THE PEAT PERSPECTIVE
The move towards
sustainable growing media Naomi Davis speaks to industry spokespersons on the issues surrounding peat reduction and how to make sustainable products appealing to the consumer.
As the UK works its way towards the government’s targets for the phase-out of peat, there has been much talk of how retailers can engage their shoppers with the ‘Peat Free’ message.
R
esearch shows that many consumers either don’t understand what ‘peat
free’ means or simply aren’t bothered either way, as long as the product performs well. It seems that the strategy that suppliers and retailers use to persuade shoppers to choose sustainable growing medias needs to be clarified and honed. We got the perspectives of
some experts in the field on the key issues that the industry should be considering. Steve Harper is the MD of Vital Earth, which specialises in sustainable growing media; Ian Richardson, MD of Garsons garden centre, provides the all-important retailer viewpoint; Paula Parker is the head of UK marketing at garden care giant The Scotts Miracle- Gro Company; Carol Paris is operations director at the Garden & Leisure Group, as well as
president of the Horticultural Trades Association.
Q
To what level do you feel that consumers
understand and buy into ‘peat free’ growing media? Steve Harper, Vital Earth: “As with all green products, there is an underlying 10 per cent of consumers who buy into the concept of peat-free, clearly understand the issues and consciously choose peat-free in store. Then you have those who are inclined to avoid peat and will buy peat-free if they know enough about the products offered to them, but they do not spend a lot of time thinking about it or seeking out peat-free alternatives if they are not obvious. A third group appreciates the issues but just doesn’t care enough to change their habits, and then there are those who simply don’t understand the debate at all.” Ian Richardsons, Garsons: “The overall level of interest in peat free remains fairly low from customers, those that do enquire generally believe it is ‘the right thing to do’ but have no real understanding of the issues.
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Invariably the follow up question is ‘Have you got something cheaper?’ or ‘Is this better than my usual product?’ Price still far outweighs the environmental credentials of peat- free products and in the current economic climate this is likely to remain the case in the medium term.” Paula Parker, Scotts: “Currently, the peat-free growing media segment represents a small portion of the overall growing media category value sales. The majority of consumers remain more concerned about other attributes – such as using the right product for the right purpose, growing performance, value offers and so on.” Carol Paris, Garden & Leisure: “Many shoppers don’t even know what is in the bag; the repeat purchase products on performance. As retailers we are ultimately driven by consumer demand and consumers aren’t currently asking for peat free.”
Q
What barriers do you perceive in
supplying/retailing peat-free products? SH: “A lot of the issues in
retailing come down to the buyers who are not brave enough to make the move to peat-free wholly or even partly. This is a shame as plenty of retailers are succeeding with it. I do accept that if the whole industry made the move today there would not be sufficient raw materials immediately available to meet the demand. That said, as we move forward more and more material is becoming available and this will resolve the issue. 2020 is achievable.” IR: “Quality and performance still remain key considerations especially in building repeat purchases. Currently results experienced by customers are at best giving mixed growing results. The quality of substrates used has varied widely from nice friable substrate to solid blocks that need breaking down. To build confidence and repeat purchases products need to give good results over a wide range of growing conditions and skill levels experienced by the consumer. Only a limited number of the best performing peat-free products are achieving significant sales based on repeat
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