British garden product suppliers returning from the spoga+gafa international garden trade fair in Cologne (1-3 September) emphasised that the popularity of UK garden items with overseas buyers is still strong.
Charlie Parker, commercial manager of the Gardenex export federation, which has organised and manned the British pavilion at spoga+gafa for over forty years, commented on some of the successes achieved at this year’s fair:”The Gardenex industry information stand attracted dozens of distributors, mail order/ecommerce companies and garden–related buyers from a wide variety of retailers from Europe and around the world. Many of the buyers were past participants at Gardenex ‘Meet the Buyers’ events, but others were completely new contacts from other international markets”.
Specific sales leads for members were taken from buyers from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Malta, and Slovenia and also from as far away as the US, Canada, India and Kenya. Exhibitors in the British group saw buyers from some of the leading European garden centres including Dehner in Germany and Intratuin in Holland, as well as distributors from virtually every European country and beyond.
The Gardenex view was supported by exhibitors including Concept Research, G Plants, Smart Garden Products and Waspinator.
Chris Blackburn, sales manager of Concept Research stated that the company had acquired new on-line customers from Germany and Holland and was in discussion with potential new distributors from France and Spain. He added:”We also received over fifty expressions of interest from quality buyers from seventeen countries around the world. Our new product, Pest Free Plus, utilising ultrasound and LED technology, attracted considerable interest from buyers looking for effective alternatives to poisons and traps.”
Good quality sales leads were also reported by G-Plants’ managing director Alex Reihl: ”We had over forty quality sales leads and gained contact with new customers from the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Norway and France. The show gave us the opportunity to discuss the expansion of our garden gift ranges with existing customers and customers that are just about to come on board. Key products of interest were our Vintage gift range which is seen by export customers as typically English.”
According to Nigel Clarke, business development manager of Waspinator, his company returned from Cologne with fifty-six business leads from sixteen countries. He said:”We also had discussions with potential new distributors from France, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. Most buyers were particularly attracted to our new Waspinator display units and box packaging.”
Smart Garden Products showcased an exciting new technical innovation in solar lighting, 50 new lighting designs, as well as a re-launch of the Briers range of gloves and footwear. This attracted over 150 enquiries from buyers representing most European countries. The company’s European director, Xavier Faure added:”We are also hoping to extend our overseas distributorships into Hungary and Slovenia as a result of the spoga+gafa show.”
For further information on the British exhibitors or on the services provided by Gardenex, the trade association that works on behalf of British companies to help them increase sales worldwide,
telephone: +44 (0) 44 1959 565995 or fax: +44 (0) 1959 565885
Email: info@gardenex.com or visit the Gardenex website on www.gardenex.com
