GROEN-Direkt’s Spring Fair is widely seen as the international kickoff of the garden plant sector’s new gardening season. This large trade fair is an important indicator of the sector’s market sentiment.

The 2019 edition of the fair took place on February 5-6. It attracted an exceptionally large number of visitors from within and outside the Netherlands, showing that the Spring Fair is not merely a commercial event, but indeed the place to be for anyone professionally involved in the garden plant sector.

GROEN-Direkt’s fairs are characterised by highly diverse ranges of visually attractive products. Besides popular garden plants, GROEN-Direkt also presents new plant varieties, batches of less common exclusive plants and wide selections of Mediterranean and solitary plants. The overall range presented at this Spring Fair was even more varied than the ranges of previous years.

The most important fair news:

1. Positive commercial outlook
The fair’s visitors (traders and buyers from all over Europe) were extremely positive. In spite of the scarcity, the ranges presented at both the sample fair and the Product Promotion Plaza were exceptionally good. This, combined with the unprecedented crowds of buyers eager to buy resulted in an increase in turnover of more than 10% by the end of the two fair days.

2. Access to growers’ total ranges
Many growers grow hundreds of different plant varieties. At its Spring Fair, GROEN-Direkt introduced its new, expanded line of ‘Concepts’ purchasing options granting buyers access to this tremendous range of plants, with even more products and options for them to choose from. Extra attention was paid to these ‘Concepts’ at the Concepts Plaza with its many pallets, each presenting a selection from a grower’s range of products.

From the Spring Fair onwards buyers can also browse the entire ranges of many growers at the webshop at www.groen-direkt.nl and order small numbers of their products, which they can combine with their GROEN-Direkt order. In the past the webshop range was less diverse.

3. Mediterranean plants and Solitary Plants Plaza
The range of Mediterranean plants attracted a lot of attention at the Spring Fair thanks to its greater diversity and its new presentation along the central aisle. Visitors could also admire and order extra-large shrubs and trees at the new Solitary Plants Plaza.