Garden centres count the cost of Easter Sunday closing
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After a long period of great gardening weather which continued over the Easter weekend this year, the sales data analysed by GTN for Bestsellers gives us the best indication of the cost of losing a whole day’s trading at a time when our customers are in the mood to decorate their gardens and prepare for the summer.
Sales last week dropped by 0.8%, but with six less trading hours due to Easter Sunday closing sales levels could have been at least 10% higher and closer to the levels of the first Easter week in 2015. Then, the picture was disrupted because of bad weather at the end of March into April which held back sales in advance of Easter.
Of course we can’t see the full picture of Easter trading until we complete the analysis of this week’s sales but according to Andy Bunker at Alton Garden Centre “it is the best plant trading Easter since 2011.
"The difference is quality not quantity and really strong sales in nursery stock on lines like Lavenders and Erysium, most at over £10.00 a purchase, so that’s good money.”
GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year...
- Garden Products - up 15%
- Veg-2-Gro - up 45%
- Growing Media - up 24%
- All Plants Index - up 15%
- All Items Index - up 14%
To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
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