Our members see standards and profitability improve

We recently revealed there were record numbers of members receiving highly commended awards and awards of merit after our annual inspections and these have helped drive standards and profitability.

Sixty-three garden centres received a highly commended title and 150 received awards of merit.

We are absolutely thrilled to see a record number of our members receiving the ‘Highly Commended’ award as a result of their excellent performance in our annual inspections.

Our members tell us how beneficial the annual inspections are for them. As they don’t know when the inspections will be held it means they are always ‘on their toes’ in order to make sure everything is running to the highest level at all times. This ensures that customer service and retail standards are always of a high quality throughout the important spring trading period.

If garden centres are scoring 75% or above, as well as increased standards, members will also see increased turnover and profitability, which is a real benefit of being part of the GCA.

They can also benefit by using the awards for marketing their centres - in advertising, publicity, social media and on their websites - and this helps generate greater awareness and additional footfall.

In order to receive an award of merit a garden centre must reach 80% or above in any given category in the inspections.

It is great to see more of our members receiving these awards and this is a clear indication that GCA membership is helping centres to improve year-on-year. Being an award-winning garden centre offers assurance to existing customers and helps to attract new customers too.