The Chelsea effect may help monthly sales figures end on high
As this season got underway with early increases in March and April everyone said we needed to wait until the end of May to see how good a Spring it had been. With one week of May to go the only GTN weekly index that is now down on 2018 is for all plants sold, and that by only 0.9%.
Year to date volume sales summary, 2019 vs 2018
All Items index – up 4.9%
All Plants index – down 0.9%
Garden Products Top 50 – up 2.1%
Growing Media Top 50 – up 11.7%
Wild Bird Care Top 50 – up 8.8%
Veg-2-Gro Top 50 – up 54.3%
With a week of good weather during half term and on the back of massive media coverage for The RHS Chelsea Flower Show there’s every chance plant sales as well as all other areas of gardening could be up by the end of the month. This could be one of those years when our peak for volume sales comes right at the end of May, as in 2015 and 2017.
Are you making the most of Chelsea Flower Show sales opportunities? The mix of green foliage with white, cream and pale yellow planting on the Greenfingers Charity Garden was amazingly well received. Surely that is a display that can be replicated to deliver increased sales with relative ease.
