I know we keep on writing this, but where is all this growing media that is selling through garden centres being used? Our GTN Bestsellers Garden Products chart would indicate a lot is being used for planting in pots, but the scale of the volume increases in soil conditioners, top soil and bark are also very unusual for this time of year.
It would appear the part of the gardening bug that is taking root in many new gardeners is real growing activity rather than just buying artifacts and other decorative items for the garden.
If that is the case we could be in for a great Autumn gardening season and, looking ahead, another good year of plants and gardening sales next year.
Are you asking your customers what they are using their growing media purchases for? It would be good to know if new gardeners are finding new uses that we need to adapt our sales and merchandising for.
GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year: week 34
• Garden Products Top 50 – up 3%
• Growing Media Top 50 – up 58%
• Wild Bird Care Top 50 – down 13%
• Veg 2 Gro Top 50 – down 3%
GTN Bestsellers All Sales volumes compared to the same week last year: week 34
• All Plants with Barcode index – up 23%
• All Items with Barcode index – up 19%
See the full GTN Bestsellers analysis and charts in the GTN Bestsellers printed newsletter each week. To subscribe for only £145 a year use this link.