VIEW FROM THE SHOP FLOOR
“The Christmas product category is part of a very small and select range of goods that garden centres have taken from traditional high street retailers and raised the standard so much that they have made the category their own.”
giftware retailing is full of contradictions. Contradictory evidence can be
found when looking at our sales per product per square metre. I love greetings cards; massive sales can be achieved from such a compact space. I like DVD’s, audio products, things that stack, cookware, pictures and picture frames. Candles, cosmetics, jewellery, watches, balloons and gift wrap all sit very nicely with me. They offer great returns from minimal space and are easy to merchandise and simple to keep clean. Yet these products alone do not contribute to a particularly interesting giftware department. The cameo displays, the props and the mannequins all need to be assembled with care and style. We need to set the scene, make the mood, sell the sizzle and design the dream. Here then comes the contradiction. We use large areas of retail space to build these inspiring displays. A grand piano acts as a display table for one ornament in my store. I hate ornaments. They take up far too much space and I’m sure I’ve walked past the same ones for the last five years. If only we could use that space for more greetings cards! Yet I know that without these inspirational cameo displays the department loses its credibility,
loses us a point of difference and ultimately won’t generate the sales volumes we currently enjoy. The number of different
suppliers we have to deal with infuriates me – it really does run into the hundreds for our giftware ranges. Every week yet another account application form
Giftware like jewellery can offer great returns from minimal space
of our glass vases now have holes in the bottom, not for drainage but to allow the customer to feed a set of Christmas lights into them. I couldn’t find a vase for flowers. Therein lies my big problem
lands on my desk, another pro- forma invoice from yet another new supplier with the latest ‘must have’ item, all requiring a minimum carriage paid order. Last week’s, last month’s and last year’s ‘must have’ items have long since gone and are now ‘so yesterday’. We no longer have a range of pot covers and all
and dilemma. The giftware category has expanded so fast and is spreading so wide that I really do fear we are in danger of losing our identity. As I’ve said before, the term ‘garden centre’ no longer accurately describes our offer. I don’t know what term to use to describe what we have become – the nearest I can get to is department store. So many of our products are so far removed from gardening that I really don’t know how they ever got there. What I do know is that our customers seem to like what we do. Our gift shops benefit from space, unusual product ranges, quirky displays and something different from the norm. High street gift shops always seem to be rammed full of goods, impossible to navigate and filled with things only the owner would ever buy. With sales rapidly approaching 15 per cent of our annual turnover it is a department that handles serious volume and takes serious money. I will just have to get used to the fact that I am no longer a horticultural retailer. I am a department store retailer.
Stocking diverse ranges may mean dealing with hundreds of different suppliers
DIYRetailer.co.uk | Garden & Hardware News | 11
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