Garden centres are putting on great displays and via media such as Garden Radio promoting Easter activities in-store.  But when it comes to finding garden centre Easter events on websites, potential customers are drawing blanks.

Garden Radio is helping garden centres to take full advantage of the Easter Bank Holiday with in-store messages promoting special offers and activities to customers and the bespoke messages recorded by Garden Radio for March suggest there’s a lot happening in the run-up and during Easter at centres up and down the country.

Garden Radio boss Trevor Pfeiffer says he’s encouraged by the efforts of centres to make full use of Easter trading opportunities and turn the Bank Holiday into a best-selling period.

But the Garden Radio activity is in stark contrast to the lack of Easter promotional material on garden centre websites, a fact that surprised Trevor.

“I surveyed more than 50 websites this wek and it’s almost as though Easter isn’t hapenning,” he said. “Some of the websites I looked at, still had Christmas information posted and one even has details still posted for Easter 2012!."

“With more consumers than ever using websites to plan their leisure activity, I think centres are missing a massive opportunity.”

A number of garden centres are promoting Easter bunny hunts on Garden Radio, including Christies, Knights at Chelsham and Woldingham, Monkton Elm, and Whitehall Lacock.

Baytree’s award-winning pet department is offering 25% off all Vitakraft sticks and drops during March for their rabbit owning customers while Raglan Garden Centre is promoting its home-made Simnel Cake for only £3.50 per slice with a regular tea or coffee.

Bookings are now being taken at Trelawney Garden Centre for breakfast with the Easter bunny.

Although trading laws prevent centres from being open on Easter Sunday, Hawley Garden Centre will be opening their outside plant area only on that day.

There’s a lot more going on, so let’s hope more garden centres update their websites to reflect it.

Meanwhile, welfare organisation ‘Make Mine Chocolate!’ is calling on pet stores throughout the UK to support the Easter Rabbit Sale Amnesty in order to stop the impulse buying of live rabbits. The amnesty being held from March 24 to April 6 is aimed at preventing people from buying a rabbit on impulse at Easter.

In effect pet stores would stop selling rabbits during the amnesty – a reasonable request or not? Let us know by emailing trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk. 

Note: the bestselling Easter products in the GTN Bestsellers charts last week were Vivid Arts’ Baby Rabbits!