The first full week of December was the busiest garden centre trading week of the year, GTN Bestsellers data reveals.
Sales volumes for the week ending Sunday 9 December were up by 2.1% on the same week of 2011 and up 5.7% on the previous highest sales volume week this year – the week ending 27 May.
After 49 trading weeks, the GTN All Products Volume Sales Index now stands at just half percentage point down YoY compared to 2011 – and up 1.3% against 2010. With the Christmas rush now in full swing there’s every chance that small deficit could be made up before the end of what has been a challenging year.
Bearing in mind that volumes were more than 10% down YoY just before the Jubilee weekend, these figures show just how resilient garden centre trading has been
and how well garden centres have worked to keep attracting customers, despite the weather.
Over the last 20 weeks, trading volume sales as measured by GTN Bestsellers from garden centre Epos data have been up 3.9% on last year, and even 4.3% ahead of the GTN Bestsellers prediction made at the start of August.
Picture caption: Trevor Wenham and Kathleen McDonald, directors of Garden Pride Garden Centre at Ditchling in Suffolk, give Santa’s sleigh a test drive as their grotto season gets into its stride.
