February sales down by 22% - GTN Bestsellers EPOS data analysis
The wettest February on record across the country dented garden centre sales but they weren’t as bad as February 2018 when The Beast from the East hit the UK.
Against a February last year that ended with unseasonally warm weather, this year’s February sales were 21.6% down year on year and 7% down on the average for the past 10 years.
With snow not mentioned at all in the long range Met Office weather forecasts, the statement: “from the second half of March, there are some tentative signs of it becoming less unsettled, at least across the southern half of the UK, with more in the way of dry and fine weather” could see us catch up on sales.
Garden Re-Leaf Day on Friday 13th March and Mothers Day on March 22nd are great opportunities to drive spring garden centre footfall and hopefully keep footfall high despite nationwide concerns over coronavirus.
GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year (week 9)