Nothing attracts people to a shop display like a bit of theatre. Something eye-catching and different draws people in and keeps them there longer, and at this time of year, there’s nowhere more theatrical than a garden centre, with all the twinkling lights, gleaming baubles, Christmas trees…and of course, Poinsettias!
Nothing attracts people to a shop display like a bit of theatre. Something eye-catching and different draws people in and keeps them there longer, and at this time of year, there’s nowhere more theatrical than a garden centre, with all the twinkling lights, gleaming baubles, Christmas trees… and of course, Poinsettias!
Unfortunately it is all too often the case that all that glitter can take up half your Christmas plant area. No matter how little space you have, there is a huge range of fresh ideas and free tools on www.sfe-web.com to make your Poinsettia displays so stunning that customers will march right past the tinsel and flashing reindeers to get to them!
Check out the video of display ideas here, full of easy and inspiring tips to turn this corner of your winter wonderland into a real draw for customers and get your perishable items flying out of the doors.
There are also several films on the website showing beautiful and unusual Christmas ideas for using Poinsettias to decorate the home. So if you don’t have the space to make an elaborate display, you can still inspire your customers by embedding these into your website, or playing them in store.
Last year, one garden centre we heard from played a Stars for Europe video on a laptop in the middle of their Poinsettia display. Customers were often seen grouped around it and the garden centre saw an increase in sales. If you would like to try something similar, embedding a film into your website is very straightforward:
Click on the button next to it “Integrate short films into your website!” for easy-to-follow instructions, also available here.
If you have any questions, need help with any of the materials, or have any other feedback, please call us on 0208 939 6474 or email hello@purplespotted.com
As the video says, the Poinsettia makes a great little gift in the run-up to Christmas, show your customers this and see what happens to your sales.
CAMPAIGN FINANCED WITH AID FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION AND STARS FOR EUROPE
The biggest mover at the top of the Garden Products chart is the Fito Drip Feeder for Poinsettia and Christmas Cactus, which has seen a 100% increase in sales...
The biggest mover at the top of the Garden Products chart is the Fito Drip Feeder for Poinsettia and Christmas Cactus, which has seen a 100% increase in sales.
It jumps 15 places to No 5 while the company’s Drip Feeder for Orchids retains its No 1 spot for yet another week.
Two other products to see 100% rises in sales volumes are Growth Technology Orchid Pot Saucers and Gardman Spiral Treegard, both re-entries, at Nos 26 and 29 respectively.
The highest re-entry is Creative Product Wellitop at No 22, as gardeners continue to take advantage of the mild, yet wet, conditions.
Garden lighting is still selling well and for another week there has been a lot of interest shown in the range of solar lights from Smart Solar. The Smart Solar Happy Hens version is the highest climber in the chart, jumping 17 places to No 33.
There are three new entries this week, topped by Plantworks Rootgroweplus, 360g, at No 44. The 75g size of Plantworks Rootgrow enters the chart at No 50. The other new entry is Town & Country Winter Master Gardener Men’s Gloves at No 46.
See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
Customers can't wait to vote for their favourite Garden Centre at Christmas...
Customers queue up to Vote for Brookside Garden Centre in Kent as voting gets underway in The Greatest Christmas Awards 2012.
This category is all about the most important people in your business – the customers! It's decided purely by public voting. If you have a loyal, satisfied customer base, you're in with a chance of lifting the title – possibly the one that matters most of all.
Our Public Voting Pack, contains the posters, leaflets and voting forms you need to get your in-store campaign under way to generate customer votes. It is available to download in PDF format so you can print your own materials.
Or download the pack using this link: Click here to view "Voting Pack".
The voting forms allow customers to tell us what they think of you – and if that isn’t the best piece of market research you’ll get this year, we don’t know what is!
If you have any problems downloading the pdf's of posters and voting slips please e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call 07973 504214.
Completed voting forms have already been received in the post at GTN Office so vote counting is formally underway. The sooner you get your customers voting the better the chance you have of winning this most prestigeous of industry awards.
We are pleased to welcome the Arena Group as sponsors of The Greatest Christmas Awards public voting category. Arena supply installations like skating rinks and pop-up catering structures for leading garden centres and public attractions.
Whiteleys Garden Centre, which was voted Most Improved Garden Centre in the GCA North East Area Awards earlier this year, has gone into administration...
Whiteleys Garden Centre, which was voted Most Improved Garden Centre in the GCA North East Area Awards earlier this year, has gone into administration.
A buyer is now being sought for the business in Leeds Road, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, by joint administrators Julian Pitts, Bob Maxwell and Andrew Dick.
Whiteleys, owned by Pippin Street Ltd, has been in business for more than 25 years and has an annual turnover estimated to be more than £2m.
There are no plans to make any of its 45 full and part-time staff redundant.
Julion Pitts from the administrators said: “This is a well-established and viable business which has suffered from financial pressures that are not related to its day-to-day operations.
“We are continuing to trade the business and the garden centre will be running as usual while a buyer is sought.
“We want to reassure customers that the garden centre will be open as normal during the busy Christmas period and its full schedule of festive events will go ahead as planned.”
Whiteleys has raised thousands of pounds for charity, working closely with its neighbours at the Hollybank Trust.
Each Christmas the business has donated money raised from netting Christmas trees to the Trust, which cares for children and adults with complex disabilities.
Mr Pitts said: “This is a long established business with a loyal customer base and represents an excellent investment opportunity. We expect it to generate a high level of interest which we anticipate will result in securing a future for one of the area’s most popular garden centres.”
Peak gift voucher season has begun as sales of the HTA’s National Garden Gift Vouchers (NGGV) increase in the run up to Christmas with Wednesday being the busiest November trading day seen in the 50-year history of NGGV...
Peak gift voucher season has begun as sales of the HTA’s National Garden Gift Vouchers (NGGV) increase in the run up to Christmas with Wednesday being the busiest November trading day seen in the 50-year history of NGGV.
Orders shipped to stockists reached £470,780 in just one day, which beats the last November sales record by 10%.
This comes three days after the start of NGGV’s biggest ever TV advertising campaign on ITV3, More4 and UKTV shown during programmes such as Come Dine With Me, and Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals.
These specific TV channels and programmes have been targeted because of their concentration of ‘high potential’ garden-gift-buying viewers.
“Members are reminded to keep stock levels up in order to cope with demand over the remaining shopping days before Christmas,” said NGGV General Manager David Butler.
‘NGGVs are now supplied on 30-day credit terms, meaning retailers can hold good levels of stock over peak season without the worry of up-front costs.”
HTA retail members not in the scheme or retailers who are not HTA members should call 0118 930 3132 for details of how to join up.
Alan Titchmarsh has urged everyone to back Garden Re-Leaf day next spring...
Speaking in front of a distinguished audience of Industry Leaders at the House of Commons on Monday night, Alan Titchmarsh urged everyone to back Garden Re-Leaf day next spring.
Based on the success of this years inaugural Garden Re-Leaf day, Alan said it is likely to be one of the most important days in the gardening calendar and that it "is a great way to launch the garden season, a fantastic team building opportunity and a wonderful way to raise money for Greenfingers."
Many companies are already making their own plans for the day - Friday 8th March- while others are booking to take part in the Celebrity Gardening Quiz . The quiz, one of the most popular events of this year's Garden Re-Leaf day, will feature questions set and asked by top TV gardeners including David Domoney, Christine Walkden , Toby Buckland , Peter Seabrook and Joe Swift.
For more details of the quiz, which is open to all companies and garden centres, contact pat@gca.org.uk
With Christmas never so important to the garden industry as it is this year after a season most would rather forget, garden centres have been pulling out all the stops to make sure festive sales recoup turnover lost this summer...
With Christmas never so important to the garden industry as it is this year after a season most would rather forget, garden centres have been pulling out all the stops to make sure festive sales recoup turnover lost this summer.
Reports reach the GTN offices daily of great results from the Christmas campaign in many parts of the UK. Clearly their efforts are paying dividends.
So it’s time to launch GTN’s search for the UK’s top garden centre Christmas teams. The Greatest Christmas Awards – now in their fourth year – aim to recognise the importance to businesses of their festive offerings and to reward the outstanding teamwork that has made the garden centre Christmas the envy of other retail sectors.
The awards are open to all garden centres, regardless of size, and you can read about all the categories to enter in this newsletter. You can enter any, or all, by sending a nomination email to: trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
There are three new categories this year: The Greatest Festive Catering Team The Greatest Christmas Sizzle The Greatest Christmas Houseplants Team
There are two other categories you can enter: The Greatest Christmas Display Team The Greatest Christmas Grotto
Judging visits have now started, nad by all accounts the judges are having far too much fun. There is still time to add your teams nomination by close of play on Monday 26 November.
You can also invite your customers to vote for you in The Greatest Garden Centre at Christmas Team award. See story on the cover page where there is a link to take you to a special download for your Public Voting Pack materials in digital PDF format.
Suppliers get their recognition, too. We’ll be asking every garden centre we visit to nominate their Christmas Supplier of the Year.
Good luck!
The Greatest Christmas Awards are organised in association with Harrogate Christmas & Gift, the first major festive and gift trade show of the year.
The Greatest Christmas Awards will be presented at The Greatest Christmas Party in Harrogate on the evening of Sunday 13th January 2013, sponsored by Premier Decorations, in association with the Harrogate Christmas & Gift Fair (www.harrogatefair.com) To book your tickets contact pat.flynn@tgcmc.co.uk or call 01733 775700
The Greatest Christmas Awards are organised by GTN in association with Harrogate Christmas and Gift Fair...and generously sponsored by Glee, Kaemingk, Premier Decorations, SOLEX at the NEC, Vision Commercial Kitchens and Arena Group...
The Greatest Christmas Awards are organised by GTN in association with Harrogate Christmas and Gift Fair...and generously sponsored by Glee, Kaemingk, Premier Decorations, Snowtime, SOLEX at the NEC, Vision Commercial Kitchens and Arena Group...
Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre is celebrating after being named best family-run business at the annual Somerset Business Awards...
Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre is celebrating after being named as Somerset’s best family-run business at the annual Somerset Business Awards.
The garden centre in Monkton Heathfield near Taunton was presented with the The Albert Goodman Family Business Award at the ceremony at the Somerset County Cricket ground.
Norma Moore, General Manager of the independent, family-run garden centre, said: “We are all absolutely delighted with our award and will be creating a cabinet within the garden centre to display it, and the other awards we have recently won, for all to see. As this is our 30th anniversary year it couldn’t have come at a better time for us.”
The Albert Goodman Family Business Award recognises businesses with one or more family members involved in the management and exerting a significant influence on the company.
Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The garden centre was launched in 1982 and is run by the Bellman family with the help of nearly 100 staff. Some have been with the business for more than 25 years.
Director and Co-founder, David Bellman said on the night: “This is wonderful and after a life-long dedication to Somerset and our garden centre, I am now handing over to my son-in-law, Mike Lind.”
Mike has recently been appointed as the garden centre’s Managing Director and will continue to run the business with the same family ethos.
For further information about the event, please call the garden centre, which is located just off the A38 at Monkton Heathfield between Bridgwater and Taunton, on 01823 412381, visit www.monktonelmgardencentre.co.uk
Kaemingk have experienced good sales of their Christmas products with 11 items in the GTN Bestsellers Top 50, headed by the Rose on Clip With Glitter at No 20...
Kaemingk have experienced good sales of their Christmas products with 11 items in the GTN Bestsellers Top 50, headed by the Rose on Clip With Glitter at No 20.
Halligan Raby Personalised Christmas Door Hanger is another star performer in the Christmas Products chart, becoming the highest new entry at No 30.
It is closely followed – one place behind in fact – by Premier Decorations 10cm Santa on Lit LED Ball, which is making its first appearance in the chart too.
Premier also have the highest climber in their ‘Santa Please Stop’ Sign, 76cm, jumping 26 places to No 19. The same company have recorded the highest re-entry too, with their Robin On Clip Decoration coming in at No 24.
History & Heraldry retain No 1 position with their Christmas Money Box, with Snow Globe Decorations at No 2.
See the full GTN Christmas Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
Mark Taylor from Robins Bridge Nursery and Plant Centre was presented with a smartphone by Floramedia Account Manager, Steve Ellison...
Mark Taylor from Robins Bridge Nursery and Plant Centre was presented with a smartphone by Floramedia Account Manager, Steve Ellison.
The owner of the nursery near Ormskirk won a Samsung Galaxy Ace phone after entering a prize draw at Floramedia’s stand at the GLEE trade show in September.
Mark said: “I was delighted to have won a smartphone for use at Robins Bridge Nursery and Plant Centre.
“The phone will help us with keeping in touch with our customers online and with updating our social media on the go.”
Nick Mathias, Managing Director of Floramedia, explained: “We’d like to congratulate Mark on winning a Samsung Galaxy Ace.
“Anyone who visited our stand at GLEE and the Four Oaks Trade Show could enter the prize draw by simply dropping their business card into our pot.
“We randomly picked out the business card for Robins Bridge Nursery and Plant Centre.”
Floramedia has one of the UK’s largest range of stock plant labels with more than 10,000 to choose from. There are nine different label shapes, providing an extensive selection of possible solutions for customers. The forward-thinking company is constantly improving and expanding its range of labels too.
The company prides itself on providing the most cost-effective, complete labelling, point of sale, marketing, design and packaging service in the UK. It feels it leads the way in innovation, quality and service.
Floramedia is consistently at the forefront for introducing new and innovative ideas. It also has a picture library with more than 250,000 images that are available for garden centres to use to create their own marketing materials.
Nick continued: “We are craftsmen in printing. Floramedia is made up of a team of professional, committed people with extensive expertise and knowledge of horticultural print, creative design, garden centre retailing and commercial plant production.
“We draw on these skills to provide the best and most effective products, sales and marketing support to growers, nurseries, garden centres and retailers in the UK.
“By working closely with our customers, we are dedicated to building long-term relationships with them. We are committed to innovation, service and reliability in everything we do. We are specialists focused solely on the marketing of plants.”
Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.
The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra printed newsletter and on the GTN website www.gardentradenews.co.uk.
Access is by subscription only. For £120.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most upto date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales. To subscribe call 01733 775700, or subscribe on-line here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
Eric Hopper, Chairman of the Leisure and Outdoor Association for the past five years, has announced he will be retiring at the end of the year...
Eric Hopper, Chairman of the Leisure and Outdoor Association for the past five years, has announced he will be retiring at the end of the year.
His leadership, innovation and enthusiasm have ensured LOFA is one of the strongest and well respected associations in the garden industry.
During his term of office the SOLEX trade show has gone from strength to strength, such that it has outgrown Telford International Centre and will be held at the NEC in July 2013.
As Chairman he personally inspected all the new members, and membership has increased year on year. He was also instrumental in setting up a new a new office and structure for LOFA in Chichester.
Eric is well known for his great sense of humour and fun which became particularly evident at the LOFA Conference for members.
When he became Chairman in 2008, after serving on the LOFA Council for many years, he said his objective was to ensure that no member should ever say: “what does LOFA do for me?” With the many innovations such as LOFA News, Made Aware, the SOLEX trade show, and the LOFA charity support, he has more than succeeded in his objective.
Eric is well known in the garden industry as the founder of Black Knight Barbecues and then as Chairman of Outback barbecues.
A keen Gillingham Football Club supporter he was also an official and football referee at national level, a skill which he used to good effect when chairing LOFA Council meetings.
The new Chairman will be elected at the first new LOFA Council meeting in January 2013 but will find it hard to match the dedication and hard work contributed by Eric Hopper in the role.
Eric Hopper’s favourite saying is “What’s next?” Whatever that is, LOFA wishes him every success for the future.
Japanese company Takasho Co Ltd have acquired a 100% stake in VegTrug Ltd...
Japanese company Takasho Co Ltd have acquired a 100% stake in VegTrug Ltd.
The agreement will enable the company to grow with the backing and investment of Takasho’s garden products design and manufacturing capabilities, based in Wakayama, Japan.
Both VegTrug's founder directors, Joe Denham and Paul Owen will be staying with the company and are committed to taking the business forward working with a dynamic international management team at Takasho.
Mr Nakagawa, Mr Yamada and Ms Oita will be appointed to the VegTrug Board of Directors with immediate effect.
Paul Owen (pictured with Ms Oita) said: "We are very much looking forward to growing the business in the coming years. The Takasho product development team are already working on our product ideas following a series of meetings in the UK and Japan and I am very excited to have the resources available which will enable us to get our ideas to market faster and more professionally than ever before."
The International Director for VegTrug, Joe Denham is also excited about the company’s prospects for the future. "We have been working very closely with Takasho now for more than two years, with shared exhibition space at GLEE for the last two seasons.
"We’ve also been selling our products in partnership with them into various markets globally, not to mention that the VegTrug product is already manufactured at the superb Takasho factory in Jiujiang.
"For us, the partnership with the Takasho management team was already very much in place. This acquisition will now enable us to expand and invest in new products and new markets with the backing of a fantastic company and with real confidence.
"To have launched our business in the teeth of such an economic downturn and within three years to be part of the Takasho Group is an incredible achievement and Paul and I would like to thank our suppliers, customers and friends for their support in the last three years.
"We look forward to taking the business to even greater heights in the future as part of the Takasho Group.”
Best practice in garden centre cafes and restaurants will be the focus of the fourth HTA Garden Centre Catering Conference which takes place on Thursday 28 February at the Crowne Plaza, Birmingham NEC...
Best practice in garden centre cafes and restaurants will be the focus of the fourth HTA Garden Centre Catering Conference which takes place on Thursday 28 February at the Crowne Plaza, Birmingham NEC.
The conference is designed to inspire and support garden centres with catering operations by tapping into catering best practice from both inside and outside the sector.
The line up of speakers includes Steven Whibley, Managing Director of Gails Bakery, who runs an expanding chain of 12 innovative café bakeries in London.
Garden centre catering expert Salim Sajid of Blueberry Consulting will interview Steven to bring out the tips that garden centre caterers can make use of.
Delegates will also hear from Jan Matthews who has spent 2012 catering on a vast scale. As head of catering for the London 2012 Olympic Games Jan was involved from start to finish in the procurement, management and delivery of food to all the athletes, visitors and dignitaries that attended the Games. Her story will inspire anyone working in food and will demonstrate how the power of strong leadership and careful management can deliver just about anything!
From within the garden centre catering sector, Alan Roper, Managing Director of Blue Diamond, will present his views on what the industry needs to do to provide inspirational catering in the future.
The HTA’s catering consultants, Chris Brown of Turpin Smale and Neville Stein of Ovation have been scouring the country to present practical and proven ideas that delegates can take away and apply in their café or restaurant. Chris will pull in ideas from other sectors and Neville will drill down, using industry case studies, into the detail of how to reduce costs and be more profitable.
Breakout sessions will enable delegates to pick the subjects that most interest them for more in-depth discussion. Facilitated by HTA Catering Business Improvement Scheme consultants, the workshops will cover subjects including marketing and social media, menu development/rotation and the latest on kitchen equipment and design. The workshops will involve short presentations from members and group discussion.
The conference is a must for anyone involved in garden centre catering. To register your interest in attending email events@the-hta.org.uk
Notcutts has launched its own brand range of wild bird care products, incorporating the best quality ingredients to help bird species maintain a healthy and balanced diet throughout the winter season and beyond...
Notcutts has launched its own brand range of wild bird care products, incorporating the best quality ingredients to help bird species maintain a healthy and balanced diet throughout the winter season and beyond.
Comprising of quality bird seed recipes, together with high energy suet balls, nuts and mealworms, the range is designed to keep birds fed and healthy through cold winter days.
Each product has been created to be as good as, if not better, than the leading brand equivalent and on average, around 10% cheaper than the branded products.
Minnie Moll, marketing director at Notcutts, commented on the launch: "We all love to see birds in the garden and with the winter now upon us it is important to start taking extra special care for the visiting birds to ensure they have access to quality food all year round.
"It is for this reason that we have developed this exceptional new range and we are extremely proud to offer our customers what we believe to be the very highest quality recipes at the best prices."
For more information on Notcutts range of wild bird care products, visit www.notcutts.co.uk
Westland saw demand for its bark products increase, with Landscape Bark, 100 litres, moving up to No 3 in the Growing Media chart. Another product in demand was the Plant Protection Bark, which was the highest re-entry, jumping straight in to No 17 spot.
Westland saw demand for its bark products increase, with Landscape Bark, 100 litres, moving up to No 3 in the Growing Media chart. Another product in demand was the Plant Protection Bark, which was the highest re-entry, jumping straight in to No 17 spot.
Another big mover in the top half of the chart was Arthur Bowers Blended Farm Manure, moving from No 18 to No 7, and proving that gardeners are making the most of the mild and damp conditions to enrich their veg plots and borders for next year.
Although growing media sales are now getting lower every week there is still demand for houseplant compost. Growth Technology Orchid Focus Medium Compost, 10 litres, is the highest climber, moving up 25 places to No 21, while Kyoto Bonsai Compost is a re-entry at No 50.
See the full GTN Growing Media Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
The Greatest Christmas Awards Party Book your tickets for the finale to The Greatest Christmas Awards for 2012 – the magnificent awards party to be be held at the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate, on 13 January...
The Greatest Christmas Awards Party The finale to The Greatest Christmas Awards for 2012 is the awards party to be be held at the Majestic Hotel, Harrogate, on 13 January, the first evening of Harrogate Christmas and Gift Fair.
Combine your buying trip to the fair with a great night out. You’ll be in good company – and if your centre’s team has entered, you might even receive an award.
Tickets for the evening are now on sale. They are selling really fast for what has gained a reputation as The Greatest Christmas Party Ever! So to guarantee your place, make a booking online below or call 01733 775700.
A superb meal, the company of industry friends and colleagues – and dancing to a great band. Thanks to our generous sponsors, we've also got some great raffle prizes lined up, including a barbecue valued at £1,000 from Weber.
Proceeds from the raffle will go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, helping to grant wishes for seriously ill children.
See you there!
Prices include VAT
The Greatest Christmas Awards 2013 - Tickets
The Greatest Christmas Awards Party is generously sponsored by Premier Decorations, designers and importers of Christmas lighting, trees and decorations; garden lighting and outdoor living products; and Hallowe'en products and party decorations. Garden centres voted them Greatest Christmas Supplier of the Year in 2010 and 2011.
