GTN Bestsellers analysis from last week shows that for the first Easter week of 2021 total volume sales dropped by 1.4% week on week but as centres were only open for six days rather than seven that equates to being about 12% up like for like.
Most importantly sales were up 63% on the same week from 2019 and 46% higher than the average for the nine years 2011- 2019. Compared to the last time Easter was the first week of April in 2012 garden centre volume sales this year are up by 72%.
With centres reporting continued high sales levels during this week, despite the cold weather we should be reporting on the highest ever Easter sales volume in our next issue.
Apart from Easter being different weeks, comparisons with 2019 are proving to be the best measure of post Lockdown change as 2019 was a relatively average spring in the years since 2011. Given that the GTN Year to date indexes compared to 2019 are now: All Plants +27%, Garden Products +13%, Growing Media +19%, Veg 2 Gro +57%, Wild Bird Care -12%, All Products +10%.
GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week in 2019: week 14.
- Garden Products Top 50 – up 67%
- Growing Media Top 50 – up 109%
- Veg 2 Gro Top 50 – up 29%
- Wild Bird & Wildlife Care Top 50 – up 1%
GTN Bestsellers All Sales volumes compared to the same week in 2019: week 14.
- All Plants with Barcode index – up 81%
- All Items with Barcode index – up 63%
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