campaign for Kent & Stowe in 2023.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

“No more growhousembarrassment”. That’s the promise for future owners of the new Gro-Sure Visiroot Growhouse according to Senior Brand Manager Martin Ward.

Overheating, with early spring temperatures of 50C, is a common killer of seedlings and young plants in conventional grow houses, coupled with the problem of instability in stormy and windy conditions. The Visitroot Growhouse promises to consign that scenario to history.

The product uses a two-zip solution to the ventilation problem – zip it from the bottom to draw in cooler air to avoid stale air getting trapped, unzip it from the top to allow heat to escape as it rises. The two-zip approach also allows access from the top or the base across the full width when moving plants in and out – much less bother than having to deal with a conventional single-zip cover. The door straps are secured in an instant with clips.

With a top anchor point and base fixing points on a sturdy patent pending fixed frame designed in the UK by the new Westland 3D Design team, security and stability are greatly improved.

“Shelves that clip securely in place on the frame eliminate the risk of mishaps when handling seed trays. There is room for 12 Visiroot trays – and shelf sections can be removed to allow taller plants to be accommodated. “ Says Martin. Altogether, the Visiroot Growhouse, with its distinctive ‘leaf’ shape, offers 50% more growing space than traditional products of a similar size.

It has excellent eco-credentials, too. It’s PVC-free, contains only 100% recycled plastic, has a 100% recyclable frame - and a cover that can be up-cycled in a partnership with Re-considered, who will re-purpose its durable material into bags-for-life.

Sold with a three-year guarantee, it comes on a pre-merchandised pallet with a display unit.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

Westland is investing heavily in an ambitious programme of innovation in its garden hardware categories for 2023 and beyond to drive growth and restore consumer confidence as the market weathers the current period of uncertainty and rising costs.

“The last two years we all rode a wave of demand in the UK garden market, and now as we approach more choppy market conditions, we have a responsibility to ensure we’ve got a strong plan that motivates consumers to keep putting their hands in their pocket.” Hardware Division Director Simon McArdle told GTN Xtra .

“At Westland we are entirely focused on providing the tools for success to our consumers and customers. This means investing in R&D, innovation and communications, so that we can keep powering these categories on, keeping the consumer engaged with gardening, motivated to do more, and motivated to spend more. And our innovation this year is designed not only to give our categories some excitement but it’s underpinned by our main focus, which is that our products will give consumers more success.”

The Westland Hardware Team  has focused on five key areas for innovation for the 2023 season: Outdoor Essentials, Handipaks, Visiroot, Watering and Tools

Outdoor essentials is an “unloved” part of most garden centre under-cover areas and has seen little innovation, either in product development or merchandising approach.

Now, Westland has developed a modular solution for managing and presenting, in a motivational way, all those outdoor essentials in handy packs. These are a colossus of turnover but they're typically hidden away. Westland’s new solution puts them “out and proud” in front of consumers so they can pick up items like cane toppers, string or cable ties because they are inspired by what they see.

Visiroot The star new product in this category, which showcases the expanding Westland Growing System launched last year, is likely to be the Gro-Sure Visiroot 12-Tray Growhouse, which is designed to overcome one of the most common problems with this type of product – overheating caused by poor ventilation. A host of innovative features also provides other benefits, such as optimum user convenience and improved stability.

Watering The Flopro brand gives the much-loved humble watering can a true 21^st century makeover with the launch of the Can Can, which can be attached to a garden hose for easy filling and has a unique flip-up rose. Meanwhile, Westland becomes the only UK hose supplier to offer non-kink hose from entry level all the way up to the top end.

Tools The Kent & Stowe brand – now the UK’s fastest-growing garden tools brand** – is continuing its journey to deliver extraordinary tools. Among them is a new improved version of last year’s hugely-successful Eversharp secateurs using exciting F1 technology and an expansion of the range to cover all user needs.

Handipaks is a highly-original merchandising solution aimed at maximising sales with a seasonal approach. Seasonal top performers are showcased on a landmark display intriguingly themed around the Victorian ‘Wardian Case’ concept, with plants at its core.

**GfK historical data and in-house estimates

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

The launch at Glee 2021 of the Kent & Stowe stand-out Eversharp secateurs was the tip of the iceberg in a long-term new product development programme. The 2023 season sees another major step forward as the six-man 3D Design Team set up two years ago gets into its stride under the leadership of its newly-appointed head, Tim Barnard.

Tim explains “Eversharp was developed using the materials and techniques from the world of performance manufacturing, we’ve used the same technology as the Red Bull Formula1 team, this allows us to promote Eversharp blades as the sharpest and most durable on the market, and in our testing program they are twice as sharp and five times longer lasting than the current UK market leader.”

Like a Formula 1 team Westland are launching a package of upgrades for 2023,  Eversharp 2.0 gets new styling, the previous version’s wood insert grips being replaced with a new easy-grip bi-material. The super-hard blade coatings answer the consumer’s two biggest gripes about secateurs in general – that they blunt too quickly and rust. The technology produces blades that are 100 times harder than typical competitors.

The Eversharp range has been extended for the new season with an all-purpose Lite version with shorter handles and Garden Snips. Taking the line up now to five models. All the models are made in the UK, and benefit from same Patent Pending design as the originals.

Another stand-out new product from the 3D Design Team programme is the 3-in-1 Lawn Rake. Its unique head design means one half can be removed to allow access to narrow spaces, the full width for maximum leaf collection – and both tine sections to be detached and used as a ‘big hands’ grabber.

Eversharp and the Kent & Stowe range, all designed and increasingly manufactured in the UK, will be promoted next year using the key message “With the right tools, extraordinary things are possible” in an extensive communications programme (see separate story).

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com

Handipacks are the unsung heroes of the garden sundries category. All too often these essential little products are hidden away in a quiet corner of the garden centre. But the truth is, if they had a higher profile in store, and were more visible, every shopper would benefit from a pack of cable ties, a ball of string or one of, any of the 120 garden solutions this range offers.

Westland is on a mission to change this, and the centrepiece of this campaign is (for qualifying customers) a landmark display, one that brings immediate impact, and is designed to showcase plants, but is surrounded by 12 hardworking dumpbins containing a mix of year round best sellers, and seasonally relevant top performers from the handipack range.

But this isn’t the brain child of a point of sale marketing agency: the display is based on an original Wardian Case, and it’s inspired by examples on show at the temperate house in Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. A Wardian Case was a miniature glass case used by Victorian plant hunters to bring back the specimens discovered on their travels to foreign shores. The cases were strapped to the deck of the ship for the return voyage.

The Westland unit makes a striking feature to drive customer interest towards the adjacent seasonal products. It could be used for any plant category, including houseplants. The unit is on wheels, water-resistant and durable, with steel frames and quality melamine coverings.

The Westland Wardian Case and the handipack range will be displayed at Glee, and Westland look forward to the opportunity to discuss how your centre could benefit from this new initiative.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com

In order to further cement Kent & Stowe’s position as a leader in the watering cans sector, 2023 sees the launch of seven new indoor watering cans. This will be a boon for the UK’s burgeoning houseplants market, which has seen growth of more than 75% over recent years.

The Westland line-up of stylish Kent & Stowe 1-litre metal watering cans is ideal for use in the home, with a wide top spout perfect for filling from the tap.

The range is available in six on-trend colours – Forest Green, Blue Sky, Warm Grey, Blush Pink, Vintage Cream and Sage Green, carefully selected by a panel of consumers  – and comes in outers of six with an SRP of £14.99. A 2-litre version is available in Forest Green.

To enable retailer to maximise sales of this new range, a pre-merchandised quarter pallet is available, holding six units of each of the new cans.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

The past two-and-a-half years have stretched every organisation’s supply chain resilience, and Westland have used the experience to invest in even greater capability, capacity, and resilience. During 2021 alone, Westland shipped 7.8m hardware products to our UK and Irish customers; and while by their own admission they didn’t get it right on every line, and on every order. Westland have used the experience to guide some big investments which are now paying huge dividends.

Colin Smart, who leads the hardware supply chain team, explains the strategy. “Our key initiatives are broadly across three areas. Firstly, we are actively building our manufacturing capabilities in the UK and Europe, for example with our Eversharp secateurs last year, and our new NeverKink hose reels are all made in the UK. Our new watering can, the Can Can is also going to be made very close to home. Secondly, we have invested significantly into our Kent & Stowe tools factory, with not only triple the capacity vs 2021, but increasing the use of robotics to improve the output rate. And thirdly, we have finally for the first time since early 2020, been able to build our stock levels to provide a buffer, ironing out some of the peaks and troughs that the weather brings.”

Significantly, it’s not only the manufacturing side of the operation where large strides have been made. The new digital platform ‘Westland Live’ was quietly rolled out during 2021, and this promises to be a game changer for garden centres. As Natalie Searle, the leader of the Westland Digital team, explains “We’ve designed Westland Live from the ground up, to give priority access to the very heart of the Westland system. Once personally onboarded onto Westland Live, a customer can place and track all orders, access our stock status in real time, check key financials, and download our images and video content.

“Customers can also browse our showroom in Peterborough in 3D and access the new Westland digital training academy – at any time, day or night, 365 days a year. Westland Live is constantly evolving; we try to add new and exciting services and information every month that are robustly tested and rolled out. Westland Live is a completely free service, designed with our customers in mind, that we truly believe every garden centre will benefit from using.”

It seems Westland have used the experience of the last two years to transform their supply chain resilience, and really taken the opportunity to build a fulfilment capability that combines industry knowledge, modern manufacturing and the latest digital services. Additionally Westland Live will be showcased on the Westland stand at Glee 2022, and customers are invited to discover its capabilities for themselves.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

The fast-growing Flopro brand is making a real difference in the garden watering market place with a host of innovative solutions. In particular, it is now the only UK supplier of no-kink knitted hoses right across its line-up, from entry level to top-of-the-range.

In the expanding hose segment – the UK’s fastest growing – Flopro Compactflo, whose 7.5m hose, doubling in length to 15m when fully expanded, is the ideal choice for watering pots and containers. It never kinks, is lightweight and easy to store without a reel or cart.

Neverkink 25m hose, which comes with a 30-year guarantee, is a no-kink hose, featuring the patented NTS system’s knitted layer to eliminate kinking. It contains 35% recycled plastic.

Westland have invested in UK manufacture of two new hose reel systems . Firstly Neverkink Easy Reel is a stable, mass market easy-to-wind hose reel as a complete hose system – priced at £59.99.

At a more premium postion, the Kent & Stowe Metal Hose System, also made in the UK, is the ultimate top-end no-kink set-up, offering Neverkink hose on a stylish stainless steel and aluminium hose reel with metal hose-end connectors and fittings, with a 25-year guarantee. This is priced at £129.99.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

The Kent & Stowe Capability hand trowel is probably the only trowel you will ever need. As Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown himself said: “In gardening, everything has the capability to be improved”.

With its stainless steel head, FSC certified ash wood handle and sharpened tip, it has been expertly designed with the gardener in mind. A serrated edge will be handy when you are opening bags of compost or packaging, and a built-in depth gauge takes the guesswork out of planting. The handle is robust enough to be used as a hammer for small jobs like staking.

Designed in the UK, it carries a 20-year guarantee.

Display stands are available across the Kent & Stowe range, which includes new extensions to its collection of long-handled tools, plus hand tools – three-pronged cultivator, trowel, fork and leaf rake – with extra reach for beds and borders on a dedicated display stand (pictured).

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

The Gro-Sure Visiroot Propagation range – the start of Westland’s evolving growing system  – was one of last year’s most successful launches.

Following a £500,000 investment in tooling and strong support from the trade, the range of see-through growing modules and seed trays became major sellers, with the message “I was once a plastic bottle” striking a chord with consumers. Visiroot pre-merchandised solutions have shown 91% year-on-year growth.

The products, made exclusively from re-cycled PET, make it easy to check root growth while ‘moisture bridge’ cells are an aid to even watering. The range includes modular easy to handle half-size trays as well as standard full-size trays.

A top seller has been the Twin Propagator Set containing two 12-cell modules, two half lids and two drip trays. (Above)

Visiroot Deep Cells reduce the amount of root disturbance when planting out plants like sweet peas or runner beans.

Colourful and informative category merchandising  and POS kits have undoubtedly contributed to Visiroot’s impressive sales success.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

If your customers are looking for non-chemical Weed protection Weedstop™ is answer for them.

Westland's hero product Weedstop™ is the most effective weed control solution offering weed supressing action for borders, decking, greenhouses, gravel, stone paving and patios.

There are three variants of Weedstop™ and the POS displays will make it easier for your customers to choose the right one for the right task.

Weedstop™ Classic is perfect for light duty tasks such as beds and border weed suppressing. It allows air, water and nutrients to pass through, making it ideal for under planted areas.

Weedstop™ Performance is perfect for heavy duty tasks such as under paving and patios as well as decking.

Weedstop™ Ultimate gives the highest amount of weed suppression and is ideal for landscaping use.

Weedstop™ is available in pre-packed singles or bulk roll, allowing the customer to get exactly the amount they need for the job in hand.

When Weedstop™ is combined with Westland Weedstop mulch you'll be offering your customers the market leading solution to non-chemical weed protection.

Westland are in Hall 20 at Glee 2022, on stands F60-G61 & F40-G41, and look forward to welcoming you.

www.gardenhealth.com 

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