In This Issue
Join in #FloralFriday today, celebrate re-opening and say thank you!
Orderly queues form as garden centres in England re-open
“Stay Alert” - make sure your customers and staff have a safe and enjoyable garden centre experience
Making garden centres friendly, safe and accessible again
Green light for garden centres to re-open on Wednesday in England - UPDATED - Comment from James Barnes at HTA and Alan Titchmarsh MBE
Dobbies’ Swansea reopened
Wales - Monday, England - Wednesday or June 1st?, Scotland and Northern Ireland?
St Peters staff in tears after council serves Prohibition Notice
Getting ready for business - feedback from Coolings, Planters, The Gardens Group, Blue Diamond, Green Pastures, Fron Goch and more
GrowNation Secures Free Social Distancing Help and Advice for Garden Centres
It was a Red, White and Blue #FloralFriday
Reopening your retail store: Step two – sanitation & portable hand washing/sanitisation stations
RHS Chelsea Garden Product of the Year to be judged during Virtual RHS Chelsea
GrowNation and Industry Partners Provide Click & Collect to Garden Centres
Violinist Rosanne Philippens embraces the sun in Keukenhof
Promising Digitalis Panther available now
Fiskars’ annual Happiness and Wellbeing Study
Free use of 16 different Covid-19 safety measure/social distancing posters
New online garden retailer Lockdown Gardener launches for home delivery
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
GTN Xtra - Send to all
The best of last week's
We need centres re-opened, says Sun legend Peter Seabrook
Tricia Cox co-founder of Glendoick Garden Centre dies
Safe Trading Guidance for all garden centres published by HTA
Reopening your retail store: Step one - signage & screening
James Stamp to the rescue
Record Number of Suppliers and Garden Centres Spread a little Floral Cheer on #FloralFriday
Garden Centre Photo Tours
Haskins Snowhill re-opens after £15m re-vamp
Pets Corner in garden centres re-opened
Dobbies’ podcast explores gardening for beginners
GrassSaver Soft Chews for dogs will help gardeners keep their lawns in pristine condition
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
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GrowNation and Industry Partners Provide Click & Collect to Garden Centres

GrowNation (grownation.co.uk), last week announced partnerships with leading horticultural organisations to allow garden centres to begin selling online immediately through click & collect and local delivery services.

Steve Meleka, managing director told GTN Xtra:  “We were thrilled to be asked by the HTA to offer our GrowNation web shops on their ‘essential suppliers’ directory. We’re looking forward to helping HTA members and others to quickly get online and take advantage of the unprecedented customer demand that we’re seeing all over the UK.”

Garden centres can now apply for their own free web shops - fully populated with detailed product information and images from suppliers including Farplants, Hozelock, Porters Fuchsias/Happy Plants, Bransford Webbs, New Leaf, Lovania, Quantil, Taylors Bulbs, SBM Life Science (Phostrogen/Baby Bio), Plantworks (Empathy/Rootgrow/After Plant), Fallen Fruits and Primus. Additional significant partnerships are at various stages and will be announced in due course.

He continued: “We’re really hoping for some good news from the government this weekend, finally allowing garden centres to get back to business and to restore some confidence and optimism throughout the supply chain.”

Growers and wholesalers have provided GrowNation with detailed product data, images and prices, allowing them to create fully featured web shops for garden centres - including each suppliers’ products - typically in less than an hour.

GrowNation charges no up-front fees, instead, the business model is completely commission based, with credit card and PayPal transaction fees absorbed by the company as part of the service. Retailers can get more information or claim their free website at: grownation.co.uk/sellplantsonline

Steve added: “The next few weeks are a crucial part of the year even in normal circumstances, but with social distancing measures in place, garden retailers may only reach up to 40% of their usual footfall.

 

"The interruption to cashflow caused by this will be significant, which is why we’re recommending click & collect as a solution to increase sales. Our platform allows customers to view and order products online before collecting them safely from the retailer’s car park. Vulnerable customers - and staff - will appreciate the additional safety this provides.”

 

All GrowNation websites are completely free to set up and include:

  • The ability to list as many (or as few) products as each retailer wants.
  • Secure online payments via PayPal or credit/debit card.
  • A unique web address with its own unique storefront and product range.
  • A simple to use retailer dashboard to help manage orders and customer details.
  • Simple, commission based payment with no lock-in period and no up-front cost.
  • No additional charges for online payment processing.

Wholesalers can request more information and provide their product data by visiting the GrowNation website at: grownation.co.uk/supply-garden-centres

 

GrowNation will take 10% commission on every website order to cover payment processing & maintenance fees. One fifth of this commission will be donated to the Perennial and Greenfingers charities for six months from 1st May 2020 to help fund their vital work.

 

The GrowNation (grownation.co.uk) platform is one of a series of marketplaces from ConnectNation Ltd, a company formed to help address some of the unique business challenges posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

 

ConnectNation was founded by a group of colleagues with specialisms in marketing (including in the horticulture sector), CRM platform design & integration, business analysis, social media management and ecommerce website development.

 

The company is currently working with the award-winning ecommerce platform and digital marketing company, Visualsoft. Their VSCommerce platform underpins the GrowNation service, making it possible to rapidly deploy websites to allow garden centres to start selling online quickly. See: www.visualsoft.co.uk

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