It has been a funny old year reporting for GTN Bestsellers and analysing garden centre EpoS data every week. After a brilliant spring when sales volumes went through the roof, the summer was above average, but only just, and now we see sales volumes dipping off during Christmas.

In the background of our analysis we can see a reduction in the number of different products sold, a trend that has increased during the Christmas period.

Could it be that range rationalisation at Christmas simply leads to fewer sales or has footfall dropped off?

More than ever it has been a mixed bag of performances from the centres which provide us data every week.

In previous years they have all followed the same pattern, but this year we have a range of cumulative sales volume changes for 2014, ranging from plus 10% right through to minus 12%.

The weather played its part as ever and in general provided an excellent year for core gardening, and the trend towards instant decoration of the outside room has certainly gathered pace with outdoor lighting sales booming.

On a sour note for the year, Wild Bird Care sales have stagnated since the summer, a victim of the weather possibly. So now it’s time to wish you all well for next year. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for another early spring (surely we are due two in a row) and a sizzling summer, and a couple of weeks of snow and cold weather around the end of January and early February. Now that’s not too much to wish for, is it?

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

• Garden Products – down 42%
• Xmas Products – down 17%
• Growing Media – down 16%
• All items index – down 16%