Former Grosvenor Garden Centre MD and GCA Executive member Iain Wylie has been appointed Interim Chief Executive of the GCA, following the departure of Phil Slinger...
Former Grosvenor Garden Centre MD and GCA Executive member Iain Wylie has been appointed Interim Chief Executive of the GCA, following the departure of Phil Slinger.
Iain took on the new role following a GCA Board meeting this week and will lead the GCA through to conference in January 2013, helping the board find a new permanent CEO along the way.
“There are so many positive things going on at the GCA, I’m really pleased to be the person helping them come to fruition and take the organisation forward.”
Iain told GTN Xtra last night that as well as preparing for conference the Grow e-learning initiative would be a major area of focus for him. “Over 60 member garden centres have already signed up for Grow and the first modules will be going live very soon.”
“I’m genuinely impressed by the amount of work that has been completed on the Grow project since it was launched at the 2012 conference by Tammy Woodhouse and Mike Burks. Grow will be a huge help to member garden centres. They will get great value from their investment.”
GCA Chairman Peter Burks also underlined the significance of the GCA e-learning initiative. “E-learning is becoming so popular when we have new recruits at The Garden Centre Group many of them complete their initial learning modules before they arrive for their first day.”
The GCA’s appointment of an existing executive board member to run their trade association follows in the footsteps of the HTA who have just appointed Carol Paris as Director General, moving from the Presidents role. “We’re not copying the HTA,” commented Peter Burks, “just doing the sensible thing to keep the steady growth in membership of the past 2 years and increased value to members moving in the right direction.”
Peter Burks has been talking with Carol Paris over the past 12 months about many issues to get the industry working together including the possibility of the GCA office moving back to the HTA headquarters in Theale.
With 3 key trade associations all now being run by people who have many years of gardening retail knowledge at their fingertips – Carol Paris at the HTA, Neil Gow at GIMA and Iain Wylie at GCA - this may be the best opportunity for co-operation across the industry to help grow the gardening market we’ve ever had.
In the meantime Iain Wylie will be spending a mix of time at the GCA office in Leafield whilst getting out and about to spend time with members during the launch of Grow.
Christmas opened for trading last week at Notcutts Wheatcroft. Manager Steve Cole told GTN Bestsellers his team, including catering staff, had worked extra shifts until midnight for many days to complete their main displays in time for opening to trade during week ending September 23rd.
“We’ve had customers phoning us for weeks asking when Christmas would be open so although there are still some product lines to come in we’re now open for Christmas business and initial sales have been excellent,” said Steve, pictured below.
Wheatcroft has over 10,000 Sage club members who will be invited to a special Christmas Event in October. Christmas hampers are also selling well from their expanded Gourmet food department.
With more garden centres opening their Christmas displays this weekend and customers welcoming the early opportunity to browse and buy we could be in for a bumper October.
Watch out for the GTN Bestsellers Christmas Charts in October. GTN Bestsellers subscribers will get a weekly snapshot of the bestselling christmas products in UK garden centres. To subscribe follow this link.
Autumn lawn care products are selling like never before at this time of year. Ten of the Top 50 GTN Bestsellers Garden Products are lawn care items and Scotts Autumn Lawnbuilder for 100 sq metres is at No 2, only outsold by Orchid Drip feeders.
Other bestselling lawn care items are Scotts Evergreen Autumn, Westland Sure Start Lawn repair kit and Arthur Bowers Lawn Dressing.
Fito Orchid Drip Feeders stay at No 1 for the eighth week running and with considerable year on year sales increases. For the first three weeks in September the volume of Orchid Drip Feeders in the GTN Bestsellers epos data is up 38% on last year.
The repeated use of these feeders is now well and truly appreciated by our garden centre orchid customers and new users must be adopting them too. Can we achieve the same with Poinsettia Drip Feeders in December? Will the Baby Bio Drip feeder come back into the charts?
Preparations for winter are also prompting good volume sales. Gardman Frostgard sales grew by 88% to move back into the top 10 and the only new entry this week is a winter Tap Cover from Gardman.
See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
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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.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to attend the HTA Garden Futures Conference on 10 October at One Great George Street, London. With the dinner event on 9 October already sold out there are only limited places left for the conference itself.
HTA Garden Futures is the leading annual strategic industry event which will again introduce a powerful line up of expert speakers including:
Dr Brian Clark, Senior Economist at Barclays who will provide an overview of the current economic climate and share his views on where it’s going and how this will impact businesses and consumers in the years ahead.
Paul Loft, Managing Director of Homebase who has a foot in both garden retail and the broader world of retailing will give his perspective on how the industry can adapt and how Homebase is seeking to encourage more people to start gardening.
New Economics Foundation’s Andrew Simms who will propose a future for a successful independent retail sector.
Marshall Dirks from Proven Winners USA will outline great new ideas for getting people to buy and grow plants.
Paul Hogden of IT Genetics and Mark Pitman from Hillier Garden Centres will discuss their views on how garden centres can use social media successfully and how to maximise gain from it.
Speakers from Visa and Barclaycard will define the changes that retailers will see in payment technology, the growth in contactless payment and how this will affect the industry.
Future Foundation’s Jason Mander will provide insight of the drivers and trends which may affect retail over the next five years and the implications for the sector.
Industry leaders including Mark Pearson of Gardman, Andy McIndoe of Hillier Nurseries and James Barnes of Dobbies will explore how we can grow again and move forwards in The Big Debate.
HTA Director of Business Development, Tim Briercliffe, comments: “With a great mix of garden retailers, growers, manufacturers and guests HTA Garden Futures provides not only a great line up of speakers and topics but an invaluable networking opportunity for the industry.
"After the season that we have had the conference theme which focuses on the need to survive, adapt, and grow is particularly apt and there are sure to be invaluable insights to be gained by attending – helping businesses to prepare for the year ahead.”
Headline sponsors are Hozelock and The Scotts Miracle Gro Company.
For further information visit www.gardenfutures.org.uk
Glee 2012 was the 37th – and I have attended about 30 of them, the last 21 as editor of GTN.
As I am barely more than two years from the start of my eighth decade (go on...work it out), I think now is a good time to hand on the baton (although I will continue to write for the title).
GTN has had only two editors since its launch in 1978, so we are now looking for its third.
You will need plenty of energy, shedloads of passion for this fascinating industry of ours, and an appetite for change. It will be fun. I’ll guarantee it! Could it be you?
See the ad here.
