Catering once again dished up the best figures in the Garden Centre Association’s December 2023 Barometer of Trade (BoT) report with outdoor plants and houseplants also doing well.

Up 18.18%, it was the top performing category recorded by GCA member garden centres last month, excluding the miscellaneous section. It was closely followed by outdoor plants at +17.71%.

Peter Burks, GCA CEO explains: “On my visits to garden centres in December it was clear our members were very busy and this has been confirmed with an excellent trading result to finish the year.

“The figures show a year-to-date variance of +2.93% and that nine of the GCA’s 13 categories recorded by member garden centres saw an uplift during the month.

“Once again food is leading the way, with both catering and the food hall/farm shop categories doing well, the latter up 10.76%, making it the third best performing category last month.”

The next category that did well in December, when compared to the same month in 2022, was houseplants at +7.22%, followed by gifts +5.44%, then hard landscaping +4.86%, garden sundries +1.82% and Christmas +1.48%.

Peter adds: “It’s great to see hardy plants and houseplants nicely on the up, as well as the two main festive categories, Christmas and gifts in a positive position. It’s also always nice to see an encouraging figure for the year as a whole.”

According to December’s BoT results, sales of clothing were down slightly to -1.77%, pets and aquatics at -1.89%, seeds and bulbs at -5.96% and furniture & BBQs -16.92%.

The GCA BoT reports are compiled using actual sales figures and provide an up-to-date trading position statement. They are made available mid-month following the end of the prior month after all member garden centres have submitted their results.

The BoT allows members to compare their trading positions with other centres.