Industry Insight Has garden centre retailing changed forever?


Andy Campbell looks back on 2020 and the various challenges the gardening sector has faced due to the Covid-19 pandemic.


and mental health, social and personal well-being.


One thing is for certain aſter last year, garden centre retailing will never be the same again.


The category mix is likely to change with core gardening being on the receiving end of even greater focus moving forward. Houseplants were on the ascendency anyway and this looks set to continue. Garden plants and all the related support ranges can only get stronger. Outdoor living in its widest sense including; hard landscaping, furniture, barbeques and accessories are expected to grow with an expected increase in holidaying at home and within the UK, for the foreseeable.


All of the above playing to the significant number of new entrants to the market throughout 2020 discovering the benefits of plants and gardening to physical


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Those categories that tend to rely more heavily on the browsing customer visiting the catering outlet such as gifting and clothing could well be scaled back to a certain extent, particularly as the mid-term picture for re-opening the cafés and restaurants in garden centres, remains unclear. For some, the additional services of home delivery, call and collect, click and collect and comprehensive eCommerce activity, brought about out of necessity during 2020, will remain an essential ingredient in their channel strategy. For others, it is likely to be kept on the ‘back- burner’ as a contingency. There will inevitably be some profound operational adjustments to how garden centres trade moving forward. Specific entry/exit points, customer flows, 


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layout, spacing and fixturing changes, could well be retained as a permanent feature, especially at peak trading times.


A very different approach to stock management seems to be evolving at the moment, with retailers doing more multi- sourcing, placing larger


pre-season orders and planning to maintain higher stock levels of key lines throughout the season. Whether these changes in buying and purchasing behaviour are permanent or a short-term reaction to current circumstances, only time will tell. Only a few weeks ago supply chain availability seemed to be a serious cause for concern. In the main, this seems to have worked its way through and as a result is no longer front of mind for garden centre retailers, although I have no doubt the supply end remains highly focused on this topic.


Prior to Covid-19, sustainability as an issue was gaining significant momentum but not surprisingly took a backseat during the pandemic itself. This is already starting to re-emerge as an opportunity and challenge for the industry to address, with plastics and peat at the forefront and we ignore it at our peril. As always, the garden centre


sector has shown itself to be remarkably resilient, innovative and determined during this period of intense uncertainty and will come out the other side a lot stronger and more robust as a consequence. It will be more flexible, adaptable and approaches to staffing and working practices will inevitably change.


• Andy Campbell is an independent business development consultant, specialising in the gardening and DIY sectors.


GCU February/March 2021


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