Ruxley Rose judging reveals ‘recipe retailing’ at its best

Our 21 finalists in the Ruxley Rose competition have recently been judged and here are some of our judge’s findings (October, 2016).

The two winners, judged to have the best plant areas, will be announced during our annual conference at St Andrews in Scotland between January 22 and 25, 2017.

Our four inspectors visited our member garden centres during the spring and the plant scores from their inspections determined the 21 finalists who went through to our autumn judging process.

Our Ruxley Rose judge, Roger Crookes has just completed his visit of these centres and has reported back his findings this month, which have included details of recipe retailing at its best, greater awareness of insect friendly plants and displays that cater for a younger customer.

Nationally the top centres in both the Garden Centre (GC) and Destination Garden Centre (DGC) categories were revisited in September and GCA members were scrutinised on how they were promoting and marketing plants during the autumn selling season.

Roger says: “I was impressed and amazed by how committed and passionate plant area teams were in the face of yet another difficult plant retailing season. Some centres seem to be able to ‘take the knocks’ and keep on innovating and prioritising plants. But no matter how good the ideas are, this takes determination and a lot of hard work so deserves a great deal of recognition.

“I visited most centres during the hot weather of early September when the plant areas were looking glorious in the sunshine and were being enjoyed by customers and a huge variety of wildlife. You could say they were literally buzzing with insect activity and this re-enforced all the messages and displays I saw promoting the importance of plants as habitat and food sources for pollinating insects.

“Centres were consistently reporting that customer interest and sales of insect friendly plants were still building well, and teams were considering what else they could do to promote these plants for next year.

“Ready-planted containers and colour theming still seem to be on the way up, both for bedding plants and hardy shrubs – perhaps being driven by the new and often younger customers who do not think the same way as some of our more traditional customers.

“Linked selling seems to be changing on the plant area too – trying to retail dry goods alongside plants has always been fraught with challenges. I have seen some great examples of linked selling and ‘recipe retailing’, which show how far we have come from a few wet bags of compost next to some shrubs.

“These ideas and others will be explored during my Ruxley Rose plant area feedback session at GCA annual conference in January. It promises to be an illuminating presentation with the sharing of best practice very much at the forefront.”

Garden centre marketeers to battle for Worrall Cup

Marketing teams from our member garden centres are being invited to compete for the chance to win the Worrall Cup. 

  

The team that has provided the best marketing campaign or initiative for its garden centre will be awarded the prestigious cup during our annual conference at St Andrews in Scotland between January 22 and 25, 2017.

This represents a great opportunity for members to showcase their marketing skills to win this significant association award.

We’re on the hunt for the garden centre that has come up with the best, most inspiring marketing campaign or initiative in the last 12 months. We want our members to show flair and creativity and most importantly inspire other members to follow suit.

As this award is not influenced by the annual inspection all entries have an equal chance of winning when the judging panel meet to assess the merits of each submission and decide the winner. The entries will be judged by an independent panel of judges with marketing expertise. This is an opportunity for members to win a prestigious award, where both flair and commercial success are rewarded.

Members are asked to submit an entry by completing a short entry form, which can be downloaded from www.gca.org.uk or requested via email, to the GCA office, no later than Monday, January 16, 2017.

The submission of supporting material, such as photographs, print examples and web-links is encouraged. An additional sheet of written detail is acceptable along with the entry form, if required. Entries can be sent electronically via info@gca.org.uk or by post to the GCA office.

The winner will be announced during our annual dinner and awards evening, which takes place at on the evening of Tuesday, January 24.

As always our conference will provide attendees with pertinent information on key aspects of the garden centre industry to assist members in achieving their business goals.

The information shared will focus on a wide range of topics, including merchandising, marketing and management. There will also be plenty of opportunities for delegates to network and socialise.

Furniture and barbecue sales sizzle in summer

Customers at our member garden centres made good use of their gardens during the warmer weather with purchases of furniture and barbecues according to our Barometer of Trade results.

Furniture and barbecue sales were up 12.10% with hard landscaping sales close behind at 8.74%.

We did enjoy some good weather this summer and from the results of sales in furniture and barbecues it looked like the Great British public spent a lot of this time in their gardens, which is great to see.

They also bought clothing as sales were up 13.96%. Seed and bulb sales were generally down -16.50% due to the time of the year and outdoor plants were up just 2.55%. Houseplant sales were up 1.48% and garden sundries 6.48%.

Pets and aquatics sales were up 4.07%, food hall and farm shop sales up 1.92% and catering 4.55%. Gift sales were down -3.26%.

Sales showed a Year to Date increase of 4% and August’s overall increase was 5%.

The regions that saw the biggest increase in sales during the month compared to the same month last year was South Thames at 6.77% up and Wales and West at 6.37% up. The Midlands area saw the biggest YTD change of 18.84%.

Steven Palmer, Finance Director at Squires Garden Centres, said: “August was a good trading month for our garden centres with strong sales in plants and lifestyle categories. Our Café Bars continue to trade strongly reflecting the increasing UK trend for eating out.”

Our BoT reports are compiled using actual sales figures and provide an up-to-date trading position statement. They are made available mid-month following the end of the prior month after all member garden centres have submitted their results.

The BoT reports allow members to compare their trading positions with other centres.

Philip Gass, Director of Creative Gardens Ltd, said: “August was a decent month trading for us, weather was mixed but nonetheless sales across the board were up around 3% at each of our centres compared to the same month last year. 

“Some of the noticeable improvements on August 2015 was the bird care department, which was up more than 200%, helped by a club customer promotion. Plants were up 8.7% and gardening general was up 15.7%. Coffee shops and gift shops struggled a bit in August, partly as a result of less customer club promotion in the café. Our transaction count was down slightly but average sales increased by 8.1%.”

Mike Burks, Managing Director of The Gardens Group, said: “It’s been a good summer with all parts of the business working well. Summer is a growth time at the moment albeit on a much smaller scale than the key seasons.”