Garden centres selected for Weber barbecues’ elevated shopping experience – Weber World – have reported as much as a 239% increase in sales since its launch in April of this year.

Weber World is an enhanced shopping experience providing a greater choice of products in-store as well as expert advice, cookery demonstrations and for the first time ever, barbecue health-checks.

Seven garden centres across the country were hand-picked to run the pilot project – Hayes Garden World in Cumbria, The Orchard in Dublin, Alton Garden Centre in Essex, Gordale Garden and Home Centre in South Wirral, Fosseway Garden Centre in Gloucestershire, Riverside in Hertford and Sunshine Garden Centre in North London.

As part of the enhanced retail offering, partners underwent intensive Weber training, including hands-on cooking experiences; to ensure they can provide the right advice and informative in-store demonstrations from how to clean your grill and how to choose the right barbecue, to basic grill skills. Each garden centre also launched a search to find the best local barbecue recipe with winning entrants being published in Weber’s Book of Barbecue.

Since joining the scheme the majority of Weber’s partners have reported an increase in in-store sales and boost in footfall. UK YTD EPOS reports indicate that sales at Hayes Garden Centre are up by a staggering 239%, Fosseway Garden Centre has confirmed an increase of 149% whilst Gordale Garden and Home Centre has achieved a boost in sales of 103%.

Ian Hodgett from Hayes Garden World said: “Having launched Weber World just under six months ago, we are astounded by the phenomenal results. The facility is fantastic for consumers who are new to Weber but also existing customers looking to expand their barbecue knowledge. Weber World is attracting customers from the surrounding areas not just Ambleside and we now have a reputation as the place for people to enjoy a wider choice of products.”

Marketing Manager Chris Trewhitt said, “Weber World has proven to be a huge success and we are thrilled with the reception from customers and our retailers. Looking ahead we are looking of ways to grow our network wider across the UK. This will enable more customers access to programs such as barbecue health checks, cleaning and assembly services which would otherwise not be available.”

For more information visit www.weber.com

Pictured: Cutting of the ribbon at Hayes Garden World in Cumbria.