The starting gun for the 2013 gardening season was officially fired yesterday as garden centres across the UK launched their Garden Re-Leaf Day activities, many of which will extend over the week-end and even into next week.

The aim of the fun event is to encourage footfall with an inspiring string of activities – including a national quiz featuring TV and Radio gardening presenters, and a ‘Find the Plot’ competition sponsored by the HTA - and raise funds for the industry's Greenfingers charity.

Garden Re-Leaf’s co-founder, Boyd Douglas-Davies, said the response to the second Garden Re-Leaf Day had been “fantastic”.

"The response to the 2nd Garden Re-Leaf Day has been fantastic. The industry has embraced the event and firmly established it on the gardening calendar. Yet again, the national media has shown great interest in our interest and widely reported the events taking place across the country."

"To have the support of Stephen Fry once again has been great"

"The additional support provided by the trade associations this year has been significant and it has helped to make the day bigger and better."

The first round-up of some of the day’s activities follows in this issue of GTN Xtra.

Send us your photios and stories from Garden ReLeaf Day 2013 and we'll publish another GTN XTra Garden ReLeaf special issue early next week.  trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Throughout the day, events at the nursery included: Guess the weight of the cake; a spectacular Tombola offering many prizes donated by staff and suppliers; Goodwill Coffee Morning; ’We’ve lost the plot’ Competition; Staff Raffle to win an extra day’s holiday; and Celebrity Garden Quiz.

 

The garden products market will grow by 15% over the next three years, according to the latest forecast by AMA Research.

Their new report suggests that while consumer confidence and spending is under pressure, garden products are often relatively low-cost and either hobby or leisure-based and are generally fairly resilient to the economic climate. “Interest in gardening (and, more recently, ‘’grow-your-own’’) still remains strong,” the report says.

They estimate the value of the  “large, mature” garden products market at well over £4billion in 2012. The chart shows that horticultural products, garden sundries (paving, fencing, pots/planters etc) and garden buildings together product account for an estimated 66 per cent of turnover. “Market performance is highly dependent on the prevailing economic conditions, the housing market, consumer confidence and spending, and the weather,” they say. After the weather-hit 2012 season, the market is expected to bounce back in 2013, given reasonable weather, with forecast growth of around 5%. “Longer term prospects are relatively optimistic as the garden remains a key area of interest and improvement for many homeowners”.

AMA emphasise that internet sales are growing in importance, both through emerging specialist garden product retailers and traditional retailers with strong Internet-based sales sites (Argos, B&Q, John Lewis, Tesco etc.). “The use of social media is also increasing both promotional messages and customer feedback, which is challenging traditional routes to market.”

They put market growth at 15% over the 2013-2016 period.

AMA Research’s “Garden Products Distribution Market – UK 2013-2017 Analysis” report, hard copy or electronic, £675 ()  0871 310 3450.

The Garden Centre Association has renewed calls for the Easter trading laws to be relaxed.

Under the 1994 Sunday Trading Act, retailers with 3,000 sq.ft. or more of sales space cannot open on Easter Sunday, one of the busiest gardening weekends of the year.

GCA Chairman Peter Burks said gardening was a family-friendly, relaxing pastime that brought people together, providing a respite from the stresses of modern life. “It can be good for both mental and physical health. Grandparents, parents and children all garden together and a visit to the garden centre is considered a leisure activity,” he said.

The public found it “upsetting, confusing and frustrating” when they could not visit their favourite local garden centre on Easter Sunday. “They get very angry and vent this on our members who they feel are closed by choice as they have no idea about the law.”

“As an industry we need to look at ways of helping explain to our customers why we have to be shut and that we are open as normal on the other three days. But we would also like to see garden centres exempt from the current law and would welcome discussions with the government on this going forward. A campaign for the relaxation of the laws is not out of the question.”

Easter Day closure is estimated to cost the garden industry at least £10 million – possibly 25 per cent of total Easter week sales. Some centres can open their restaurants but not the rest of the shop.

Peter added: “Our members want to be able to serve their customers. It is silly that a garden centre’s restaurant can be open on Easter Sunday but no other sales can be  made.”

 “It is an age old debate that the industry has been embroiled in every year since [the law was changed in] 1994,” Burks added. “Now I feel we need to move this along and to start at least helping our customers understand why we have to be closed and perhaps seeing if they can exert some pressure on the powers that be if they would like us to be open. We may even consider asking members to see if they can poll customers or start petitions.

 “The relaxation of the Sunday Trading Laws during the Olympics last year was an interesting development for the industry and we saw this as a glimmer of hope. In order to stimulate the economy, improved trading conditions are needed for businesses.” 

The key ingredient to creating a successful destination garden centre restaurant is have a point of difference that set’s you apart from the rest, delegates to to last week’s HTA Garden Centre Catering Conference were told.

Alan Roper, chief executive of the Blue Diamond Group, who operate restaurants in all 14 of their garden centres, said excellent customer service and good food were a pre-requisite but these alone were not enough for destination restaurants.

He also said garden centres needed to make a greater connection between plants and the catering offer - why not sell homemade cakes with jasmine as an ingredient, lavender biscuits and nasturtium salads?

He presented a preview of plans for the catering offer at the group’s redeveloped Redfield Centre in Surrey, due to open in October 2013. They are moving away from runway style counter areas in favour of different seating areas and zones to create different and intimate experiences rather than “a mass of chairs”. To create theatre, the kitchen at Redfields will be completely open to view. Roper also encouraged delegates to think about tea. “We do coffee well but we can do tea better’ he said. At Redfields there will be tea and coffee experience counters complete with a range of different pots. High tea will be big, too.

The conference brought together those involved in garden centre catering – from small independents to larger chains. Cateringcontributes as much as 35% to turnover for some. HTA market information manager David Denny said the latest research showed that 50% of garden retailers provided catering.

Steven Whibley, MD of Gails Bakery, provided an insight into what makes his expanding chain of 12 innovative café bakeries in London, work. “Our aim is to make the product the star,” he said. “Presentation is key and the product is right in front of people’s faces as soon as they walk in. Products are laid out in an appetising fashion with no packaging – the focus is on abundance and warmth.’ He said: ‘It’s easier to put things in the fridge, which is why people do it. But people buy more at room temperature.” He concluded: “Atmosphere, ambience and visual merchandising are the experience touch points that provide the ideal guest experience. Understand your customers and provide the experience they want.”

The point about ambient food was also advocated by Chris Brown, Director of Turpin Smale Catering Consultancy. “It is much more appealing and more likely to sell. Be brave and keep things out”, he said. Using examples from catering businesses outside the industry Chris provided examples of simple yet great creativity that make outlets stand out for their individualism.

Neville Stein (Ovation Business Consultants) reminded delegates that it was vital that the catering operation makes money. One of the easiest ways to make more money was to sell more to existing customers. The focus needed to be on food costs, sales and wage costs, he said.

HTA Catering Business Improvement Scheme (CBIS) member Melanie Sewell from Fron Goch Garden Centre near Caernarfon has managed to improve profitability by constantly checking supplier prices and focusing on wage costs. By getting these down to 30% and 33% respectively, they saw a healthy 12% increase in profit last year.

Helen Joyce (another CBIS member) from Thirsk Garden Centre in Yorkshire, saw sales improve by 25% in 2012. Known for their coffee and cakes, their popularity has grown organically through word of mouth. “We provide a place for the local community to come – from groups, clubs to young mums, we have groups in most days. Ambience is the biggest driver – we are warm and comfortable. We use products from around the garden centre to help create the feel – making it inviting and interesting.”

Carl Hadfield, Group Catering Manager from Haskins demonstrated that through the introduction of a system, in their case ‘Optimum Control’, they have been able to successfully drive margins and improve profit. “Having a system in place provides you with a much better understanding of what you sell and where you buy it from. It allows you to have visibility, identify shortfalls, provide stability and consistency, confidence and control,” he said.

HTA Director of Business Development Tim Briercliffe said catering continued to be an important growth area for garden retailers. “It was great to see so many centres of all sizes represented at the conference. With practical advice, tips and great examples of innovative practice there were plenty of conference takeaways for delegates to take back to their businesses.”

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.

It’s prompted this comment from GIMA’s Neil Gow, who has seen sales of farmyard manure at his Burcot Garden Centre take off.

“I don’t know if there is methane in FYM but our sales have gone off like a rocket! There has been a 1,790% increase in unit sales this week over last week. We are promoting it alongside our rhubarb, whose sales have also taken off.”

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.

• Bosmere Sweet Pea and Bean Ring, a re-entry at No 34 after a 100% increase in sales.
• Westland Growmore, 3.5kg, returning to the chart at No 36.
• Woodland Standard Spang Pot, another re-entry at No 37.
• Bayer Toprose, 1 kg, jumping back in at No 39.

Sales of the best-selling autumn-flowering F1 wallflower ‘Sugar Rush’ over the past year have helped to train a student.

‘Sugar Rush’, bred by Floranova and supplied by Ball Colegrave, forms a new foundation for autumn colour in flower borders and patio containers. A scented variety, it is the first dual purpose hardy F1 hybrid wallflower to flower in the autumn, overwinter and re-flower again in abundance the following spring

Jamie Robinson of Westland has taken over as chair of the Growing Media Association. Charles Farmer of Bord na Mona is the new vice chairman. Elected at the recent AGM, both will serve for two years.

Robinson takes over from James Hayes of Bulrush Horticulture. He said he was looking forward to the new challenge,at a time when there was a clear direction from government and the industry on the sustainable use of peat and ensuring the quality of growing media as peat usage is further reduced.

Wages increases in ornamental horticulture have again outripped those in garden retailing, the 2013 HTA wages survey has established.

Pay increases in nurseries are averaging 2.3%, compared with 1.6% for the garden retail sector and 1.5% for the national average provided by the Office of National Statistics. The HTA blame inflated increases governed by the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB), which has now been abolished

With the turnover of HTA grower members estimated at around £470 million, pay rises in line with the national average would have saved about £1 million in staff costs, based on HTA grower members only. Applied across the entire ornamental sector, the figure would be even higher, the association say.

Gary Scroby, HTA Policy Manager, said the results of the survey once again exposed the distortion in pay rates that the AWB had created. “We applaud the Coalition for abolishing it,” he added.

The report, based on a survey of 50 HTA grower members, prospective members and BOPP members, is a key tool that allows businesses to benchmark themselves within the sector. It includes key metrics such as average pay rates for different job roles, staff costs, sales turnover, level of pay increases and redundancies.

Steve Harper has taken over as UK business operations manager at Bord na Mona, distributors of the products made by his former employer, it was revealed this week.

Harper resigned last December as managing director of Vital Earth, who had signed a deal 11 months earlier that handed Bord na Mona the rights to market and distribute the Vital Earth peat-free range alongside the Irish operator’s Growise range.

Harper takes over the role previously held by Tommy Gill, who resigned in January.