Greenfingers Charity would love to see as many people as possible spread a whole load of floral cheer tomorrow Friday (17th April) and are offering a prize going to the most inventive and creative picture posted on social media...
Greenfingers Charity would love to see as many people as possible spread a whole load of floral cheer tomorrow Friday (17th April) and are offering a prize going to the most inventive and creative picture posted on social media!
For your chance to win £50 of National Gardening Gift Vouchers, here’s what you need to do…
On your favourite social media platforms simply:
post a photo of yourself in your favourite floral shirt, dress, hat, shoes, tie, pjs or similar (or your favourite floral photo)
use the hashtags #floralfriday #hortindustry #greenfingers
nominate a friend to do the same
send this story on to your colleagues while they are “working at home”
add this story into your customer communications so that your customers can get involved by spreading a little floral cheer even if they’re unable to buy plants and garden supplies just now.
And PLEASE remember to give a thought too, to the thousands of life-limited children, families, nurses and the wider hospice communities who benefit from spending time in the many Greenfingers Charity gardens in children’s hospices right across the UK. You and those you nominate can donate by:
After publishing GTN Xtra last night we've now had feedback from other centres including a record-breaking day online on Easter Monday at Longacres, how a veg hub is working wonders in Cornwall, how 12 vans are delivering up to 200 orders a day from Coolings, feedback from Matthew at Bents and comment from deepest Kent's Grovewell Garden Centres...
"I just don't get how gardening is deemed non-essential then certain supermarkets put big banners with get ready for spring etc and roll it out also selling clothes, homewares etc. It just seems like everyone is finding ways to bend the rules."
“It’s very intense work and there is no let up all day. We're still all smiling though, and it just hammers home to me what a great crew I have.”
“We know that we are making no more money (or losing no less) than those who have closed their doors completely and furloughed all their staff. What we do have is a core of enthusiastic staff who are keeping busy and that has to be a good thing for mental wellbeing as well as keeping some wheels of trade in motion which is good for the local economy.”
“We had a record-breaking day online on Easter Monday when we opened up a new load of delivery slots. Demand is exceptional and we’ve had some great feedback from people who are immensely grateful for our delivery services.”
After publishing GTN Xtra last night we've now had feedback from other centres including a record-breaking day online on Easter Monday at Longacres, how a veg hub is working wonders in Cornwall, how 12 vans are delivering up to 200 orders a day at Coolings, feedback from Matthew at Bents and comment from deepest Kent's Grovewell Garden Centres.
Edward Boult, Grovewell Garden Centres: “Looking into and understanding the magnitude of the contagiousness levels of this terrible virus, we took the 'ethical' decision to totally lock down all 4 sites for the initial 3 weeks that Boris asked for.
“This was in order to protect Staff, Customers and the Community. Explaining to customers that as a family business we felt this was the right thing to do and that it was still early for 'Essential' Gardening! We have a vast amount of praise from sections of the general public for this action, (although some don't get it and just want their seeds & compost etc!)
“We are looking to re-start deliveries, depending on what is said in tonight's (Thursday's) Government review, although we are not sure how we will cope as the demand will be huge!
“We have been operating a skeleton staff, who have done a wonderful job maintain the sites and plant areas look amazing! In addition, we have been putting in place plans for re-opening, looking at how we will control customer numbers, till screening and till processes, click and collect systems which we feel many customers will want as opposed to traditional shopping.
“We have been in regular communication with our plant nurseries and other suppliers; generally getting ready to ramp things up, as I have a funny feeling that when we are allowed to re-open we will be rather busy?
“Many staff are itching to get back, but we need to provide a safe working environment and understand that we are going to have to operate in several new and different ways.
“In reality it has become harder, with so many people acting in different ways and so many people attacking our marketplace. Local hardware shops selling all gardening, compost and seeds etc, Local Farm shops selling plants, odd places operating Click and Collect schemes (which involves opening your premises which I thought you couldn’t) others delivering, some Supermarkets, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Aldi etc promoting spring plants & gardening, selling clothes, toys, electronics, housewares etc and now Tesco's has cleared their Easter Eggs and replaced the contents of the whole shopping aisle with gardening and Amazon selling everything! I do give B&Q credit as they have locked down to essential lines only, hardware, plumbing, electrical essentials (although I have heard they may now be selling some plants and gardening?)
"When is a non-essential product not non-essential? I just don't get how gardening is deemed non-essential then certain supermarkets put big banners with get ready for spring etc and roll it out also selling clothes, homewares etc. It just seems like everyone is finding ways to 'bend the rules'."
Matthew Bent, Bents Garden & Home has added this afternoon: “The team and I are well, adapting and changing everyday to the 'new normality' for the time being.
“We are currently doing well in our food hall, with the better days towards the end of the week. We have a good combination of dairy, meat from the butcher, bread, everyday essentials and more premium items, which seems to be working well at the moment.
“Online is going well due to the great weather and demand from customers, although it is difficult to get all the plant lines on and find a safe way to deliver them. We also have set up a local delivery service for gardening, plants and compost which is working well for the local community. It is helping us tick over, but a small percentage compared to previous years.
“Who knows what the future holds short term, we are planning for either end May or End June to end lockdown. I am sure the opening will be slowly and controlled to defined places or retailers, hopefully the HTA can get the garden centres at the top of the list. Similar to what other countries have been doing so far.”
Edward Boult, Grovewell Garden Centres
Paul Cooling, Coolings, writes: “At Coolings we were fortunate to have already had a web-shop that catered for keen gardeners across the UK searching for unusual plants. The IT and EPOS teams have worked really hard to adapt that successfully to offer a broad range of plants along with a core selection of composts and gardening sundries but just to our local area that we can deliver to using our own transport.
“As our gardening teams are not working, we have up to 12 vans that can deliver up to 200 orders per day. Unfortunately there is so much demand that we have had to turn off the web-shop as we cannot keep up (over 1000 orders placed in 36 hours). Even with the high volume, this activity is not profitable although we are turning stock back into cash and, as the majority of our stock is perishable, that will save on plant maintenance costs and reduce the compost mountain at the end of the season.
“At the end of the day we are a retail destination that relies on people visiting our sites, selecting their own choice of plants and supplies then loading it all into their cars and taking it home. We are not set up as a stock picking and despatch company. 200 orders a day may sound like a lot but it's a fraction of the number of visitors we would normally have at this time of year. Overall our plant & sundries takings last week through the web-shop were about 33% of the same week last year at the Rushmore Hill site.
“Coolings Potted Garden at Bearsted near Maidstone and Coolings Wych Cross in the Ashdown Forest remain closed with two horticulturalists each day keeping the stock watered. Some stock has been transferred to Knockholt to improve efficiency and help fulfil online orders.
“At Coolings Green & Pleasant, the six COOK freezers and limited food offering allowed the shop to remain open. When the local village shop closed, as it could not control social distancing, we enlarged the range of produce available which has been a very popular move among local residents.
“Again takings last week were running at about a third of where they were last year through the shop although we have lost all the traffic through the Café and the popular Nature Trail. At this site we have sold a few BBQs and sets of furniture as a result of online and telephone enquiries but it's a drop in the ocean compared to what we should be doing for the time of year. It's made all the more frustrating by having the perfect weather too.
“Overall, when running the numbers, we know that we are making no more money (or losing no less) than those who have closed their doors completely and furloughed all their staff. What we do have is a core of enthusiastic staff who are keeping busy and that has to be a good thing for mental wellbeing as well as keeping some wheels of trade in motion which is good for the local economy. Most of all we hope that, as restrictions are relaxed, customers will return to Coolings first as the contact has been maintained albeit limited.”
Micheal Ainley at Longacres reports: “As most of the store is closed (we’re open for food and pet supplies only) sales were roughly 10% of what we’d expect to take on an Easter weekend (and the irony of one with such lovely weather was not lost on us.) Normal year on year comparisons have become pointless anyway – there seems very little we can consider ‘normal’ at the moment.
“We had a record-breaking day online on Easter Monday when we opened up a new load of delivery slots. Demand is exceptional and we’ve had some great feedback from people who are immensely grateful for our delivery services. We’re delivering locally and nationwide and we can barely keep up at times. Customers are often confused about what they can and can’t shop for – if we had a pound for every ‘but can’t I just come and buy some plants’ query it’d go some way to offsetting the lost sales!
“We're doing local delivery from Bagshot, Bybrook Barn and Shepperton. Chobham and Chelmsford are closed at the moment, unless we get some movement on plant retail.
“The phones have been utterly relentless. Along with customer service queries we’ve been offering a food delivery package for elderly and vulnerable local customers which has been very popular.”
And down in deepest Cornwall, Sarah Daniel at Pengelly Garden Centre told us: “We're all good down here, my team are amazing and working like trojans on the fruit and veg community hub that I set up. We are helping local suppliers, fruit, veg, milk, eggs and bakery to get their products to the public. They've all been hit hard with the closure of restaurants, pubs and hotels so this is helping them a little and also getting food to people who cannot get out.
“It was a nightmare to start with, the phone never stopped, but we introduced an online ordering system, thanks Nat at Porters for the tip off, and have used shopify to ease the congestion. You don't need to be a computer whizz to set it up and it looks reasonably professional. We are now working with some local growers to get their plants listed too, we'll deliver them to the doorstep with the food orders.
“We have struggled from the start to keep up with orders, we have a team of volunteers who do some of the deliveries and are glad to help out. We are going to streamline our opening hours this week to Monday to Friday so that the whole team can have a break, it’s very intense work and there is no let up all day. We're still all smiling though, and it just hammers home to me what a great crew I have here at Pengelly.”
Please keep sending in your experiences or running delivery services and your thoughts on how you'll get back to business differently when restrictions are eased. E-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or use the comments button below. Stay Safe and well!
Usually on Easter Monday, GTN Xtra’s Trevor Pfeiffer contacts garden centres to ask how their Easter trading has gone, but not this year. Instead we just asked: How are you and your team? And how are delivery services going? Will Click and Collect be part of your recovery strategy?
"It’s been manic! With three vehicles we’re managing 100 deliveries a day from phone orders."
“We’ve made sure we found a way through it all, after 49 years building the business I’m not about to throw in the towel."
"We have plans for changing our shop around to help customer flow and reduce the 'browsing' that we spend so much time perfecting."
"In conversations with customers on the phone especially the elderly it’s clear that many are bewildered and a call that takes 30 seconds to take an order often extends to 10 or 25 minutes as the team just chat."
“I have had my battle with the virus but now clear...
Usually on Easter Monday, GTN Xtra’s Trevor Pfeiffer contacts garden centres to ask how their Easter trading has gone, but not this year. As Robert Ducker’s drone photo of an empty car park and deserted £3.9m new road at Langlands Shiptonthorpe, which would normally be traffic jammed for most of the weekend illustrates, this was an Easter to forget, garden centre trading wise.
Instead we just asked: How are you and your team? And how are delivery services going? Will Click and Collect be part of your recovery strategy?
"We have been operating an online store for some time, on a small scale, but uploaded our EPOS database to it when the Garden Centre was shut” said one garden centre owner. “Demand has been huge, more than we can cope with logistically. We have only managed to open the online store twice a week, for about 12 hours at a time, more than that and we get swamped with orders. There is not a lot of point investing in IT or infrastructure to deal with this as most people will want to get out and buy plants afterwards, so it is head down and get on with it for a few weeks.
“We are taking about 10% of what we would normally expect to take at this time of year, and it is bloody hard work for the few staff we have in. We will look at click and collect when the option becomes available. We have mainly been selling to local customers, shipping things out in our own vans. We opened the online store at 19:30 yesterday (Sun) and had 400 orders by lunchtime today (Mon) so have switched off again. We are managing about 60-80 deliveries a day, mainly bedding plants off our Nursery, Compost and Garden Sundries."
James Debbage, Green Pastures in Norfolk told us: “We have a Farm Shop, the garden centre and a Post Office. It’s been manic! With three vehicles we’re managing 100 deliveries a day from phone orders.
“Food deliveries have been restricted to a 5 mile radius and garden centre deliveries no further than 10 miles. That way we are now being most effective with our time and resources. We are turning orders around in 24/48 hours using our cleared restaurant area as a pick and packing station. Three or four staff are handling the phone and e-mail orders each day. We’ve had to add extra phone lines to cope.
“There is so much demand, I’ve never experienced this before. We have as much business as we can handle, some days we can’t keep up with it.
“I will sell out of multipurpose compost in a few days, gro-bags have already sold out. Fortunately a new supplier is helping with supplies as my existing supplier is closed.
“Local growers are happy to supply us plants, and even those who are unable to label and barcode as usual due to social distancing issues on their packing lines. As we are delivering that is not a problem. We are finding it better to have good stocks of a few plants to cope with orders rather than a wide spread.
“We’ve even kept some of the chefs on full time to make home baked items to sell in the farm shop and deliver; soups, ready meals, pies and quiches.
“We’ve had to adopt a different mind set, it’s been a steep learning curve but the feedback on social media and from customers when we deliver is of overwhelming gratitude.”
Derek Bunker, Alton Garden Centre was also full of positivity for keeping on trading by deliveries and customer collections: “We’ve made sure we found a way through it all, after 49 years building the business I’m not about to throw in the towel.
“We already had a small on-line service, so we decided to carry on internet trading with some local customer collections. We’ve been inundated with 100 to 200 phone calls a day. To save time and get the orders correct we take peoples contact details and get the right person to call them back and if we can’t service all calls, we just ask people to call back next week.
“There are 30 people here working on phones, BBQ, furniture and lawn mower orders, small item internet orders and the outside team handling local gardening orders using garden centre trolleys on the delivery lorry to simplify the process.
“I don’t think we are making a lot of money, but demand is there, and we’d rather be here at work, socially distancing of course, than sitting at home doing nothing.
“We’ve donated plants to 40 local schools so that the children of key workers can grow while at school and houseplants for the teachers.
“So far we’ve sold over 40 VegTrugs this spring. The demand for grass seed has been very high and Westland have been great with top up deliveries. I went up to Decco in Ipswich myself to collect products we needed for our customers too.
“Demand is definitely there. If they can lift the ban at the end of April we can recover plant sales.”
Colin Barrie, Caulders Garden Centres: “It is strange times indeed! We started a delivery service about 10 days ago and then stopped it as we were overwhelmed and felt that it was difficult to operate safely.... we have now re looked at it, put the appropriate measures in place and are re starting it on a smaller scale as of tomorrow.
“I think whenever we are allowed to reopen, our opening strategy will include a robust delivery system and an efficient click and collect. I expect that it will be many months before our coffee shops are allowed to reopen, and with a lot of our customer base elderly and many who will be shielding, it will take a long time for the footfall of the garden centres to resume to previously levels. Just part of the learning curve!”
Simon Bourne, Perrywood: “What a week we could have had! I think it is safe to say that last week could have been a record breaker by some margin. 20 degrees, sunshine and clear skies provided perfect gardening weather. Our hope is that all our customers have spent time in their gardens and appreciate them even more.
“Over the last week the skeleton plant area teams have been continuing with watering and starting to setup the garden centre for when we reopen. They have also been supporting just two members of the nursery team who have been potting everything into larger pots than we would normally in the hope that when we reopen we will have larger stock of bedding plants available and ready to look good in gardens. There is a third member of the nursery team who has just started this week, he's a bit rusty but Alan's 50 odd years of experience is worth a lot. It is keeping him busy and getting him out from under mum's feet!
“I have been operating a very small delivery service just for staff members over the last few days. The team are all plant mad and to be starved of plants is sending them stir crazy. A little bit of compost and some veg, and basket plants is enough to put a smile on most people’s faces at the moment. We have also been supplying the local hardware store with a bit of compost and a few pansies. Nothing massive but it means that a few more people will be able to carry on gardening.
“With the three-week review supposedly happening today we have delayed making any major decisions until tomorrow. I think we all know that there will be continued lockdown for the next week, two weeks or probably three. After that we just don't know and that is where the trouble starts. Do we setup a home delivery service? Do we wait it out? If we opened up again in three weeks could we cope with demand? They are all questions we have been working on but it does seem that we will have little time to prepare to reopen. I've just heard on the news that Italy has started to ease lockdown. If we are on a similar path maybe our shop will reopen with the restaurant closed. We have plans for changing our shop around to help customer flow and reduce the 'browsing' that we spend so much time perfecting. We are in close contact with our suppliers and I know they will all pull all of the stops out to get as much product out to the market as is possible. “Our customers will have to be patient and understanding of the situation and for many this will be extremely difficult.
“Wishing everyone in the industry a Happy Easter.”
Julian Winfield, Haskins: “We are completely closed and took the view that it was going to be very difficult to continue our phone and delivery service in a cost effective and safe way. It is difficult to do more than 15 deliveries a day especially when it tends to be bulk low cost items such as peats and compost. Whilst it would have been a good service to offer our customers, we also took into account that we didn’t believe it was "essential" and difficult to square this with safety of our staff. We have furloughed 92% of our staff with small teams left at each garden centre site to water plants etc, Birdworld has a bigger team as the bird welfare continues if we are open or not, our finance department is still working as we have our year end to complete, pay staff and pay a reducing purchase ledger every month. We continue talking with our teams, posting videos from me on our staff section of our website with the view of keeping everyone engaged and updated on our situation.
“Our bank is being very supportive and last week we applied for one of the government backed CBIL via HSBC to secure our shot term cash position. We are now looking at a number of scenarios on how we will have to adapt our trade taking into account "social distancing". We have looked that supermarkets and learnt from what they have done, so screens around the cash desks, markings on the floor, max number shopping at any one time etc.
"We are talking regularly to our suppliers, especially on the plant side. We need our suppliers and it is essential that they see a future and survive to rebuild their businesses, it goes without saying without them we all fail. What we fear is that it will be months before we are able to open our restaurants which represents close to 25% of our sales. I understand that restaurants are opening up on the continent but waiter service only, so we may have to adjust our service style for at least the short term.
“On the positive side I believe that garden centres will be seen as reasonably safe places to visit, over 60% of retail space outside, wide paths etc will help with this perception. We are destinational with large well-spaced car parks, our customer drive rather than use public transport which I think people will avoid. Our customers will have been stuck at home enjoying their gardens so when we are re-open they will have some pent up demand which we will benefit from. I also hope and believe we will be one of the first non-essential retailers to be allowed to open which will help build the momentum back. It will take some time and is not going to be easy, but we will be in a better place than many retailers! For sometime I believe our customers will stay more at home and holiday less, that has to be good for garden centres!”
Mike Burks, The Gardens Group: “We are trading with telephone orders and home delivery. We are checking every day that staff are happy to continue this and have ensured enough space so that we are observing the distancing to keep us safe. We have perhaps a dozen staff at Castle Gardens, a similar number at Brimsmore including the farm shop and just a fab four at Poundbury!
“We have kept on a chef at Brimsmore and at Castle who sorts tea breaks and lunch for everyone.
“Drivers have kits to keep them safe and deliveries are to the front of houses. Customers are observing the rules too.
“We believe that we are keeping vulnerable people at home where they should be. It keeps them safe, mentally active and in a few weeks time they will start producing their own food.
“In conversations with customers on the phone especially the elderly it’s clear that many are bewildered and a call that takes 30 seconds to take an order often extends to 10 or 25 minutes as the team just chat.
“The feedback from customers is astonishingly positive.
“We are also delivering plants free of charge to local schools, nursing and residential homes and to hospitals for the staff.
“How long we can continue this remains uncertain and we review every day.
“Supplies coming in are patchy but we are getting good support from T&M seeds, Decco, Westland, Stax and Evergreen with a number of nurseries including Farplants and local bedding suppliers.
“Some of the small suppliers are just delighted to be moving some stock and we have prioritised what cash we can release to these suppliers.
“We have always been set up to deliver but its a completely different model to normal trading. I'm sure that we aren't making anything out of it but we believe we are doing the right thing keeping the public at home and safe.
“I understand that there are other opinions and I respect those who have made the decision to stay closed.
“Our delivering is no different to the hundreds of courier companies out there delivering for Amazon and co
“Reopening looks a long way off and it won't be simple. We are working on how we keep distancing in store, how we protect till staff and how we get the centres back up to being fully stocked with the relevant product. It won't be straightforward.”
Gerald Ingram, Planters and Garden King: “We have increased our unfurloughed team from today. Partly because looking after a plant area is a full-time job! Everything has survived but ideally it needs more care than we were able to give it. Also following the Governments direction that essential stores can sell none essential items, (following reports of police patrolling supermarket aisles making people take none essential items out of the basket) we are more open about adding garden items to pet and aquatic orders for collection.
“On Wednesday we are doing a compost delivery service. This will be one multipurpose compost on the van, minimum order 6 bags, delivery charge applies, trying to keep things simple.
“I’m taking delivery of three trolleys of plants this week. The first since lockdown!
“At Garden King, Darren got his on-line ordering up and running very quickly and as a result his trading last week wasn’t far off last year thanks to some large furniture orders.”
Justin Williams, Fron Goch: “What incredible times! Very frightening times for people who are more vulnerable and those who worked within the NHS. After this terrible health crises I imagine an economic one could follow? Especially for an industry like ours which has a large amount of perishable or seasonal product.
“We are running, like many other centres, with a very tight team servicing online sales only. Like others, we have had to turn off most products on our site for the last week as we are still catching up.
“Everyday we try and streamline and make the process more efficient but it is a totally different business model and we are all exhausted. We have two vans delivering 7 days a week. Last week we quadrupled our sales estimate to reach 30-40 deliveries per day so there is something to smile about. Key is making sure the deliveries include furniture and bbq’s etc and not just low value compost.
“It seems impossible to guess the right answers to product levels on the nursery, cancelling or delaying furniture containers. We are still hopeful of a decent late spring and summer, no doubt the current restrictions have seen an huge increase in interest for gardening and it's mental and physical health. This situation seems like it won't disappear but more likely change slowly. We already have great interest in Click and collect and it may well become an important need for those more vulnerable who have to isolate for much longer.
“Another worry is staffing, even if restrictions are lifted soon, filling the gaps of those self isolating seems daunting. Support from the community has been wonderful, our delivery teams have been very warmly received by grateful customers, who are able to stay at home and garden.
“Seeing the place empty and quiet is incredibly sad, I can't wait to see the centre and restaurant open and full of energy and life again.”
Alan Roper, Blue Diamond: “I have had my battle with the virus but now clear. My operations team and the teams that are not on furlough who are operating the Home delivery operations are magnificent. They have been totally supportive of our shut down sales initiatives. We are operating on a can-do culture.
“Demand is enormous as one would expect. We set off from the starting gates the day after shutdown to reposition the business to Home deliveries and online and its working, its successful. Of course, it doesn’t match the centres normal trade as our deliveries are just gardening. However, if you take just sales of plants and gardening sundries our sales volumes through Home deliveries is running at about 85% of last year’s sales when the centres were open. We have 37 sites this year compared to 30 last year but the sales figure is growing every day.
“Click and collect will very much be at the forefront of our strategy when we reopen.
“My hopes are limited when it comes to normal trade within the centres for the remaining length of the season. It’s the best strategic approach because it focusses you on adapting to the new world order and innovating to create opportunities for sales during shutdown.
“I suggested to the HTA two and a half weeks ago to just ask for the plant areas to open. All garden centres have open covered areas which can be converted to sell garden care products, tools, composts etc alongside the plant area. Access can be arranged directly into plant areas on most sites. Open air retail is a positive USP.
“This policy avoids clashing with high street who are closed and cannot sell products such as Home and Fashion, when we could. This approach would stop allegations of unfairness. UK garden centres have much broader high street offer than our European counterparts where garden centres are open. Germany and Austria are just two examples.
“Of course if they allow garden centres to open with non-gardening products roped off that would also work.
“This lockdown will run for some time and I don’t see any movement on garden centres. Maybe a fresh approach is needed?”
Thank you from the team at GTNXtra for all the reading and sharing of our e-mail newsletter during this crisis period. Our stories about Easter feedback from garden centres have beaten all records in terms of number of individual story clicks and the amount of time spent reading GTNXtra which has jumped by over 65%. Thank you.
Thank you from the team at GTNXtra for all the reading and sharing of our e-mail newsletter during this crisis period. Our stories about Easter feedback from garden centres have beaten all records in terms of number of individual story clicks and the amount of time spent reading GTNXtra which has jumped by over 65%%. Thank you.
Please do keep sending us your news - trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk, We really enjoy keeping everyone informed and hopefully entertained.
Following the launch of GrowNation, the free E-Commerce web site for garden centres, GTN Xtra has been asking Steve Meleka to give more information about the site and the reasons behind the initiative...
"It’s been brilliant to see garden centres coming up with their own local delivery services, but what we're hearing is that they're coming up against very similar sets of challenges over and over. The demand is absolutely massive from consumers at the moment, but efficiency and organisation are needed to take advantage of it whilst keeping costs down.
"Centres who are relying on Facebook, email, manual card payments, spreadsheets and the like are finding it really inefficient and overwhelming for their staff. It’s also creating customer service problems which is putting people off. We’re seeing lots of centres having to either keep pausing their service due to overwhelming demand or sadly, just throwing up their hands and giving up.
"We realised weeks ago that an easy to set up online platform was the answer, so we got to work straight away. We’ve been talking with some the most innovative growers and wholesalers already who are helping us by pre-populating product information for their lines. This means garden centres can very easily choose which products from which suppliers they want to list on their own storefronts. The process we’ve designed is really quick and easy to do, even for people who’ve never had an online store before.
"In most cases there will already be product names, descriptions, photos and suggested retail prices in place, but these can all be adjusted by the retailer in any way they like. Nat from Porters Fuchsias has been brilliant, supporting us by giving us data to work with and getting our name out to other growers who can benefit from our project.
"Wholesalers don’t need to change the way they operate, in fact we expect all the existing relationships to remain the same. The benefit for retailers is that they’re effectively taking back-orders and payment straight away, then ordering from wholesalers in the usual way.
"A slightly different example would be Fallen Fruits, their entire drop-ship range is being added at the moment, so retailers can sign up, list their products and sell them right away. There’s nothing else for them to do other than take the customers money, Fallen Fruits deliver orders direct to the garden centres’ customers.
"The priority for us is to make it as quick and easy as possible for garden centres to start taking advantage of online sales, so we've launched with a no-risk option. We charge a flat commission on sales, so we only benefit if the store owner does. We also organise and process all the payments, then pay garden centres direct. We’re currently negotiating with payment platform providers to get the best possible card processing rate on behalf of retailers as a group, which is something they wouldn’t be able to do individually.
"We’re not expecting to see any significant change to the current lockdown restrictions for a while yet, and even when that happens, it’s unlikely it will be possible to drive the same levels of footfall and business through garden centres. We think we can help there too, so we’ve already built a click & collect option into the platform that we’ll give centres access to when the government tell us it’s safe. We think that even if centres are allowed to open, some customers would rather still buy this way, especially if they’re in one of the vulnerable groups.
"Click and collect has been growing even faster than on-line direct delivery over the last few years. It’s hugely more efficient than local deliveries which restrict you to a relatively small number of orders per hour. We’re working with commercial and local authority environmental health specialists to design safe collection protocols which are supported by features in our software.
"Click and collect could be a really useful halfway house between what we can do now and centres being allowed to re- open. We expect centres to be able to fulfil around 30 collections per hour per collection point with minimal staff. If the demand is higher, the platform supports an unlimited number of additional collection points or bays.
"We can offer garden centres the ability to start selling right away. If they’ve got products to list now they just need to get them over to us and we’ll get them set up. We also need to engage with as many wholesale partners as possible to really turbocharge the project. When centres can immediately start listing all of their existing suppliers’ products, they’ll be able to begin generating cash and paying their bills again, which can’t come soon enough for everyone’s sake.
"We don’t want to disrupt any existing supplier/garden centre relationships, garden centres will continue to order and pay suppliers as before. What we’re doing is allowing centres to sell online quickly by listing the products, processing payment and providing a set of tools for managing orders and local deliveries.
Read more and follow the links to register for GrowNation using this link
Farplants along with two other West Sussex growers, Hills and Newey donated plants last week for an initiative run by Richard Sabin of Biotecture to plant out the temporary Covid-19 Nightingale Hospital at ExCel with Plant Boxes around the NHS nurses and other hospital workers areas...
Farplants along with two other West Sussex growers, Hills and Newey donated plants last week for an initiative run by Richard Sabin of Biotecture to plant out the temporary Covid-19 Nightingale Hospital at ExCel with Plant Boxes around the NHS nurses and other hospital workers areas.
Brett Avery, Managing Director of Farplants said: "The installation occurred last Thursday and has bought some joy and colour to what is a pretty dire environment for these front line people to be working in, as I’m sure you can imagine. Initial feedback is that this has gone down very well and other hospitals have expressed interest in doing something similar.
"At Farplants we were so pleased to be involved in this project and be able to ‘give something back’ to these incredible people doing such an amazing job on the front line – hopefully being surrounded by beautiful plants and fragrances can provide some joy and peace in these challenging circumstances."
I thought you may be interested in the below link of the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today broadcast, which was run this morning featuring our Farplants Group Strategy Director Martin Emmett was interviewd on a BBC Radio 4 Farming Today broadcast last week. You can listen via this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000h7bj Martin’s section runs from 13.40 mins onwards.
Gardenex and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) have thrown their support behind industry-wide rallying calls for a softening of trading restrictions at UK garden centres and nurseries during the Covid19 crisis...
Gardenex and the Commercial Horticultural Association (CHA) have thrown their support behind industry-wide rallying calls for a softening of trading restrictions at UK garden centres and nurseries during the Covid19 crisis.
The plight of growers and retailers has prompted the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) to ask the government to allow a controlled reopening of the plant and garden essentials sections of the centres.
At the same time Gardenex and the CHA have also been adding to the combined industry voice to highlight the potential devastation to the gardening and commercial horticulture sectors.
Director General Amanda Sizer Barrett said: “We have been supporting the call to the wider industry by briefing the government departments with whom we work – the Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy – with all the information gathered by HTA and ourselves from individual suppliers and growers.
“We have also been researching the situations in markets round the world. In many countries garden centres are still open, albeit with strict social distancing, and we have been collating these examples, sending updates to our government connections and are tracking developments weekly. This week, for instance, the Prime Minister of Austria announced that if citizens respected social distancing appropriately, the government was considering the reopening of ‘non-essential‘ retail outlets such as garden centres from mid-April.
“I have also had confirmation that the subject of the crisis among growers and plant retailers is being raised at a meeting with our sectoral lead at the ATO (Agri-Tech Organisation) within government.
“We will do whatever we can to aid the industry’s efforts to lobby for support, as it is now more important than ever for all our associations to work together on behalf of our sector.”
Contact Gardenex and the CHA if you require further advice and assistance:
Peter Seabrook, The Sun’s Gardening Editor supported by Roses UK and Whartons Garden Roses are making plans for the third Rose Festival week running from the 20th – 28th June and launching in The Sun on 18th April...
Peter Seabrook, The Sun’s Gardening Editor supported by Roses UK and Whartons Garden Roses are making plans for the third Rose Festival week running from the 20th – 28th June and launching in The Sun on 18th April.
With the future unclear the focus this year will be on a virtual festival, encouraging the sharing of activities through social media.
Peter Seabrook commented, ‘who knows where we’ll be in June but for sure the sun will be in the sky and the roses will be in bloom, let’s celebrate the nations favourite flower through activities on-line if we can’t celebrate in-store. A Virtual Rose Festival allows everyone to get involved, whether they be retailers, growers, breeders or rose enthusiasts.
Festival week gives you the opportunity to celebrate all things Roses, either in store, (subject to government advice), on-line or through a virtual festival using social media, culminating in the Prettiest Rose Competition sponsored by The Sun with prizes of £500, £300 and £200 respectively.
2019 saw 60 centres signing up for the festival with 50 centres holding their own Prettiest Rose competition with local prizes for the winning entries.
The Virtual Rose festival will support those readers not able to reach their local garden centres, allowing them to submit a picture of their prettiest rose directly to sungardening.co.uk. Garden centres can organise their own local competition through their garden clubs, facebook and Instagram for those not able to reach the centre in person.
For more information and to register your participation contact Jo Davey at Whartons Garden Roses – jo.davey@whartons.co.uk
On #floralfriday (Friday 10th April 2020), Easter bonnets, floral shirts, dresses, bears, gnomes, a look back at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and much more helped to ensure Greenfingers Charity remained in the hearts and minds of supporters both old and new...
On #floralfriday (Friday 10th April 2020), Easter bonnets, floral shirts, dresses, bears, gnomes, a look back at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and much more helped to ensure Greenfingers Charity remained in the hearts and minds of supporters both old and new.
As well as support from the GCA, GIMA, HTA, LOFA and many others, Zacharay Ockwell, Executive Sales Representative at Evergreen Garden Care, used the opportunity to promote some of the companies garden products, and in doing so ensured the event was a winner for all those involved.
Greenfingers Charity would love to see many others spread a little bit of floral cheer this coming Friday (17th April) and are offering a prize going to the most inventive and creative picture posted on social media!
For your chance to win £50 of National Gardening Gift Vouchers, here’s what you need to do…
On your favourite social media platforms simply:
post a photo of yourself in your favourite floral shirt, dress, hat, shoes, tie, pjs or similar (or your favourite floral photo)
use the hashtags #floralfriday #hortindustry #greenfingers
nominate a friend to do the same
send this story on to your colleagues while they are “working at home”
add this story into your customer communications so that your customers can get involved by spreading a little floral cheer even if they’re unable to buy plants and garden supplies just now.
And PLEASE remember to give a thought too, to the thousands of life-limited children, families, nurses and the wider hospice communities who benefit from spending time in the many Greenfingers Charity gardens in children’s hospices right across the UK. You and those you nominate can donate by:
Texting FLORALFRIDAY to 70085 to donate £5 or by
Texting FLORALFRIDAYTEN to 70085 to donate £10
See a selection of the many #floralfriday photos posted on social media on Good Friday 2020. See again, and more next Friday!
Neudorff, the pioneer of products for natural gardening, has taken steps to ensure that extensive stocks of its leading product portfolio are readily available via internet-based retailers – in a bid to meet consumer demand during the nationwide lockdown...
Neudorff, the pioneer of products for natural gardening, has taken steps to ensure that extensive stocks of its leading product portfolio are readily available via internet-based retailers – in a bid to meet consumer demand during the nationwide lockdown.
As the Government ordered all non-essential retailers, including garden centres, to close their doors three weeks before the peak Easter sales period, Neudorff vowed to channel its supplies through web-based retailers so that consumers isolating at home could safely obtain its products for home delivery during the Coronavirus crisis.
“For much of the population in lockdown at home, the garden is their preferred retreat – a place to escape from the unprecedented restrictions that have been imposed on everyday life as the Government attempts to slow the spread of Covid-19,” said Guy Jenkins, Consumer Manager at Neudorff’s UK distribution Partner, DLF Seeds Ltd.
Guy added: “Press reports have suggested that sales of vegetable seeds and gardening accessories are going through the roof as the nation embraces grow-your-own in a bid to beat food shortages at supermarkets. Neudorff’s contingency planning has ensured that it is well prepared to make its natural fertilisers, plant protection products and weedkillers available online, even in times of crisis. The company took precautionary measures very early on in order to maintain its production and manage delivery to the trade of its natural products.”
The efficient sell-in to stockists – both bricks-and-mortar retailers who run online operations, as well as web-based retailers, will now ensure that amateur gardeners can obtain products that are essential for the cultivation of flowers, fruit and veg.
With the Government advising households to “get outside into the garden” to boost the nation’s mental and physical wellbeing, in a bid to limit the isolation caused by essential social distancing, strong availability of Neudorff’s product portfolio will reassure consumers who have been pondering how they can embark on Easter gardening projects while traditional garden centres remain closed.
Neudorff is making it easy for consumers to track down its leading natural product range – which includes weedkillers, slug and snail controls, bug killer, fertilisers, lawncare products, animal repellents, nematodes and ant killers via its internet-based UK stockist finder (www.neudorff.co.uk/stockists.html)
Why Neudorff is the first port of call for natural products
Neudorff – a leading supplier of highly effective products that solve garden problems while using natural ingredients wherever possible and being gentle to people, pets and the environment – has been at the forefront of the drive towards a sustainable future since 1854.
With more than 160 years’ experience in developing and supplying products that have been inspired by nature and are designed to respect nature, Neudorff is leading the way in catering for the UK’s growing band of organic, vegan and eco-conscious gardeners who are determined to cultivate plants in harmony with bees, birds, earthworms and beneficial insects.
Neudorff: key environmental USPs Neudorff has the widest range of products certified by the Organic Farmers and Growers’ Association. Neudorff was the first company to offer slug pellets in cardboard packaging in the UK, with more than a tonne of plastic saved per season as a result. Neudorff is committed to using active ingredients derived from plants and other natural resources wherever possible. It does not use glyphosate or neonicotinoids in any of its products. With a state-of-the-art research and development centre, Neudorff develops its own effective and unique products for eco-conscious gardeners. Neudorff is proud of its environmental responsibility awards. These include ‘National Champion’ in the Environmental & Corporate Sustainability category at the European Business Awards – and being awarded the ‘Green Brand Seal’.
The Gardens Group, which has three garden centres in Sherborne, Poundbury and Yeovil, is inviting children to build a scarecrow out of recycled items found in their homes and gardens, in order to watch over the growing number of fruit and vegetable patches popping up across the region...
The Gardens Group, which has three garden centres in Sherborne, Poundbury and Yeovil, is inviting children to build a scarecrow out of recycled items found in their homes and gardens, in order to watch over the growing number of fruit and vegetable patches popping up across the region. Designed to occupy, inspire and educate children who are currently off school, while demonstrating natural ways to protect crops, the environment and wildlife, this free Scarecrow Competition is open to all children across Dorset and Somerset.
Mike Burks, managing director of The Gardens Group and chairman of the Garden Centre Association, explains: “During these uncertain times, our gardens have become a vital space for solace and sanctuary, while also providing educational opportunities for children. While our garden centres are closed to the general public, we want to respond to the nation’s enthusiasm for gardening and use this as an opportunity to demonstrate how our gardens can be part of the solution. By growing fruit and vegetables, creating wildlife havens and spending time with family outdoors, we can all reap the physical and mental benefits of being in contact with nature. We are certain that this Scarecrow Competition will see many innovative new characters cropping up across the region, while protecting any newly planted crops.”
Every entrant into this competition, who lives within 25 miles of one of the garden centres, will receive a free packet of seeds in the post and the first prize for each category is £20 worth of vouchers for The Gardens Group. The competition will be split into four age categories; 7 and under, 8 – 12, 13 – 16 and young at heart, with entries closing on Thursday 30 April. Details of how to enter the Scarecrow Competition can be found at www.thegardensgroup.co.uk.
Telephone orders for the garden centres and farm shop can be placed over the phone, and delivery is free within 25 miles.
Primeur’s new generation of ‘virtually indestructible’ garden ranges, which are renowned for their ability to endure punishing levels of wear and tear without suffering damage, will remain in pristine condition whether garden centres are forced to remain closed for weeks or locked down for months...
Primeur’s new generation of ‘virtually indestructible’ garden ranges, which are renowned for their ability to endure punishing levels of wear and tear without suffering damage, will remain in pristine condition whether garden centres are forced to remain closed for weeks or locked down for months.
Unlike traditional materials commonly sold for garden use, Primuer’s Eco Garden range of recycled rubber innovations will not crack, fade, stain or rot. This exceptional level of robustness offers unrivalled reassurance for retailers, who have added peace of mind that their investment in stock from Primeur will not deteriorate or require maintenance while the gardening public remains in mandatory isolation.
With garden centres maintained by a skeleton staff during the Covid-19 crisis, and managers channeling their limited resources into keeping perishable plant stock alive, Primeur’s in-store displays of products that have been designed to resist damage in the warehouse and on the shop floor will stand the test of time without requiring any attention. Recycled rubber doesn’t attract mould or mildew – so products won’t become covered in green algae or become slippery, helping to keep stock maintenance costs down.
The material that has transformed this low maintenance concept into reality is recycled rubber, an ingredient that also offers retailers a unique selling point when it comes to sustainability. With the Eco Garden range made from recycled rubber tyres, the line-up is appealing to the UK’s growing band of environmentally conscious consumers who increasingly scrutinise a product’s green credentials at the point of purchase. Recycled rubber products are growing in appeal as consumers look for greener alternatives to plastics, in a bid to play their part in protecting the planet.
With 1.5 billion tyres worldwide reaching the end of their useful life every year, and over 200 ingredients going into making a single tyre, waste tyres can take up to 80 years to decompose. However, 6kg of rubber crumb can be recycled from each tyre, and that ingredient holds the key to creating durable garden products that are almost indestructible.
While recycled rubber helps to relieve the burden of waste tyres on the environment, the material’s flexibility and durability offers a host of USPs that retailers can take advantage of to drive sales as soon as stores are permitted to re-open. Rubber has an excellent ability to expand and contract as temperatures vary, meaning that scorching summers and freezing winters won’t degrade or damage stock in retail sales areas, whether they’re merchandised outdoors or under glass.
Unlike some traditional non-frost proof containers, recycled rubber planters won’t crack in sub-zero temperatures, or smash if displays topple due to strong winds or accident-prone shoppers. This level of durability is a win-win situation, as retailers can avoid writing-off stock while eliminating wastage bills – and consumers benefit from exceptionally tough products that withstand wild weather while being lawnmower, nylon cord trimmer, child and pet safe.
Jenny Douthwaite, Sales Director at Primeur, said: “Reducing stock wastage during the enforced shutdown will be at the top of the agenda for retail managers nationwide. In a time of unprecedented uncertainty, it is reassuring to know that Primeur’s recycled rubber ranges will look as good when garden centres re-open as they did on the day of delivery, without requiring human intervention. Our collections - from the award-winning Tierra Verde planters to recycled rubber stepping-stones and border collections - are almost indestructible, significantly reducing the risk of product being damaged on the shop floor. The durability of recycled rubber is helping retailers to ensure that 100% of an order will go through the tills without any stock ending up in the skip.”
At the heart of Primeur’s ultra-tough collection are Tierra Verde Recycled Rubber Planters – a game changer in the pots and containers category and proud winner of the coveted Sword of Excellence and Decorative Garden Pots and Planters Category Winner at the 2019 GIMA Awards. Engineered for all seasons, these unbreakable planters not only divert materials from landfill and give them a new lease of life, but their robustness eliminates the risk of damage in transit and in store. As an added bonus, weather and frost-resistant Tierra Verde planters come with a self-watering base, raising their appeal to consumers by allowing them to be used both inside homes and outdoors.
Border edging is another area where traditional products have been notoriously susceptible to breakages in the past, but the cost of wastage has been consigned to history with Primeur’s Eco Garden Border Collection. Also made from recycled rubber, this lightweight alternative to heavy stone and concrete will not shatter or crack if bent. In fact, the nature of rubber allows these borders to be flexible, helping consumers to curve and flow around existing lines in their gardens. Easy to secure with spikes provided, the border collection comes in a range of attractive designs including Roman Stone, Scallop, Rockwall, Brick and Stones.
The same all-season durability is engineered in Primeur’s Eco Stone Stepping-Stone Collection – a much softer alternative to hard landscaping materials in the event of trips and falls – and Recycled Rubber Deck Tiles, a safer substitute for decking that won’t rot or become slippery unlike traditional timber structures. For easy, high-impact merchandising, Primeur’s ranges are supplied palletised or on display stands, with full colour point-of-sale materials that highlight recycled rubber’s unbreakable toughness, as well as its environmentally friendly, child and pet safe, and mould and rot-resistant characteristics.
For more details about Primeur’s innovative and award-winning recycled rubber innovations, go to www.primeur.co.uk.
Last week Aspin, providers of trade eCommerce and rep ordering systems to greeting card publishers, giftware distributors and garden centre suppliers. gifted several local NHS hospitals with 1000s of Crème Eggs...
Last week Aspin, providers of trade eCommerce and rep ordering systems to greeting card publishers, giftware distributors and garden centre suppliers. gifted several local NHS hospitals with 1000s of Crème Eggs.
Having initially bought them for their customer’s as an Easter gift, they felt that everyone would agree the NHS would be the ideal recipient during this very difficult period.
They were greatly received by Southampton, Salisbury and Winchester hospitals.
Managing Director Nathan Aspin distributed the eggs to each of the trusts in early April and was met with great thanks by each of the NHS representatives that received him.
Nathan said, “We want to thank everyone on the NHS front line, those who selflessly continue their day-to-day duties outside the home in support of us all. NHS Southampton, Winchester, and Salisbury, we hope you enjoy these Easter eggs.”
Aspin provide trade eCommerce and rep ordering systems to greeting card publishers, giftware distributors and garden centre suppliers.
It is with great sadness that we share the news that Derek Spicer, owner of Kilworth Conifers, passed away on March 30th from complications following surgery for oesophageal cancer. He was 77...
It is with great sadness that we share the news that Derek Spicer, owner of Kilworth Conifers, passed away on March 30th from complications following surgery for oesophageal cancer. He was 77.
A long-time champion of conifers in Britain, Derek has run Leicestershire-based Kilworth Conifers with wife Carole for more than 40 years. He was a founder member and Chairman of the British Conifer Society, and author (with Aris Auders) of the two-volume RHS Encyclopedia of Conifers (2012).
If you want to keep your staff up to date with what's happening in the industry during the lockdown how about adding a link to the GTN Xtra weekly e-mail newsletter into your staff communications...
If you want to keep your staff up to date with what's happening in the industry during the lockdown how about adding a link to the GTN Xtra weekly e-mail newsletter into your staff communications.
All you need to do is add this link: www.gardentradenews.co.uk and that will take them to the current issue.
Don't forget to send us your news and views during lockdown, GTN Xtra continues to be read at very high levels, for which thank you. Send your news and views to: trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
Hozelock announces the appointment of John Grayson as Commercial Director for UK and Ireland, Scandinavia and Southern Hemisphere...
Hozelock announces the appointment of John Grayson as Commercial Director for UK and Ireland, Scandinavia and Southern Hemisphere.
John brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the team. Following a successful career in home décor, he moved to Fiskars where he was Managing Director for the UK and Regional European Director before moving to Melbourne as Managing Director for Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific.
Simon Davies Hozelock Group Sales and Marketing Director commented; “We are very pleased to welcome John into the Hozelock family and look forward to continuing to develop with our partners under his leadership.”
John also commented; "I'm delighted to be joining the Hozelock Group and working with the team to maintain growth and help deliver continued success in category sectors that I know well. Adding value to this business by utilising extensive customer and global sector knowledge is a prospect that I'm really looking forward to."
John replaces Adrian Davey who has been Hozelock Commercial Director since joining the business in 2014. Adrian and John will work closely together over a four-month transition period, to ensure that customers are fully supported throughout the season.
Thanks to help from suppliers and licence authorities Garden Radio charges have been put on hold from Tuesday 24th March 2020 when the lockdown started...
Thanks to help from suppliers and licence authorities Garden Radio charges have been put on hold from Tuesday 24th March 2020 when the lockdown started.
"We were able to immediately suspend the Garden Radio service when all garden centres closed and thanks to the licence authorities and our suppliers help we've also been able to suspend charges until garden centres open up again," said Trevor Pfeiffer, Director of Potting Shed Press who run Garden Radio.
"We have had calls from a couple of centres who have asked for Garden Radio to be kept playing where they have a farm shop that is still open, but for the rest or our customers they are happy to know we have put the service and charges on hold."
If you'd like to know more about Garden Radio please contact Trevor on 07973 504214 or by e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
The best of last week's
If you missed last week's GTN Xtra, below are the most-read stories...
Despite a major fire at Johnsons of Boston garden centre yesterday it is business as usual for essential food shopping...
Despite a major fire at Johnsons of Boston garden centre yesterday it is business as usual for essential food shopping.
Emergency services were called to Johnson's Garden Centre on the A52 Wainfleet Road near Boston on Sunday morning after a blaze broke out at the back of the property.
The garden centre has re-assured customers via their Facebook page that: "although the fire was serious, it has not affected or damaged the food hall, or the Garden Centre stock. Of course the Garden Centre and restaurant remain closed due to the measures in place to fight Corvid-19, but the plants are being looked after and the rest of the stock is intact.
"Thank you for your hundreds of kind messages. If you want to help, stay at home and stay safe unless coming out for essential supplies for you or your pets. When you need food, shop local whenever you can... we are here for you as always."
No-one was injured and staff at the pet shop based at the centre managed to get all of the animals out unharmed.
GrowNation (grownation.co.uk) is a new marketplace platform built to support the industry and make online sales a reality for all. Listing products on the platform couldn't be easier, with payment, order management, customer messaging and more built-in and ready to go...
GrowNation (grownation.co.uk) is a new marketplace platform built to support the industry and make online sales a reality for all. Listing products on the platform couldn't be easier, with payment, order management, customer messaging and more built-in and ready to go.
If you're a garden centre operator, you can easily add or import any products you wish, including photos, descriptions and your own unique prices. The process is simple, and GrowNation provide all the training and help you need to get selling fast.
GrowNation stores immediately benefit from:
• A completely free to set up online shop
• The ability to list as many or few products as each centre wishes
• Secure online payments by credit or debit card
• A unique web address with its own storefront and product range
• A simple to use vendor dashboard to help manage orders and customer details
• Full training and support to quickly get stores up and running
With current government guidance effectively shutting down the whole garden retail sector, local deliveries are the only viable fulfilment option right now. Pressure is mounting for restrictions to be fully or partially lifted, so the GrowNation platform has been built to seamlessly transition to click & collect as soon as that happens.
Steve Meleka, Managing Director of ConnectNation said: “It’s been encouraging to see garden centres doing their best to supply customers with local deliveries, especially at what is clearly the most important time of year for gardeners.
"For businesses who don’t already have an online shop it can be a daunting prospect, so many have taken to encouraging customers to order over the phone or on Facebook. This creates its own challenges, like keeping track of orders, organising deliveries, letting customers know what’s available and how much it costs - all of which generates a lot of work and potential for mistakes.
"Online stores are designed to organise and streamline this whole process, which is why we’ve developed the simple to use GrowNation platform. Garden centres can quickly take advantage of the system and start taking orders and payments while maintaining high levels of customer service and efficient operation."
The site supports secure online payments from the Square payment processing system straight out of the box, with no need to apply for a separate account. Garden centres can begin taking orders and processing payments straight away, later calling off what they're owed for fulfilled orders, paid straight into their bank account.
Claiming a free site is easy. Simply visit the registration page at grownation.co.uk, fill in your details and GrowNation will do the rest.
Future enhancements will see GrowNation enabling safe, contact-free click & collect protocols - fully supported by the software - and the provision of detailed product information sourced direct from growers and wholesalers. A full product roadmap will be published in due course.
The GrowNation platform is one of a series of marketplaces from ConnectNation Ltd, a company formed to help address some of the unique business challenges posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
ConnectNation was founded by a group of colleagues with specialisms in marketing (including in the horticulture sector), CRM platform design & integration, social media management and e- commerce web site development.
The team are working on a parallel project aimed at linking wholesalers of food and other products originally destined for the hospitality industry with NHS workers through a completely contactless click & collect service delivered within hospital grounds.
Find out more by completing the registration page at grownation.co.uk or call 03333 446601
Last week saw the most column inches about gardening and horticulture for years as the plight of growers and retailers hit the headlines...
Last week saw the most column inches about gardening and horticulture for years as the plight of growers and retailers hit the headlines.
"The Government is wrong. Garden centres are essential, and we need them reopened" was a headline in The Telegraph.
The Independent ran a story headlined: "The online garden centres and nurseries to support during lockdown."
And BBC News featured the story of Tony Joyner at Plants Galore in Exeter with the headline "Coronavirus: Garden centre owner rips up closure order."
Deliveries from closed garden centres also made national news as The Express reported: "Taxis ride to rescue to deliver plants for garden centres as £200m could be wasted."
Over in Northern Ireland Altnagelvin Garden Centre in Londonderry made local press headlines of: "Green shoots of recovery for garden centre with launch of delivery service during coronavirus outbreak."
The Palace Gardener in Fulham generated the headline "London coronavirus: Fulham garden centre shows how indoor gardening can cheer us all up during lockdown" on the MyLondon news website.
And who'd have thought garden centres would feature in a story about The Great British Bake Off. On ITV's Good Morning Britain Matt Lucas revealed his audition for the next series of Bake Off took place in a garden centre. If you know which garden centre it was please let us know: trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
To help connect growers with the public, the HTA has launched the ‘Plants Near Me’ webpage – plantsnearme.hta.org.uk, allowing the public to find local growers and garden centres that are offering home delivery...
Following on from the HTA campaign last week to highlight the financial plight of ornamental horticulture growers during the coronavirus shutdown, the HTA has been inundated with messages from the public wanting to support the industry.
To help connect growers with the public, the HTA has launched the ‘Plants Near Me’ webpage – plantsnearme.hta.org.uk, allowing the public to find local growers and garden centres that are offering home delivery.
To make this initiative a success, the HTA is urging members and non-members to add their details to the database, so that the resource can become a comprehensive online directory for the public to use. Since its soft launch at the end of last week 137 horticultural businesses have signed up so far but more are needed to allow for coverage across the whole country.
HTA President, Boyd Douglas-Davies, said of the scheme, “Following on from the media coverage of the plight of growers and garden retailers it has been encouraging to hear the messages of support from the general public. There is pent up demand for plants and the launch of ‘Plants Near Me’ provides some way of enabling the gardening public to access plants available to them from local suppliers.
“We continue to progress our discussions with Government around providing a grower stock compensation scheme, seeking clarity on access for the sector to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and considering how garden centres can be reopened in the right way at the right time. In the meantime, I would encourage all those who are still operating their business online to register and that way we can promote out to consumers. We all know the benefits that plants can bring to our health and wellbeing – particularly so at this unprecedented time.”
Haskins Garden Centre in Snowhill, Crawley, has opened its doors to customers following a 12-month refurbishment costing £15m.
The new centre boasts a retail space of 11,813 sq.m., including an outdoor plant area and 440-seat restaurant complete with a newly installed pizza oven. Additional space has also been created to accommodate 170 restaurant guests on an outdoor patio.
Up to 70 new jobs have been created to accommodate the centre's expansion. Car parking has increased to 346 spaces. See GTN Xtra's photo tour of the new centre below.
Chief executive Julian Winfield said the Snowhill team worked tirelessly to ensure the centre was able to remain open for the majority of the project, with minimal disruption.
“We can't wait to receive our customers' feedback on our new and improved facilities,” he added. “Over the years, we have built a loyal customer following and we are proud to be able to give back to them in this way with our new expanded centre.”
Haskins acquired the Snowhill site in 2003, inheriting a number of ageing buildings.
Haskins also has centres in Ferndown in Dorset, West End in Southampton and Roundstone in West Sussex. The family business recently acquired Forest Lodge Garden Centre, Bird World and Garden Style in Farnham.
Pictured (left to right): Julian Winfield, Jamie Haskins, Ally Haskins (married to Jamie) and Warren Haskins, the group's chairman.
The opening event was attended by the current GCA Chairman Mike Burks and three past Chairs; Warren Haskins, Sue Allen and Julian Winfield.
As we approach trading times that are uncertain now is a good time to access information that could help with managing sales and expectations during what could be a slow Spring.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be keeping GTN Bestsellers subscribers as informed as possible about what sold when during March, April and May of 2018 and 2013, when we also had slow starts to the season.
Take out a subscription this week and we'll donate money to Greenfingers Garden Re-Leaf Day too...
As we approach trading times that are uncertain as a result of the Covid-19 Virus pandemic now is a good time to access information that could help with managing sales and expectations during what could be a slow Spring.
GTN Bestsellers has been recording and analysing garden centre EPoS data for over 10 years so we’ve got history of how garden centres have traded through slow Spring seasons in the past.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be using that analysis to keep our GTN Bestsellers subscribers as informed as possible about what sold when during March, April and May of 2018 and 2013.
To receive that information along with our weekly printed Top 50 chart updates of what is actually selling well this year all you have to do is take out a subscription to GTN Bestsellers which costs just £145.00.
And to add to the funds of Greenfingers Garden Re-Leaf Day, for every new subscription purchased during the lockdown we’ll send £10 to the Greenfingers Charity.
Thank you for subscribing and helping Greenfingers too. If you have any questions about GTN Bestsellers please e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call 07973 504214.
The GTN Bestsellers weekly EPOS analysis combines data from a pool of independent garden centres whose annual turnover is around £100m. Data from the same centres is received every week which makes the week on week and year on year comparisons particularly useful and great indicators of trends as and when they happen. By subscribing to GTN Bestsellers you don’t have to wait until the end of the season and next year to see if a new product or a new sector of products are selling well.
GTN Bestsellers subscribers stay ahead of the game. Buy your subscription today.
Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts...
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 newsletter.
As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2018 as well as 2019 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 up-to-date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales. To subscribe call 01733 775700, e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or buy on-line using this link.
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.
Get the GTN Bestsellers charts in full every week in the GTN Bestsellers newsletters for only £145.00.
GTN Bestsellers is the only industry source of weekly garden centre sales information, collating Epos data from centres with an aggregate turnover in excess of £100m.
Use the weekly Garden Products and Growing Media Top 50 sales volumes charts to plan your hotspot and other promotions and ensure you have the right products in stock to satisfy the needs of your customers.
Neudorff: key environmental USPs
Primeur’s new generation of ‘virtually indestructible’ garden ranges, which are renowned for their ability to endure punishing levels of wear and tear without suffering damage, will remain in pristine condition whether garden centres are forced to remain closed for weeks or locked down for months.
For more details about Primeur’s innovative and award-winning recycled rubber innovations, go to 
Chief executive Julian Winfield said the Snowhill team worked tirelessly to ensure the centre was able to remain open for the majority of the project, with minimal disruption.
