GCA Conference
Disruption not disaster
Former Channel 4 News economics editor Paul Mason joined the star-studded roster of guest speakers at the GCA annual conference last month, and discusses how garden centres can capitalise on consumer behaviour in the face of Brexit.
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ttendees heard from the writer, broadcaster and film-maker on Tuesday, January 22, covering areas
of economics, globalisation and the future of capitalism. His speech, entitled ‘profit, people & planet’ analyses economic trends and political developments. Formerly working as Channel 4 News’ Economics Editor, Paul covered all aspects of the UK and global economy, markets, labour and commerce and previously served in the sale role for BBC2’s Newsnight. Speaking at the conference, Paul Mason says:
“For me everything is economics. I go to a garden centre and I count the number of cars in the car park every Sunday, because that tells me what’s actually happening in the economy. The economy for me is not an abstract thing, it’s a real thing, and I want to offer my view on the British consumer and what is driving them, and how we understand the way they are going.”
The leisure economy
“The actual garden economy, according to the Office for National Statistics, is quite small. Garden tools spending per week is 80p. Now of course we don’t go into a garden centre and spend 80p,” he laughs. “But what we do is we go every month etc, and buy something small.” Domestic services including gardening, is £2.10, horticultural goods (of which plants and seeds) is £3.80. This is technically your bread and butter, or at least it was until the revolution of the most important plant that any of us will ever do business with, which is the coffee
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plant,” he jokes. Another category for garden economy is museums and gardens. “Don’t forget that one,” Paul says. “People, on average, are spending 50p a week to go into a museum or a garden, places like Kew Gardens. The garden economy is there. But that’s technically quite a small per week spend by the British consumer on the things that I could find in the household spending statistics”. “But the leisure economy is huge. Recreation and culture, family spend £74 a week on. That’s the cinema, that’s going to the football, bowling, ice-skating etc.”
Not only are British families spending a large proportion of weekly spend on recreational activities, they are also taking the time to eat out and spend in restaurants.
Paul says: “It is stunning that given that the supermarket food spending is about £78 per week, and families are still spending on average £50 a week on meals out. So [your restaurants] are an amazing space that some of you probably have, or you may be close to having.” British people are spending £140 a week to go out and feel good, and I want to say to all consumer facing businesses with places to go - fill your boots - because that’s good.” Paul Mason tells garden centre owners: “people want to be in the places that you run. This creation of another space, where a consumer wants to be for a long time, feel good, meet people, sit with their laptop or a book, or just talk. The coffee market changed consumer behaviour, and it’s every person with a laptop that chooses to go to these ‘trendy’
retail places, and that’s a successful business purely because it understands who is coming and why they want to sit here.
“It’s becoming obvious now that your sector is becoming a cafe/restaurant with some plants attached,” he jokes. “But the consumer has colonised this space for their own use, and this is an amazing new opportunity where people want to spend money and feel good in places they didn’t expect.”
Deal or no deal? Showing a slide depicting what a no-deal Brexit would mean for the country, Paul Mason tells delegates, “nobody is going to let that happen. It’s being used as a scare tactic but you run businesses, where real people get scared.” He continued: “31% want ‘no deal’, and if they want it and are being told by stories in the press that it might happen, then you need to be aware of a short-term disruption in consumption.” However, he finishes on a positive note,
explaining: “Whatever happens, household spending is going to be diverted to stockpiling. But, if you are a business that usually thrives in the spring/summer months, once Brexit is out of the way, consumers will be ready to spend again!” Encouraging retailers to hone their offer and make sure they capitalise on that spend when it comes, he says: “Remember, the service is the product! All my experience in garden centres would suggest that you all know that. For businesses that get service wrong, it is theatre, it’s fake, but for the businesses that get it right, it’s real and comes from the heart.”
GCU January/February 2019
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