HTA calls for change on Easter Sunday trading
With Easter less than a week away, the HTA is continuing to lobby government to change the Sunday Trading Laws which prevent garden centres from opening at all on Easter Sunday.
With Easter less than a week away, the HTA is continuing to lobby government to change the Sunday Trading Laws which prevent garden centres from opening at all on Easter Sunday.
Garden centres, with over 3,000 square feet of selling space, are subject to the Sunday Trading Act 1994 which prohibits large shops in England and Wales from opening on Easter Sunday and limits them to a maximum of six hours trading on other Sundays during the year.
HTA Director General, Carol Paris, comments: “The Sunday Trading laws cause a high amount of confusion for gardeners and garden centres alike. It is time for change and we will work with the Garden Centre Association and other stakeholders, to influence government to amend this outdated and unnecessary legislation.”
She adds; “For many people the weekend is the only time available both to garden and to shop for the garden, and the long Easter weekend, during a peak gardening time, is clearly a premium time for this. Furthermore, garden centres play important roles as leisure destinations and as a focus for families and others within their communities. More fundamentally, the existing laws increasingly look out of place in an era of 24 hour internet trading.”
Gary Scroby, HTA Policy Manager, adds: “We recently cited the problem of Sunday Trading restrictions as an example of barriers to economic growth in a paper submitted by the Institute of Directors to No10 Downing Street. We have also suggested lifting the restrictions with Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury as an easy way to provide the national economy with a significant boost. We hope the Chancellor has taken note and he has some positive news for us in Wednesday’s Budget statement.”
The HTA is urging the millions of gardeners wanting to celebrate the arrival of spring and work in their gardens over the long Easter weekend to check opening hours before leaving home. The association is emphasising that the Sunday Trading Act covers only England and Wales and does not apply on the other days over the Easter weekend when garden centres are able to trade without restriction, including on the Bank Holiday Monday.
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One centre that will be open on Easter Sunday is Hawley Garden Centre in Dartford, which has successfully opened its outside sales area every year since the Sunday Trading Laws came into place.
Kim Foster from Hawley told GTN Xtra: ”We’re the only place for miles around that is open. All the staff come in as if it’s a normal working day.
"We don’t open the inside shop or our coffee shop. We move as many relevant products outside for sale in our covered sales area, even some clothing.
"For customers there’s a barbeque, Easter treasure hunt and the chance to win a Mercedes Benz SLK ride-on worth £300.
"If the weather is good we’ll have another bumper Easter Sunday.”
GTN survey reveals other centres plan to open too
Easter Sunday sales could help pull back deficit
A GTN Xtra survey has revealed that up to 20% of UK garden centres plan to work their way around the Sunday Trading laws and open their plant areas and coffee shops on Easter Sunday in an attempt to pull back sales after the cold spell...
A GTN Xtra survey has revealed that up to 20% of UK garden centres plan to work their way around the Sunday Trading laws and open their plant areas and coffee shops on Easter Sunday.
GTN contacted over 50 centres and discovered that 11 were planning to open on Easter Sunday although six were in Scotland where they can open as usual anyway.
This year's Easter Bank Holiday could prove even more important than usual as the current wintry conditions seem to have affected sales at garden centres.
The current GTN Bestsellers sales volumes are consirably lower than the same week in 2012 – down 30% in fact – although the weather was summer-like 12 months ago.
With continued cold and wet weather plus some more snow forecast for this weekend we’re in for another tough sales performance that may mean March sales volumes are closer to those of March 2009 or 2010 rather than the past two years.
For those who can remember back to 2010, our current sales volumes tracked by GTN Bestsellers are running at 5% up. After a snowy start to the year 2010 really got going in April and weeks 12 through to week 24 were the highest for total aggregate sales of the last three years.
What are your plans for Easter Sunday? How are you working your way around the Sunday Traduing Laws to maximise on sales opportunities? What is the feedback form your customers? Let us know using the comments link below or e-mail trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk
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Millbrook's new centre is a thoroughbred
Highgrove Garden Centre at Marden near Maidstone this week became the Millbrook Garden Company’s third outlet...
Highgrove Garden Centre at Marden near Maidstone, which this week became the Millbrook Garden Company’s third outlet, has a thoroughbred horticultural pedigree. The site has been traded as a garden centre since the 1990s, when it was owned by Dick and Thelma de Jager, the famous importers of quality Dutch bulbs and suppliers to the Prince of Wales at the ‘other’ Highgrove. The centre was bought in 2003 by the Homeleigh Timber & Building Supplies company, which has three outlets in Kent specialising in timber, landscape and garden buildings. Highgrove was their only garden centre. A Certificate of Lawful Planning Use recently obtained by Homeleigh will give Millbrook, who have centres in Crowborough (Sussex) and Gravesend (Kent), scope for building turnover. The centre has a café, large pet centre with livestock sales, a flower shop and conservatory and shed concessions. The site is 20 minutes drive from Leeds Castle, a popular tourist attraction.  Millbrook’s MD Tammy Woodhouse said Millbrook had been looking for a third site for some time. “It presents us with a really good opportunity and we are looking forward to developing and moving Highgrove forwards,” she said
Homeleigh’s MD Trevor Jenkins said: “Millbrook is a well-run business that shares our culture and ethics. We are confident this agreement secures an exciting future for our staff.” Gilbert Evans who handled the sale. Mike Gilbert said Highgrove was a good fit for Millbrook. “The deal is a very good one for both parties,” he added. The purchase was completed on Friday, 22 March, by when Millbrook’s website had already been updated with the acquisition.
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| Adam Wigglesworth: "Make sure people choose to visit you" |
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‘Focus on your point of differentiation’ was the key message from garden retailers at the latest meeting of the HTA Retail Management Group, which took place in London this week.
The opening months of the year have been dismal for the trade thanks to the ongoing challenges of the weather. However, garden retailers remain cautiously optimistic about the months ahead and are eagerly waiting for spring to truly arrive.
Core gardening categories remain challenged whilst other areas including catering, giftware, food shops and food halls appear to be more resilient. Several members reported healthy growth in houseplant sales – perhaps a result of customers not being so active in their gardens.
Chair of the Retail Management Group, Adam Wigglesworth from Aylett Nurseries, comments, “There is pent up demand out there and customers are frustrated that they still can’t get out into their gardens as much as they would like to at this time of the year. This gives us hope for the months ahead as long as the weather is on our side.”
He adds: “Garden centres are well stocked, looking good and ready for business. We have a significant advantage by being pleasant places to visit but what we need to ensure is that we convert this into action and give people a reason to visit.
"A point of differentiation is vital to make sure that people choose to visit you over any competing destinations. People are looking for inspiration, theatre and magic along with knowledgeable staff and excellent service.”
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Strong garden centre presence at PATS
A record number of visitors attended this year’s PATS Sandown, making it the biggest and busiest show in the event’s five-year history, and there was a strong garden centre buying presence over both days...
A record number of visitors attended this year’s PATS Sandown, making it the biggest and busiest show in the event’s five-year history, and there was a strong garden centre buying presence over both days.
A total of 1,847 retailers visited the show, representing an increase of 8% on the number who attended PATS Sandown in 2012. The total number of visitors even outstripped that of PATS Harrogate in September, which was itself a record-breaking event that had welcomed 1,813 visitors.
The feeling from the 160 companies exhibiting was very positive, and this year’s show was the kind of boost the pet industry needed.
Ray Foard from Pet Rebellion said: “Eighty per cent of the visitors to our stand were new customers, which was great. We’ve seen a lot of garden centres, who are the main focus of our business. We’ve taken bigger orders today than ever before at PATS – two to three times bigger in fact. It’s by far our busiest show ever.”
Wild bird care products were in evidence with the Peckish stand reporting great interest.
Sam Marriage from Marriage’s Millers said: “We’ve had a great time, and the outcome has been very encouraging because we are new. We wanted to get closer to retailers and PATS has certainly allowed us to do that."
And from a visitor point of view Steve Buxton and Matt Hammond from Trago Mills Garden Centre in Cornwall added: “The pet trade is a cosy, intimate group of people and PATS suits that profile. We’ve returned to the show after missing last year and pleased to see a good variety of new products.”
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Mars Fishcare's pond treatment wins new product award
The API Pond Treatments from Mars Fishcare has picked up a major new product award at the PATS trade show at Sandown Park...
The API Pond Treatments from Mars Fishcare has picked up a major new product award at the PATS trade show at Sandown Park...
“We’ve had some great interest in our API products, and really pleased that the Pond Treatments won the Aquatic Product Award," said Emily Malpass from Mars Fishcare.
"We took a lot of feedback from a consumer study and simplified our names and information and it’s working for us. The show has been a fantastic vehicle for getting our message across.”
The judges felt the winning entry had eye-catching packaging, and “it did what it says on the tin”. They particularly liked the way individual products were paired together to make it a one-product starter kit.
Meanwhile, Dog Rocks also picked up a new product award at PATS with their PetproBio supplement.
The judges said PetproBio had eye-catching packaging and strong branding, and was a product that would encourage repeat buying. Value for money was an important factor in their decision.
Carina Evans from Dog Rocks said: “A lot of hard worked went into getting our new product PetproBio ready for the show but it paid off as we won the Pet Care Product award. I’ve had a lot of interest in the product today, and to win the award is just brilliant.”
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Solar lights are a popular item with consumers at the moment with three products in the Top 10 of the current GTN Bestsellers Garden Products chart.
Gardman Solar Spot Lights is at No 2 in the chart. The other two items are Gardman Ice Orb Solar Light (No 3) and Kaemingk LED Solar Stainless Steel Garden Light (No 7), pictured.
With the country still under the influence of wintry weather, it seems gardeners are either preparing for the time when temperatures start to rise or continuing with the propagation of their plants indoors.The highest new entry in the chart is Fiskars Powergrip Trowel at No 22 while the highest climber is Gardman Pricking Out Pots, pack of 20, which has jumped 13 places to No 26. Other propagation products showing some growth in sales include the following from Gardman: - Seed & Plant Raising Kit, a re-entry at No 35.
- Seed Tray Insert 24 Cell at No 36.
- Cell Insert 40 at No 45.
The highest re-entry is Woodlodge Standard Spang Pot (pictured), 2.5 inch, at No 18. Fito Drip Feeder for Orchids, 32ml, retains the No 1 spot for yet another week.
See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
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Third TV ad campaign for Fiskars Weed Puller
Next Thursday will see the launch of Fiskars' third TV campaign for the successful Weed Puller, a tool that effortlessly removes weeds...
Next Thursday will see the launch of Fiskars' third TV campaign for the successful Weed Puller, a tool that effortlessly removes weeds.
According to market information provider GfK, the hoes and weed puller category has seen 6% growth in value terms during January-June 2012 in the UK, largely due to the Fiskars Weed Puller. Fiskars has taken almost 55% market share of this growth category in value terms and is the only brand growing in the segment.
The 2013 offer to trade includes the Telescopic Weed Puller, an introduction certain to increase customer pulling power for UK stockists.
The latest TV campaign, and supportive online and print advertising, will run over the core gardening season from Easter until end of May, reaching over half of the UK adult population and highlighting both innovation and the green aspects of the Weed Puller. .
Mikko Mannihan, Marketing Manager of Fiskars UK Ltd, says: “The Fiskars Weed puller is an important product in the Fiskars garden tools offering. Not only is it a category created and developed by us in the UK but also one with constant growth year after year.
"Therefore we’re undertaking another great TV and marketing campaign for the third year in a row. We are the only supplier to support this growth area with such innovation and marketing support that will increase customer awareness of sustainable methods of weed removal and the range of innovative gardening tools offered by Fiskars.
"Throughout this year we will continue to support retailers with increased brand awareness amongst the UK population, active communication, improved merchandising, packaging and distribution.”
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Tomato varieties are the big movers in the Bestsellers Veg-2-Gro chart, taking the highest climber, highest re-entry and highest new entry accolades this week.Thompson & Morgan Tomato Sweet Baby has jumped 26 places to No 7. The highest re-entry goes to KinderGarden Tomato Tumbling Tom, 4 cell plugs, at No 18, while Thompson & Morgan Tomato Terenzo is the only new entry at No 43. Taylors Onion Sets continue to dominate the chart with the top four selling items being Sturon, Stuttgarter, Red Baron and Hercules F1. Suttons Beetroot Boltardy has moved up to No 5 and Unwins Seed Potatoes, Rocket 2kg, is at No 6.
See the full GTN Veg 2 Gro Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
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Redbridge Garden Centre burgled for the 15th time
The owner of Redbridge Garden Centre in north-east London, which has been burgled 15 times in 13 years, says he is worried sick after the latest break-in devastated his business...
The owner of Redbridge Garden Centre in north-east London, which has been burgled 15 times in 13 years, says he is worried sick after the latest break-in devastated his business.
Thieves broke into the centre in Roding Lane North, Woodford Bridge and loaded a £15,000 JCB digger onto a trailer and towed it away using one of the centre’s vans,
They also took power tools, plant pots and hundreds of packets of seeds.
Owner Bruce Freeman, 55, was on holiday in Wales when staff rang to tell him the news.
He said: “I came straight back and was greeted by a depressing scene.
“There was stuff lying about everywhere. They had taken so much and added to that they had ripped out our CCTV system.
“We have insurance on the vehicles, and in fact the van was found and returned to us.
“But it’s impossible to get insurance on all the stock if you are a garden centre and I reckon we have been left out of pocket by about £70,000 because of this.
“Then there’s the fact that we haven’t been able to fulfil orders or make deliveries. It’s been absolutely devastating.”
Last time thieves broke into the centre four years ago they stole Mr Freeman’s guard dog Troy.
The distraught business owner said: “We have been broken into 15 times and four of those have been major burglaries.
“Thankfully we got Troy back because we are very attached to him.
“He comes home with us now. We have another guard dog, Fred, but this lot who broke in must have locked him in his pen."
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Haskins Chief Executive Julian Winfield has hailed the Garden Centre Association’s e-learning scheme Garden Retail Online Workshops (GROW) as one of the industry's best ever initiatives.
The scheme, which helps member garden centres keep their customer service at the highest standards, covers topics such as plant basics, Grow Your Own, pruning and pest control.
Julian Winfield said: “The GROW e-learning is one of the best initiatives we have ever had in our industry.
“It really helps independent garden centres to train their staff to a high standard and allows senior members of the team more time to help our customers with their gardening needs.”
The aim of the GROW e-learning modules is to give garden centres an opportunity to train all their staff to ensure they have a basic horticultural understanding.
Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, explained: “We launched our first 10 modules in January and we are pleased to see it has received such a great reception from our member garden centres.
“We understand a lot of our members don’t have the time or resources to fully train all of their staff, so we came up with this idea to keep their customer services standards at the highest level possible.
“We plan to keep on adding further topics that will focus on all areas involved with running a garden centre. We have recently added health and safety and food safety modules to cover levels one and two. This includes 35 subject modules, making a current total of 45 within the GROW scheme.
“More modules will become available throughout the year, including wild bird care, soil types and starting a new lawn. Later in the year we will have categories such as furniture and barbecues, as well as customer care.”
The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide.
Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.
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Customers were not put off visiting garden centres in February despite the cold weather according to figures from the Garden Centre Association’s Barometer of Trade report. Sales during the month were up 7.1% in comparison to February 2012, with indoor categories performing much better than weather-dependent sections.  Peter Burks, Chairman of the GCA, explained: “January was a bit of a miserable month for garden centres so we are really pleased that despite the colder than average weather we had in February people were still spending at our member garden centres.
“Gift sales were up 27.81%, catering up 14.9%, food hall and farm shop up 12.06%, clothing up 10.34% and houseplants up 2.03%. “While customers were happy to venture out to visit garden centres, the figures have highlighted that they weren’t so keen to head outdoors as outdoor plants sales were down 2.49% and seeds and bulbs down 5.34%.” The GCA BoT reports are compiled using actual sales figures and provide an up-to-date trading position statement. Peter added: “In 2012 we saw a significant shift of sales away from more traditional categories into less weather-dependent categories and we think this trend will continue for as long as the climate remains unpredictable. “Our members have adapted well to ensure that they are still making sales even when people aren’t tempted to be out planting.” Matthew Bent, Managing Director of Bents Garden & Home in Glazebury, Warrington, said: “The weather is one of the biggest factors in our industry. With such poor conditions over the past few years we have really focused on strengthening others areas of the business, such as our Fresh Approach Restaurant and our events calendar to include even more family-focused events. “We’ve also been strengthening departments including gifts, kitchenware and clothing, which are less weather dependent. February was a wash out in terms of the weather, but we performed well within the industry and I believe this to be down to the hard work that we have put in to developing other areas of the business.”
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Cold shoulder for growing media
It has been a tough week for growing media sales as gardeners accept that it’s now better to wait for warmer weather before embarking on any major tasks...
It has been a tough week for growing media sales as gardeners accept that it’s now better to wait for warmer weather before embarking on any major tasks.Sales are actually 50% below where they were in the same week of both 2011 and 2012, according to GTN Bestsellers data. On a more positive note there are some encouraging signs with gardeners buying growing media for propagation and veg growing.
See the full GTN Growing Media Bestsellers Chart here. Subscribers Only
To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £120.00 per year click here
WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business. Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.
Notcutts relaunches e-commerce site
Notcutts is relaunching its online presence with a newly-designed e-commerce website at Notcutts.co.uk
Notcutts is relaunching its online presence with a newly-designed e-commerce website at Notcutts.co.uk
Complete with a new ‘home grown’ look and feel, the site will act as Notcutts’ 20th garden centre, opening up the brand’s quality product offering and years of horticultural expertise to a national gardening audience.
After closing for development at the end of 2012, Notcutts will welcome in the spring season with the refreshed website, offering a greatly extended range of products, inspiration and top tips to gardening enthusiasts across the UK.
Stylistically, the site is clean and crisp, yet carries as much charismatic charm as the centres themselves. Incorporating hand-written chalk boards, gardener’s notes and wildlife sketchings, the site offers what feels like a personalised shopping experience, maintaining the intimate characteristics of an independent garden centre.
As a one-stop-shop for gardeners, the site is designed to encapsulate everything there is to love about Notcutts in an easy to navigate, interactive and exciting online environment. In addition to exceptional products and offers, the site also aims to offer the same quality customer service associated with Notcutts’ 19 regional garden centres. As an added bonus for customers, the site offers Free Delivery on all orders over £30.
What’s more, Notcutts will also be giving away 50 complimentary gift hampers worth £30 to celebrate the site re-launch. Each package includes a Joseph Bentley hand fork, Joseph Bentley trowel, three pairs of gloves and a bumper crop of herb seeds - all presented in a wicker basket - perfect for upcycling and reusing. For a chance to win, recipients simply need to place an order on the site before the end of April and 50 winners will be selected at random. The offer is for UK residents only and standard Ts&Cs apply.
Minnie Moll, Marketing Director at Notcutts, commented; “Launching our e-commerce platform back in 2010 was the first step towards reaching a national audience. Our new improved website is all about improving the customer experience, and making it as easy and enjoyable as possible to shop with us online. We know how much our customers value our expertise, so we have really worked to deliver everything our customers love about Notcutts, online.”
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Darlac's Expert Range of garden tools has been specifically designed for professional gardeners and sets a new standard for what keen amateurs can expect for their money.
Amazingly lightweight, this selection of tools combines maximum power with exceptional durability for safe, effective, pruning, lopping and shearing throughout the garden.
Pecision-engineered form the highest quality materials, the Expert Range boasts a host of valuable features, including drop forged aluminium handles; SK5 high carbon steel blades, fine tensioning adjusters and soft cushion buffers to reduce jarring.
Flagship tools such as the new Drop Forged Shear set the standard for the Expert Range.
The range incudes one anvil and four bypass pruners, a razor tooth saw, two tree pruning heads, lighweight and drop forged shears and a sturdy drop forged bypass lopper.
For more information visit www.darlac.com
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Event organisers i2i have revealed that Glee will now continue under the watchful eye of Matthew Mein, who has been appointed as event manager.
A well-known face within the industry, Matthew has worked on Glee for over seven years and has been involved in every sector of the show.
From plants, paving to peat, Matthew has an unrivalled knowledge of the garden, leisure and landscaping industries as well as an in-depth understanding of the marketplace. He is highly experienced in events and will be instrumental in the continued development of Glee, leading the show’s sales team as well as enhancing its added value features and educational content.
“Glee has been such a huge part of my career and I am extremely passionate about delivering a show that helps gardening companies and their customers to build business and develop profitable futures," said Matthew.
"I am excited to be in a position where I can lead Glee into its next exciting chapter.”
Matthew will be supported by Daniel Thurlow. Previously Glee show director (from 2008 – 2010), Daniel will take a strategic overview of Glee’s development, in his new role as portfolio director. Daniel will focus on the tactical development of the show, guiding Matthew and working with Glee’s supporting partners.
Glee will take place at the NEC, Birmingham from September 15-17. To enquire about exhibiting, call 0203 033 2197 or visit www.gleebirmingham.com for more information.
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