November to January is the quiet season for gardening – but peak season for rodents, a fact that has not escaped the attention of pest control product specialists STV. 

STV believe rodent control is a way to the bridge the gap between peak gardening seasons and drive footfall in store over winter months, with the aim of continuing it throughout the year. With this in mind, they plan to create a national network of key garden centre stockists over the next 12 months.

Focusing initially on their market-leading range of rodent control products sold under The Big
Cheese brand, STV say their short-term objective is to establish 500 independent garden and hardware outlets that carry their rodent control core range by September 2013.

“We’re projecting that the 500 outlets will generate in excess of £2m of branded sales across a rolling 12 months,” says STV sales director Keith Cochrane. “And these will all come from the 20 or so key lines which generate over 80% of The Big Cheese retail sales.” Rodent control equates to more than half the sales off the pest and disease fixtures during Autumn – that’s nearly twice the size of ant and crawling insect.

STV have taken a stepchange in consumer-facing marketing activity to drive the new development, with the impact of web-based promotions and social networking generating an ever-increasing number of end-user enquiries.

“They always start by asking, ‘Where can I get…..?’, says ClaireMcDermid, marketing executive at the company. “An average day sees well in excess of 100 end-user calls, emails and queries, and in peak season that number can double, Mondays especially.” And with the recent wet summer, an increased number of rodents have been flushed out of dwellings in search of warmth and food much earlier in the season.

The company’s website www.stvpestcontrol.com can recommend the right product in just three clicks, says Ms McDermid. “With 500 local retailers stocking The Big Cheese core range nationally, we will be able to tell customers where to buy or collect our product on the fourth click.”

In-store, STV’s new merchandising system involves a fixture plan based around a 2–4m shelf run. In larger outlets there is also the potential for secondary placements and peak season promotions using the new FSDU display.

The range uses just four methods of control, all made clear on the new packaging format. For example, a flash will tell you if its ‘Catch Alive’ or ‘Catch and Kill’ - all designed to make it easier to shop the fixture.