Dan Zinner will join the company as Trading Director effective 14 October, 2013, assuming responsibility from Stephen Pitcher, who has decided to leave the business. Dan will lead all aspects of The Garden Centre Group’s buying, pricing and supply decisions, and report to CEO Kevin Bradshaw.

Dan joins The Garden Centre Group from Clicks Group, a South African retail group with a focus on the health and beauty sector, where he has worked for the past 5 years. In his capacity as Group Head of Business Development and Clicks Retailers Head of Healthcare, Dan had responsibility for sourcing and marketing own label products for the business. Prior to working at Clicks, Dan spent a number of years at McKinsey & Company in London advising on strategic and transformational change across a broad range of consumer and retail industries.

Stephen Pitcher, who has served as The Garden Centre Group’s Purchasing Director since 2008, has decided to leave the company to pursue new challenges in November, following a transition period. During his time at the Group Stephen has helped develop a strong plant and product sourcing capability, and Dan will build on that to ensure The Garden Centre Group offers the best product range for customers.

In addition, Colin Hughes will join the company as Retail Operations Director, responsible for leadership of regional garden centre teams overseeing service, standards and performance. Colin joins on a permanent basis after leading a number of successful initiatives at The Garden Centre Group in his role as Interim Retail Operations Director over the past six months. Previously Colin served in retail operations roles at Marks & Spencer, was Director of Operations at Pret a Manger and laterally Board Director at EAT. Whilst at EAT, Colin oversaw the expansion in the UK retail estate to 117 shops.

Kevin Bradshaw (left), chief executive of The Garden Centre Group, said: “I am very pleased to welcome Dan and Colin to our talented Executive Team. Dan is a highly experienced strategist and manager in the retail industry with an impressive track record for driving results.

"His knowledge of optimising supply chains will help further improve product range and availability at The Garden Centre Group.

"Colin has already hit the ground running during the past six months, providing strong leadership and direction to our regional teams. I look forward to Dan and Colin’s expertise and skilled leadership as we drive toward meeting our growth targets for the Group.”

On the departure of Stephen Pitcher, Bradshaw added: “We thank Steve for all he has accomplished for the Group, including delivering strong margins, reducing stock levels and building a team with deep knowledge of horticultural sourcing. We wish him the best as he leaves to pursue new challenges.”

The purchase added seven large garden centres in prime locations to the group’s portfolio of 132 centres and was TGCG’s first major acquisition under Terra Firma’s ownership.

The deal followed TGCG’s recent acquisition of Cheddar and Lechlade garden centres from Park Garden Centres of Bristol.

Terra Firma’s chairman and chief investment officer Guy Hands said the company was committed to supporting the execution of TGCG's strategy, one of the key pillars of which was expansion of the group.

GIMA, the UK’s only Trade Association dedicated to suppliers, requires a full time Director to spear head our activities.

A fantastic opportunity for an individual to influence and assist its Membership who operate in and around the Garden sector.

The ideal candidate will have excellent management, communication and operational skills that are needed to carry out this varied and exciting role.

The ideal candidate will also have had experience, at a senior level, in the garden sector (or a closely related sector) and therefore have a clear understanding of the  industry, with the ability to build relationships not just amongst the GIMA Members but right across the sector.

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to greatly influence the Gardening trade!

Please send a covering letter, your CV and current salary details to Nigel Thompson on recruitment@gima.org.uk.

We will send by return a copy of the job description.

Closing date: 25^th October 2013.

The over-50s clothing retailer Bonmarché is to open in garden centres as part of its expansion plans which could eventually lead to the company floating on the stock market.

The womenswear retailer, which sells plus-sizes, has agreed a tie-up with The Garden Centre Group that will see the company opening new clothing stores.

The first store will open this Friday at Bicester Avenue Garden Centre in Oxfordshire, with Bonmarché planning to open up to three or four branches based in other garden centres over the next few months as a trial.

The deal is the latest example of retailers agreeing to share space in an attempt to attract shoppers. Tesco has installed Harris + Hoole coffee shops into some of its stores, while B&Q, the DIY chain, has sub-let space to supermarkets.

Bonmarché, which is owned by investment group Sun European Partners, believes that it can take advantage of the mature consumer base of garden centres.

Beth Butterwick, managing director at Bonmarché, said: “Gardening is one of the biggest leisurely pursuits within the plus 45-year-old age group so for us this is an ideal partnership.

“Increasingly, people are visiting garden centres as destinations in which to browse, eat and spend leisure time. We believe there is further scope for similar partnerships like this one in future.”

Even though we had that bad week during the middle of September, the Indian Summer we’d all hoped for ran to the end of the month. Sales in the GTN Bestsellers Epos data show September 2013 as being the best of the past five years, even beating 2010 volumes by 9%.

The last week of the month was especially improved on last year – all that bad weather has been eradicated from our memories. Long may it continue.
GTN Chart specific volume changes are:

• Garden Products – up 42%
• Veg-2-Gro – up 4%
• Growing Media – up 52%
• All items index – up 30%

But another factor may well be the completion and opening of Christmas in some stores for last weekend. We’ll publish the first GTN Bestsellers Christmas chart in full next week, but in the meantime here are the early pacesetters.

The sales volume of the Top 20 Christmas lines sales increased by 90% compared to the same week in 2012. We should be in for a good one!

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

The Indian Summer has helped to keep gardeners busier for longer, and all the late season activity has helped to drive sales of garden products throughout the UK.

The evidence can be found at the top of the GTN Bestsellers Garden Products chart with the re-appearance of Solus Yeoman Professional Bypass Secateurs, which have knocked Fito Drip Feeder for Orchids off top spot.

Solus have also seen sales of their new product – Yeoman Garden Secateurs & Turbo Saw – soar this week, allowing it to make its first appearance in the Top 50.

Other new entries include four items from Woodlodge – Sutton Pot Nos 2, 3 and 4, and Glazed Saucer.

In the warm weather of late, garden bugs are still a cause for concern, allowing Bayer Provado Ultimate Bug Killer Ready to Use to become the highest climber, moving up 27 places to No 21.

It’s also interesting to see that garden lighting is still proving popular with buyers – the Gardman Post Light, Stainless Steel has re-entered the Top 50 after increasing sales by 100%.

See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

The October edition of HTA Market Update highlights how five consecutive months of growth, creating a much healthier picture for the garden market in 2013. 

The HTA Garden Retail Monitor reports garden centre sales in July were up by 25% on July 2012. Year to date sales (to end of August) are up 5% compared to this time last year, but behind the same point in 2011.

For the last five months consumer confidence has increased each month, and is at its highest point since November 2007. Driven by a strong end to the summer, garden retailers are also showing increased optimism which suggests the industry is approaching the Christmas period and looking ahead to 2014 in a more positive light than last year.

The special feature in this issue of HTA Market Update covers garden maintenance services – an area that many garden businesses are getting involved with. It looks at how many people use these services and why, also their attitudes to different types of supplier.

The October edition of HTA Market Update is now available for members to download from the market information pages on the HTA website.

Research shows that a visit to a café or restaurant is fast becoming one of the key reasons for visiting a garden centre.

Customers are looking for a complete experience and 'making a day of it' invariably includes time spent within your dining space.

The key is to ensure that you maximise the retail potential of this captive audience by promoting a wide range of products and encouraging impulse buys.

• Consider lining the route leading to the service and seating areas with products to keep customers interested and encourage cross-selling

• Think about incorporating retail displays in under-utilised areas, such as around the till space or coffee pick up areas. These are ideal spots for impulse buys

• Box clever! You don't need to spend a fortune to showcase your merchandise. Smart use of product lines to create inspiring displays, such as a beautiful cake stand with mouth-watering scones or wooden crate displaying fresh vegetables ensures customers are tempted to buy from other areas of the garden centre 

Members of the Poddi Business breakfast networking club joined staff at Haskins Garden Centre in Southampton to celebrate the  second anniversary of the opening of the restaurant following the company’s £2.3 million investment in 2011.

Steve Bimpson, Poddi’s organiser, congratulated Restaurant General Manager Ben Harrison and his team for their success and growth over the two years as the catering team of 72 staff has seen a 10% increase in turnover. They now serve over 200,000 teas and coffees and 160,000 hot and cold meals each year at the 460 seat restaurant.

In a champagne toast, Steve said: “We changed our Friday meeting to this brilliant venue as it was the only one that ticked all the boxes on our ‘wish list’ and there’s plenty of space for our growing club to expand. 

"Many of our members now hold individual business meetings here on other days which, is a great testament to the high standards provided by Ben and his team.”

Photo caption: Ben Harrison (centre left) with Steve Bimpson and members of the Poddi business breakfast networking group.

Visitors to the two-day AQUA 2013 exhibition this week can expect to see an impressive display of over 85 products from the 75 exhibitors at the International Centre, Telford.

All the products will be entered into the New Product Awards which is being judged by team of judges drawn from the retail sector on the opening morning of the show. The winners and the judges’ identities will be revealed at lunchtime on Wednesday (October 9) when the presentations take place on the Showcase. The winning products will then be featured in a special group as well as highlighted on the winners’ stands. Visitors will be encouraged to attend and congratulate the winners as they are announced.

Winning an award is a real accolade for the companies involved and helps promote both company and product awareness. Joe Courtney-Smith of past-winner Arcadia commented: “Entering a product is 100 per cent worth it and is very important to us. It is always good to have been recognised for the hard work that goes into a product.  I feel that winning the award at the time that we did, really did help as part of a concerted effort to make us the UK’s number one reptile keeping brand.”

AQUA 2013 promises to be a record-breaking event with stand space having sold out months ago and pre-registration booking levels well in advance of 2011.

The categories that make up the Awards are:

• Best new Aquaria product
• Best new Water Gardening product
• Best new Reptile Product
• Best new Shopfitting/EPOS product
• Best new Ancillary product

Show organiser Annie Dyke said: “I am excited by the number of entries we have received. Successful new product development is key factor in a company’s ongoing success.

“The fact that so many new products are being showcased at AQUA 2013 just emphasises how important our exhibitors regard the event as part of their sales and marketing strategy. Equally I am sure visitors will find the Showcase extremely useful in helping make their product purchasing decisions.”

Buyers are urged to pre-register by going online at www.aquatelford.co.uk. Visitors can look forward to free parking, a free shuttle bus from Telford Central station to the exhibition, free refreshments including lunch, free catalogue and array of special offers around the hall. The AQUA 2013 visitor registration hotline is +44 (0)1892 862848.

Christmas comes but once a year, so you need to make the most of Christmas sales opportunities.  GTN Bestsellers is the answer. Every week from now until Christmas we compile and publish the Top 50 Bestsellers Christmas chart from garden centre Epos data, giving the best and most up to date garden centre trading information on the market.

If you’d have been a subscriber last year you’ll have known that History and Heraldry Moneyboxes were the No.1 best selling product for the christmas season and which products from Premier Decorations and Kaemingk graced the Top 50 volume sales charts week by week.

Plus, you’ll have benefitted from the GTN Bestsellers Garden Products chart and our Tip of the week – a gem of a sales idea every week derived from 5 years of GTN Bestsellers charts.

Christmas is cioming fast, so you need to act now.  Buy a subscription to GTN Bestsellers right now. For just £145.00, you get a printed GTN Bestsellers chart posted to you each week, full access to the GTN Bestsellers charts and the GTN Archive on-line and your own copy of Garden Trade News in the post each issue.

And there’s more!! 

If you take out a GTN Bestsellers subscription before the end of October, we’ll send you, as a bonus, all of the GTN Bestsellers Christmas Charts for 2012 so you'll have the best view of how trends have changed and be most prepared when it comes to buying for Christmas 2014.

So, what are you waiting for?  To get your subscription to GTN Bestsellers up and running, simply subscribe online here

or contact us by phone on 01733 775700 or by e-mail: karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

GTN Bestsellers – Garden Centre Bestsellers, Guaranteed!

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.

The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra printed newsletter and on the GTN website www.gardentradenews.co.uk.

Every week we give sales volume comparisons with 2011 as well as 2012 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £145.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most upto date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, or subscribe on-line here

or e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Veg-2-Gro Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.

Onion sets and garlic from Taylors Bulbs dominate the Veg-2-Gro chart this week with the top 11 spots being filled by the company’s items.

Onion Sets Electric, Rada and Senshhyu Yellow fill the top three places for a second week running while Garlic Marco and French Garlic Cristo are next in line.

Elephant Garlic, pack of 3, is the highest re-entry at No 7, while Early Purple Wight returns at No 9.

Other notable re-entries include Farplants Ornamental Kale, Allensmore Rosemary Bush and Trees for Life Raspberry Polka.

Thompson & Morgan Parsnip White Gem has also returned the chart after an outstanding sales week.

There are three new entries, headed by Suttons Green Manure Winter Mix at No 17. The other newcomers come from Unwins – Broad Beans Jubilee Hysor and Broccoli Green Magic.

See the full GTN Veg-2-Gro Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here 

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

All but six products in the GTN Bestsellers Growing Media Top 50 have shown sales increases this week as gardeners make the most of the conditions.

Volumes for the week were actually higher than a seven-day period in March this year.

Some exceptional performances include:

• Shamrock Multipurpose Compost (50 litres) is the highest climber, moving up 18 places.
• Scotts Levington Ericaceous Compost (20 litres) is the highest re-entry.
• Arthur Bowers New Horizon Multi Purpose (60 litres) has seen the biggest volume sales increase.
• Westland Multipurpose Compost + John Innes (20 litres) has moved up 17 places to No 10.

See the full GTN Growing Media Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

A European Commission proposal regarding plants could be extremely damaging to garden centres if it is introduced, according to the Garden Centre Association.

The EU is proposing that new plants will require a scientific description and must be listed on an official register in order to be sold.

Peter Burks, Chairman of the GCA, said: “The EU says the idea behind the proposal is not to restrict the choice of plants for sale. However, if nurseries and growers can only grow plants that are already officially registered this will dramatically reduce the number of different plants that can be sold in garden centres.

“In order to get a plant scientifically tested to gain the scientific description and add it to the register looks to be incredibly expensive and unfortunately the end result is this cost will be passed on to the consumer. Plants will undoubtedly be more expensive to buy.

“Many people who are interested in breeding new plant varieties are relatively small outfits so they just won’t be able to afford the costs associated with growing new plants. We are really hoping the proposal won’t become a reality.

“I believe currently of the Royal Horticultural Society’s list of 52,000 varieties, only 2,000 have an official botanical description.”

William Sinclair Horticulture, one of the UK's leading producers of growing media, fertiliser and garden sundries, has appointed Simon McArdle as marketing director.

Simon, 40, was formerly group category director at Hozelock, having previously filled a number of senior roles during a 15-year period at the watering and aquatics brand leader, including group marketing director and group innovation and strategy director.

A BSc graduate from Aberystwyth University, he also spent two years in America, leading Hozelock's US subsidiary, and oversaw the launch of a number of award-winning products, including this year’s GiMA sword of Excellence winner, the Flexispray.

Mr McArdle will report directly to William Sinclair’s chief executive Peter Rush.

Peter Rush said: “Simon is unquestionably one of the horticulture industry's top marketing and innovation executives and I am delighted he is joining William Sinclair. We worked closely together at Hozelock where i had first hand experience of his innovative approach to marketing products within the horticulture sector.

“William Sinclair is building the best team possible to capitalise on the re-launch of its product ranges and integration of its new, state-of-the-art factory and distribution facilities at Ellesmere Port.”

Simon McArdle commented: “It is a very exciting time to be joining Sinclair and I look forward to contributing to the company’s success and helping it meet its ambitious growth targets.

“With William Sinclair’s heritage, the opportunities here, and also within the horticulture sector, are immense.”

LeisureGrow have announced some exciting news about Grillstream barbecues.  They were specially invited to present the British-designed and engineered Grillstream technology at the MAS (Manufacturing Advisory Service) Showcase last week which received a Ministerial visit from Business Secretary Vince Cable. The event highlights companies and products that have benefited from the MAS service.

Grillstream inventors, Peter Neath and Ian Worton displayed the innovative Grillstream technology on the new Ziggy portable gas BBQ from LeisureGrow that will be available in stores from January 2014. They also showed how the technology is being implemented into various professional restaurant kitchens – Grillstream is now being rolled out into restaurants nationwide in the new year, proving how successful the technology is now becoming with both professional chefs and novice barbecuers alike.

Business Secretary Vince Cable met with Ian and Peter to talk about the ground-breaking technology and the relevance of British engineering and design in the current economic climate. 

The second generation of Grillstream is now available on the newly launched Ziggy, Classic and Gourmet BBQ ranges available from LeisureGrow.

www.grillstream-bbqs.com

www.leisuregrow.com

GIMA is carrying out its annual survey of Glee with feedback from exhibitors and visitors helping to shape the exhibition's future...

You could win a £50 wine voucher, just for entering!

Click here to enter the survey.

GIMA's 'Buyer Connect' scheme - designed to bring buyers and sellers together - was one of the big hits at Glee.

The scheme - a kind of speed dating for exhibitors - was oversubscribed well before the show opened and there was a waiting list for 10-minute slots with buyers, spread over two hours adjacent to Hall 5's Innovation Zone 

GIMA strictly enforced the 10-minute rule - and encouraged a brisk turnround between appointments.

Buyers taking part included: Steve Guy (Dobbies), Neil Fishlock (Decco), David Yardley and Allan Wilson (Klondyke Group). Gerrard Smith  (Garden Centre On Line), Simon Moore (Wilkinson Stores), Richard Pennell (Future Marketing Group), Sandy Parker (Notcutts Garden Centres), Michelle de Lavis-Travis (Choice Marketing) and David Gillespie (Homebase).