The arrival of Santa has really given a boost to garden centre sales with the half-term holidays proving extremely successful.The GTN Bestseller All Barcode Products Index revealed that volume sales were a staggering 19% up on the same week last year.
So let’s hope that Santa’s arrival can help continue the trend until the end of the year (see chart below).
Our first sight of Santa came last weekend as crowds flocked to Baytree Garden Centre, Spalding, Lincs, to see him arrive on a camel. In fact, the services of two circus camels were needed to get Santa to his grotto in time for the 2pm opening on Saturday.
Baytree were delighted with the response from visiting families and will be hoping for more business over the coming weeks as Santa continues to draw in children and their parents.
Baytree revealed to GTN that their current bestselling item is the Premier Decorations Laser Light, retailing at £59.99. They were constantly having to order new stock as the popular product flew off the shelves.
Meanwhile Ruxley Manor Garden Centre in Sidcup, Kent, welcome Santa to their store this weekend. They’ve already sold an amazing 20,000 tickets for their grotto.
While Baytree and Ruxley Manor have been welcoming Santa quite early, according to our research at Garden Radio, November 17th is the most popular date for him to arrive at garden centres with the 24th the second most popular.
Garden Radio is now playing with seasonal and new bestsellers messages across garden centres in the UK. If you would like more information email trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
