Following a very successful year that saw the company double its turnover, we asked the team at Meadow View Stone, along with some of their customers, what was fuelling this growth.
Sarah Hill, MD of Meadow View Stone, puts it down to the following factors:
1. Growth within existing accounts
We have very strong relations with our existing customers, many of which have been stockists of our products for decades, so its vitally important for us to continue to grow their sales annually.
By continually tweaking our products to offer more on trend options, gives the ability to continually refresh the range and merchandising of our customer, this helps our accounts achieve continual growth. With many accounts enjoying increases of between 20-150% in our category this year, it gives us a great sense of achievement that we are able to continue to develop and grow sales within our established customer base.
“We are delighted to have partnered with Meadowview Stone for the last 30 years. We get professional and personal service every year but Meadowview excelled during 2020. We suffered very little out of stocks and as a result our Stone and slabs department increased turnover by 60%." Gerald Ingram - Planters at Tamworth
2. New account acquisition
2020 saw a peak in demand for hard landscaping products and due to our vast stock holding, across three production sites and four dockside storage facilitates, this gave us the ability to step in and help customers that were struggling to get stock from their usual suppliers.
The opportunity to trial some of our exclusive products at these accounts has proved invaluable, with many committing to a secondary supplier status for Meadow View during 2021, or completely switching supply. Our account acquisition more than tripled in 2020, and a promising start to 2021 gives us every confidence that this will continue.
“Meadow View were able to support us by filling some stock gaps we encountered last year and we also used this as an opportunity to trial some of their exclusive products, which I am pleased to report sold well.” Mark O’Nions - Frosts Garden Centre
3. Unique and Exclusive Products
25% of our product range is unique and exclusive to Meadow View which means we have a complete standalone range that can be promoted as a none conflicting, upsell, product collection. This fresh new range has appealed to customers, who have seen little advancement in product development in our sector, just a mass of variations of similar products, all competing for the same sale, with little, or very minor, points of difference.
Our exclusive products contribute a staggering 26% of the total volume sold and account for a third of our total turnover, so it’s easy to understand why they have been a key factor in our continual growth.
“Since switching to Meadow View in February we have seen an increase in our sales by over 50%, and taking account that we were closed for 6 weeks in prime season, this is incredible. The exclusive, on-trend products have transformed our range and accounted for 37% of our turnover, so this has more than convinced us all at Poplars, that we made the correct decision to switch." Matthew Cowan - Poplars Nurseries
Washed (above left) and unwashed (above right).
4. Quality of Products
As our premium collection is supplied washed, this further emphasises the quality and appeal of the products. As these products are promoted at higher RRP’s its imperative they appear worthy of their price tag.
Being the only supplier with this facility ensures the products are supplied cleaner and more accurately sized than all other competitors in our sector. The vast improvement in the appearance of these more premium products has seen a big take up in sales, with three of these products now within our top ten best sellers, despite their higher RRP of £7.99.
5 .POS and Merchandising
We have received great feedback on the success of our POS and merchandising displays, not only in the way it transforms the visual appearance of the centres but also how it aids sales. Simple set designs of each product are featured with contrasting products, to help customers locate complementing products and promote cross sales, whilst end of aisle hotspots are used to define each product category and to provide ideas and inspiration for customers in how to use our products.
6. Stock Is King
With over £6million stock holding, our Group operations have the ability to facilitate in excess of 50 bulk shipments annually from our overseas partners. This, together with 4 dockside storage facilities and three production sites provides full flexibility to pull stock from multiple locations, whilst being fully in control of our entire supply chain.
7. Experts in our field
Totting up over 150 years in the decorative aggregate sector and having a combined 118 years’ experience within our internal and external sales teams, we have the knowledge and understanding of the performance of our products, the best ways to merchandise them to considerably grow sales and a thorough understanding of the industry as a whole. As runners up in the GIMA supplier of the year awards 2019 we also offer superb customer service and have gone above and beyond to keep these high standards of communication, even in the most difficult of times.
“The service we received from Meadowview during the last 12 months was absolutely outstanding which resulted in a sales increase of 59% at Bretby. The communication with the Meadowview team during the last unprecedented year was second to none and I cannot speak highly enough of the team, they were always available on the phone, email and even communicated at times with their own personal phones when the phones lines were constantly busy." Mark Shaw - Planters at Bretby.
8. Results
The majority of accounts that have switched to Meadow View have seen sales increases of a minimum of 30%, mainly due to the exclusive products and their ability to sell in volume at a high RRP. Some have seen three-digit increases, of over 129%, whilst some of the destination centres have created a separate listing for our products to sit alongside their existing supplier – yet still have seen increases of between 30-40% in sales.
Sarah Hill states: "We have the exclusive products that sell in volume, supported by industry leading POS. We have the stock volumes to support our growth and the expertise to make it work. Our very committed team of staff and sales agents are passionate to see the continued success of Meadow View, and this, along with all the above factors, sees us perfectly placed to continue our mission in transforming the face of the UK’s Garden Centres..... both physically and financially."