As we near the half year with sales riding high after a better than average spring weatherwise, it's good to see and hear all the work that’s going on to grow business further in the coming years. This week the GTN team has heard three examples of how the industry is far from resting on its laurels.

At the start of the week we learned how The Garden Centre Group are actively broadening the appeal of their centres while ensuring excellence of horticulture is at the forefront of their business.

Then David Arnold presented the results from the Garden Industry Marketing Board’s research to the Choice Marketing conference. “We will be using that information in our marketing plans for next year,” chairman Sam Bosworth told the group at the end of the conference.

And GTN were also invited to a preview of the new watering range being prepared by Karcher for garden centres in the UK. They bring a consumer view to the watering market rather than a horticultural one, and as a result will have some different concepts that can be displayed in store.

The outdoor room concept has been talked about for over 20 years – at last it seems to becoming mainstream. This can only be good for garden centre retailing if we understand how best to talk to the potential new customers.

Read more about TGCG’s vision, the GIMB research and Karcher’s new range in GTN and GTN Xtra over the coming weeks.

GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year...

• Garden Products – down 14%
• Veg 2 Gro – down 48%
• Growing Media – down 43%
• All items index – down 27%

To subscribe to GTN Bestsellers email karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk