Garden centre sales volumes rise…but what about turnover?
GTN Bestsellers can reveal May sales volumes were up 34% on last year, making it the busiest May since GTN started analysing garden centre Epos data in 2009.
However, feedback from retailers and suppliers indicates that turnovers may not be moving in the same direction. The answer will become more apparent when figures for May from the GCA and HTA become available later in the month.
In the meantime, the GTN Bestsellers data clearly shows an improvement in gardening sales on last year, albeit not yet back up to the levels of 2011. The GTN Veg-2-Gro chart shows a 109% increase on the same week last year and is dominated by veg plant sales.
Although we are not able to produce a general plants sales chart currently we can see from the Epos data that plant sales are moving into hyperdrive with bedding having a superb sell through after the disaster of last summer.
With year-to-date veg sales volumes now running at 6% up on last year we can definitely say Grow Your Own is still an area of potential growth – provided the weather is on ours, and our customers’, side.
Garden product sales volumes are also heading in the right direction. With all this growing going on, it’s no surprise to see feed, weed and pest products selling in high volumes. Garden lighting is also high on the agenda – see garden products chart story– which is great news if you’re looking for indicators of people wanting to beautify and enjoy time in their gardens as well as just grow plants in them.
How was May for you? Up on volume and turnover, or has the unit cost of items you've been selling dropped either by design due to your promotions or just that customers are spending less and buying lower priced items in the current economic climate?
