Online marketing provider Garden Connect, and retail management and EPoS provider, Davidson Richards became close partners in 2020 and are looking forward to a successful 2021. Both being garden centre specialists, they developed a comprehensive integration between the OpSuite EPoS solution and the Garden Connect platform, allowing garden centre retailers to streamline their operations and provide customers with a connected experience.
“Having first worked together for a mutual customer, conversations about a closer partnership started in 2019” explains Edwin Meijer, founder of Garden Connect. “We both prefer to work with partners rather than doing everything on our own. Our partnership with Davidson Richards has been successful for all parties involved but especially for our mutual customers.”
Full webshop integrations
“Together, we enable garden centre retailers to offer their customers a truly omnichannel experience via their web shop and in-store. Stock information is real time, most importantly the quantity available, which removes the likelihood of overselling across channels. Orders placed on the web shop are seamlessly updated in OpSuite, providing the retailer’s team with full customer purchase history whether bought in-store or online for future target marketing” explains Keith Bateman, Director of Davidson Richards.
He adds: “Currently, 14 garden centre organisations are already benefitting from this close partnership. We started 2020 with just 2 mutual customers so a lot has happened in 2020!”.
One of the latest centres to benefit from the partnership is Beetham Nurseries.
Senior Manager, Ed Abbit explains: “Having been a customer of Davidson Richards for over 15 years, they have always ensured their EPoS solution uses the latest technology. With the onset of COVID restrictions last year, there was an unexpected and greatly increased demand with online sales. They introduced us to Garden Connect and we as a business quickly signed up for their entry level web shop which was turned around in a matter of weeks.
Given the team were working 12-hour days during COVID and the level of web shop orders coming in were increasing daily, if the site had not been integrated with OpSuite, our team would have become overwhelmed very quickly. Due to the success, we are already now adding even more features to the web shop which will be live this spring."
Ed also adds: “It’s been clear that combining the expert knowledge of two partners is the way to go, as we benefit from the experience and expertise from both businesses, compared to one provider trying to do it all. Every garden centre should have an integrated solution and offer customers a professional journey: in-store and online. Not only is their expertise beneficial to us as a business but the established partnership between Garden Connect and Davidson Richards means we benefit also from a smooth and efficient working relationship.”
What’s next in 2021?
In 2020, the partnership between Davidson Richards and Garden Connect grew significantly and this is only the beginning. Over the last few months, we have spoken to many garden centres who are interested to learn more. “In December alone, we had 3 new customers order fully integrated solutions as well as also helping many existing OpSuite customers reap the benefits of full integrated web shops” adds Keith Bateman.
There’s definitely more to come and we are excited to launch even more services ahead of spring. As we say in the Netherlands: “You’re faster alone, but you can reach further together!” explains Edwin Meijer.
For more information, go to www.davrich.co.uk and www.gardenconnect.com.
