It may be cold out there but as soon as the new season’s grafted veg plants from Suttons have been delivered in they have once again dominated the GTN Bestsellers Veg 2 Gro chart.

Seven Suttons grafted lines make it into the Top 10 with Tomato ‘Elegance’ the No 1 best-selling veg plant at Easter. New Cucumber ‘Iznik’ (right) is a new entry at No 2 with Tomato ‘Juanita’ at No 3. In total, 11 grafted plant lines are in the Top 25 and Suttons have a clean sweep of the Top 5, with James Wong Cucamelon Seeds climbing five places to No 5, the highest placed seed pack.


James Wong and Chris Ramsden celebrated the news at Scotsdales on Saturday where James wooed customers with his plant knowledge while promoting sales of his Homegrown Revolution book and the range of linked seeds from Suttons.

While overall Top 50 Veg 2 Gro sales are down more than 50% on the same week last year, it’s clear that keener customers can’t wait to get started on their tomatoes: 15 of the Top 50 veg lines are tomatoes, so you need to get those tomato grow bags and Tomorite offers ready to roll big time. We wonder how many degrees of temperature increase are needed to push tomato-related sales into hyperdrive?

See the full GTN Veg 2 Gro 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 Easter period turned out to be yet another challenging week for garden retailers, with lingering snow and continuing wintry conditions subduing consumer spending over what we used to know as the spring sales peak.

Once again, it was catering that came to the rescue for many garden centres. There were reports of decent footfall, despite the conditions, but few consumers were in the mood for gardening. This week’s charts clearly show that, in the main, it is keen gardeners who are spending, presumably taking the optimistic view that spring will arrive sometime soon.



The GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year do not make happy reading:

Garden Products – Down 28%

Veg 2 Gro – Down 53%

Growing Media – Down 67%

All items index – Down 27%

At first glance, the week-on week increase of more than 23% looks like good news – but remember, the previous week was badly hit by snow and very low temperatures, which leaves garden centre trading for the first quarter of 2013 almost 10% down on last year and trailing even further behind the same period in 2011. And another thing...the previous two years did not include the Easter ‘trump card’.

Garden centres who ran events and activities over the Easter period were the winners.

GCA chairman Peter Burks said: ”Thankfully the sun put in an appearance so it wasn’t all doom and gloom. There were plenty of people visiting our member garden centres during Easter but the cold weather appeared to have put people off going out in their gardens as most had come in for a wander round, a cuppa in the restaurant or to pick up a gift. Unfortunately, overall sales were well below what was expected.”

He said members understood the importance of giving customers something to come in for whatever the weather, which helped to boost family visitors.

Footfall across Garden Centre Association member centres increased during the Easter weekend - but many visitors were not purchasing gardening products.

GCA chairman Peter Burks (above) said: “The Easter weekend is a key time in the gardening calendar and so we were all hoping for some good weather. Thankfully the sun put in an appearance so it wasn’t all doom and gloom.

“There were plenty of people visiting our member garden centres during Easter but the cold weather appeared to have put people off going out in their gardens  as most had come in for a wander round, a cuppa in the restaurant or to pick up a gift. Unfortunately, overall sales were well below what was expected.

“Our members all know that it’s imperative to give customers something to come in for whatever the weather so many also ran Easter-themed events to draw families  in.”

Many GCA members also had a petition, calling for Easter trading laws to be relaxed so garden centres can open on Easter Sunday, available during the weekend for customers to sign.

“Lots of people mentioned it was the first they had heard of the law and were outraged that they couldn’t come and visit their local garden centre on Easter Sunday if  they wanted to,” Burks added.

“Traditionally the Easter weekend is one of the busiest gardening weekends of the year. Easter Sunday trading could be worth 25% of the total sales for the Easter week.”

Norma Moore (below), general manager of Monkton Elm Garden & Pet Centre near Taunton, said: “We weren’t sure what the weather would be like during the long weekend so we made  sure we had plenty going on to attract people, even if they weren’t going to be picking up essential gardening supplies.

With the coldest March in 50 years serioiusly depressing garden centre sales, the HTA stepped into the breach with an optimistic message for gardeners.

Garden centres have been feeling the brunt of the cold temperatures with trade predicted to be down by up to 20% in the important spring months.

As the weather starts to get warmer, gardeners still have time to plant to achieve the perfect garden, said a press statement – a theme garden centres will be able to make good use of in the coming weeks.

“Plants have a remarkable ability to ‘catch up’ on growth so late spring planting, coinciding with early summer planting, will bring an explosion of colour to the nation’s gardens,” they said.

“Plants that have been grown on nurseries under protection or in glass houses were distributed to retailers in February and are available for customers to buy now,” the statement added.

The HTA’s ‘Spring into Summer in the Garden’ campaign is encouraging gardeners to plan and visualise their gardens through colour, scent, wildlife and grow your own throughout the spring and into the summer season.

Plant growth has slowed down in line with the weather so gardeners should not be put off. “Once the sun shines garden centres will become a hive of activity and plants will still look great. You can still buy pots, containers, compost, seeds and plants for your garden and avoid the big rush once the weather turns warmer. Summer plants and seeds can be started, both ornamental and edible and grown on window sills and in propagators.

Potatoes can be chitting now inside, whatever the temperature is outside, ready to be planted when the weather turns.

In Scotland,  Helen MacDonald, owner of Merryhatton Garden Centre in East Lothian, which was blanketed in snow for the Easter weekend, said: “While we experienced a definite uplift over the weekend, the impact on sales of the ongoing bad weather and an early Easter was clear, particularly on plant sales.

“The feedback from customers is that they're dying to get back into their gardens again especially because last year's awful weather prevented any serious gardening taking place. So the potential is definitely there to claw back at least some of the shortfall as soon as the weather improves.

"In the meantime, like everyone else, we're putting extra effort into our non-plant sales and thanking our lucky stars for our ever popular cafe!"

While more garden products stayed on the shelves during the first Easter week of 2013 than moved off of them, the GTN Bestsellers Garden Products chart reveals that good strong promotions and TV advertising still had some effect to help increase sales.

Promotions for gardening gloves and loppers even managed to topple Fito Orchid Drip Feeders off the No 1 spot.  Products that are regular Easter gardening bestsellers are way down the chart with Lawncare product sales nearly non-existant.

Taking advantage and coming straight into No 1 are Gardman Premium Ladies Suede Work Gloves with Fiskars Bypass Loppers hard on their heels at a new No 2.

Three other new entries also feature in the Top 10 including a wall basket and decorative solar stake lights.

The power of TV advertising helped RoundUp Weedkiller Gel re-enter at No 9 and Scotts Flower Magic marks it’s GTN Bestsellers debut at No 21 for the 1 kg mixed colour pack.

The continued cold snap has prompted another rush in sales of Frostgard, climbing  back up the chart 26 places when it should have been moving back into stock cupboards.

So with keen gardeners taking advantage of seasonal promotions and the rest of our customers waiting for the weather to warm up all we can do is ensure our displays are ready and waiting for the rush which will surely come...

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.

In Worcestershire, the compact fresh@burcot garden centre was able to open on Easter Sunday. Owner Neil Gow said: “We did some trade. The temperature got just above zero briefly. A vicar came in and bought some flowers as he was going to friends for lunch. We took more on catering than we did on Easter Sunday last year. We were not expecting any visits from the council, nor did we get any.”

Gow challenged the view expressed by some retailers that the public now understand Sunday trading. “That’s rubbish,” he said. “The vicar came to us because the centre he usually went to was closed and he didn’t know why. Others did not understand either and many were happy to sign the GCA petition here.”

Kent nursery and garden centre operators Coolings marked their centenary last week with a reception and dinner hosted at the House of Commons by their local MP. More than 70 members of the team attended.

Sevenoaks MP Michael Fallon hosted a drinks reception in the Terrace Marquee overlooking the Thames, followed by a formal dinner in the Churchill Dining Room.

It was in 1913 that a young Arthur Cooling first cultivated three acres of rented land in Chislehurst whilst working full time as a postman.  Now, 100 years on, the award-winning garden centre business has two sites in Knockholt, covering 32 acres and employing 194 people.

Michael Fallon said the event was of national importance because “family businesses are the lifeblood of the UK economy and to reach 100 years is rare these days. It’s a great achievement!”

Horticultural media man Peter Seabrook paid tribute to the steadfast efforts of the second generation - Michael and Shirley Cooling - who developed the business through the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s, leading to its relocation to Knockholt in the 90’s. The couple still live in Chislehurst today.

Paul Cooling, the firm’s current chairman and third generation family member, said 100 years was “a very special milestone”. and would be celebrated with many special activities and offers over the coming months, including monthly ‘Saves of the Century’ offers.



Above: Peter Seabrook (left), Paul Cooling (centre) and Michael Fallon at the House of Commons dinner.

As a barometer, sales of growing media in the last two weeks of March leaves us in no doubt that we just can’t ever factor the weather out of our business. With frozen gardens and a wind chill that bites even the hardiest, the sales area to suffer most has been growing media. Last week’s sales volumes in the GTN Bestellers Top 50 products was down by 67% on last year and down by 63% on the same week in 2011. Really keen growers were the only ones to brave it out to the growing media sales areas as the Top 20 products looked more like a list from January rather than Easter.

Multipurpose with John Innes at No 2 and 3, Jack’s Magic from Westland at No 4 and not a Tomato planter in the Top 10.  That means huge sales opportunities just around the corner, especially given the level of interest in tomato plants, despite the cold.  Have tomato growing kits ready loaded onto trolleys for customers to wheel away to the tills. Temperatures wil rise very soon – so be well prepared to make the most of them.

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.

Garden centres in Northern Ireland may be facing spring trading decreases of up to 20 per cent thanks to the region’s sixth coldest March on record, according to a report on Ulster TV.

One Belfast centre reported sales down by as much as 90% last weekend. Robin Mercer of the family-owned Hillmount Garden Centre said the weather has caused more than £20,000 worth of damage after a canopy covering saplings collapsed under the weight of the previous week-end’s snow.

“As far as Easter goes we'll be about 60 or 70% down especially for plant sales," he told reporters. “People should be thinking of barbeque and gardening furniture and all the summer items.”

The report said allotment gardeners in the region were struggling to get started. Plot holder Gordon Scott told his interviewer: “We've been unable to do anything on the allotment at all and a lot of plants that were put in, like potatoes for instance, in mid-March, we would expect to see flourishing by now but there's absolutely no sign of them yet.”

In Wales, Future Marketing Group chairman and former GCA chairman Martin Davies, MD of Raglan Garden Centre, said: “The wintry weather meant the writing was on the wall for Easter before we began trading. If this jet stream doesn’t move soon I shall be re-ordering snow sledges!”

The picure below was taken by the centre’s shop manager at the back entrance to his home on Easter Saturday. “Our customers still have severe problems getting out and about let alone driving to the garden centre,” Martin Davies told us over the Easter break. 

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.

New for this year, every week we'll give sales volume comparisons with 2011 as well as 2012 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

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

 

or e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Veg-2-Gro Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.

In Cambridgeshire, Oaks Garden Centre in Chatteris (recently revamped with help from BBC’s retail guru Alex Polizzi in her TV programme ‘The Fixer’) staged a day of crafts and activities at an Easter market.

Scores of customers braved freezing temperatures to shop for speciality cheeses, beers, jewellery and arts and crafts from 30 stalls.

David White, who helps run Oaks, said: “We were so pleased to see people turn out in the cold to enjoy the day - it has really got the new-look Oaks rolling.”

Cowells Garden Centre at Newcastle – the Garden Centre Association’s current Garden Centre of the Year – announced this week they had adopted limited company status from 1 April.

“Trading and the relationship with suppliers will be unaffected,” said director Alan Cowell.

Relevant correspondence should be addressed to Darren Woodmass in the Cowells accounts department.


Above: The Cowell family at their Newcastle garden centre.

DHA Planning say they have secured planning permission for a new garden centre at Notcutts existing site at Pembury, Tunbridge Wells.

The new garden centre will comprise a single bespoke building, attached canopy plant display area and parking for 200 cars. The scheme will rationalise development across the site, replacing the current collection of outdated buildings and structures.

The new centre totals around 40,000sqft, which represents a 10,000sqft increase in built development –  a significant achievement in a Green Belt location.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council accepted that a case of Very Special Circumstances was enough to outweigh Green Belt policy objections by their Planning Committee in June 2011.

Cast stone garden ornament manufacturers Haddonstone have seen has seen sales of their bird tables increase by 53% as a result of the wintery spring weather.

The figure compares to March last year, when much of the country was basking in temperatures of more than 20C for part of the month. Despite the cold weather and snow this year, orders for bird tables have increased sharply. With an SRP of £99, the Arcadian bird table (pictured) has accounted for the majority of sales during the March upsurge.

“It goes to show that people are looking after the wildlife in this poor weather,” said marketing director Simon Scott.

Haddonstone make all products at their state-of-the-art facility in Northamptonshire, which utilises the latest vapour curing technology to ensure consistent, quality stone that exceeds the requirements of British and European standards.

The company will exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show and BBC Gardeners’ World Live this year.

Louise Hardiman has joined Forest Garden as product marketing manager, a new position.

Louise has previously held product management and marketing communications roles at leading brands like LG Harris, Vax, Swish and ColArt.  She will working closely with the company’s head of marketing, Vicky Nuttall.

Sales and marketing director John Gomersall said Louise’s expertise would bring a fresh perspective to the company’s marketing.

Garden centre sales from the HTA Garden Retail Monitor showed trade down by 8% to the end of February, with January 2013 down 15% on January 2012 and February down 1%.

The HTA cautioned that January 2012 was 10% up on January 2011, so compared to 2011, January sales were down 5%, and the wintry weather was likely to have had a huge impact, given that March 2012 was particularly strong. (See GTN Bestsellers data elsewhere in this issue)

Although there had been a small rise in consumer confidence, customers were still feeling the pinch, perhaps more accepting of the so called ‘new normal’ realistic approach.

Garden retailers were reporting pent-up demand from customers who frustrated that the weather is not yet allowing them to get out into the gardens to start planting.

HTA director general Carol Paris said: “It remains to be seen how spring will play out and whether it will be the beginning of a much needed recovery in consumer garden spending. However, it is clear that the longer it takes for the weather to improve the smaller the window of opportunity for garden retailers to attract consumers to spend.”

The latest waste recycling figure from Bents Garden & Home indicates that the Glazebury based garden centre is well on its way to achieving its 100% target.  The Centre has just recorded a figure of 98.9% of its waste being fully recycled.

Bents has long been committed to reducing the amount of waste it sends to landfill and the most recent figures show that it has already achieved its 100% target in the recycling of combined recyclables (mixed packaging, plastics, paper, card, wood, metals etc) and is well on track, with a figure of 98% with its general mixed waste.

Says Matthew Bent, Managing Director of Bents Garden & Home:  “This is a fantastic result and a demonstration of what can be achieved when everyone works towards a common goal.  We are always aiming for 100% and our colleagues have worked hard to review processes and research new opportunities for improvement, all of which are reflected in this impressive recycling figure.” 

In 2008, Bents launched its Five Green Footprints; areas where as a business it can help to make a difference and maintain sustainability.   Footprint 1, Recycling, demonstrates a commitment to the three Rs, recycling, reducing and reusing.  As well as recycling its own waste, Bents encourages customers to do the same with fully recyclable bags, bio-degradable boot liners and on site customer recycling facilities. 

All plastic plant pots with the Bents logo can be returned for recycling and customers are encouraged to do this by receiving 50p off the purchase of their next hardy plant.  All compost and green waste from Bents growing nurseries is also recycled and used for soil improvement, mulching or as planting material. 

The remaining Footprints include; Water Efficiency, Healthy Living, Social Responsibility and Trading Fairly and Responsibly. Bents also aims to reduce its carbon footprint and by growing almost 60% of its plants at on-site nurseries has been able to significantly cut transport requirements.

Bents ‘believes passionately in our environment and has a vision of a healthier, happier and greener future’.  Says Matthew: “ We believe that if we all take small steps, together we can achieve a bigger goal.  This has been demonstrated by our company recycling programme.  We have worked together as a team and together we have been able to achieve this impressive result.’


Bents vision for a sustainable future includes solar panels and windcatchers in the roof of their new development.