association comment Inspired and motivated


Garden Centre Association (GCA) chairman Mike Lind looks back on another successful annual conference and stresses the importance of working together to develop the industry


Christmas Competition (GC) winners – Castle Gardens


I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who joined us at our marvellous 2019 annual conference at Luton Hoo Hotel in Luton at the end of January. It was a superb event and a wonderful opportunity for us all, as an industry to come together to share ideas and best practice and to celebrate our successes. Our star-studded roster of guest speakers this year kept us entertained and inspired us too. As a keen sportsman, I particularly enjoyed meeting former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen and hosting our eagerly-anticipated Q&A session in front of delegates.


Another conference favourite of mine was Retail Futurist Matthew Brown. He spoke engagingly about retail trends, something close to the hearts of all garden centre owners, managers and their teams. Matthew owns Echochamber, a London-based creative retail intelligence agency. Its clients include Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Nike. As garden centres rely heavily on retail, his presentation was particularly interesting for delegates who were able to learn about current retail trends and incorporate his ideas into their own sales plans for the coming year.


Another speaker was former Channel 4 News Economics Editor Paul Mason. Paul’s speech, entitled ‘profit, people & planet’ provided a detailed analysis of economic trends and political developments. All highly pertinent given the current political climate and concerns over retail spending. Meanwhile, John Stanley explained how the independent garden centre sector is going through a period of rapid change. John gave insights into merchandising and displaying plants to grow sales and how they can attract consumers. He


Make the most of housewares


BHETA housewares sector director Will Jones shares market intelligence that suggest a growth opportunity in barware


At time of writing, Spring Fair is over for another year and as ever it was the perfect opportunity to check out the latest trends and product innovations. For the visitors from the garden market, Glee is the obvious attraction, but I would strongly urge both suppliers and buyers to include housewares on their show itinerary. There are some great profit-turning opportunities worth checking out in this rightfully popular part of the show – and, barware is a real growth area.


We all know just how high a percentage of garden centre sales come from non-horticultural products as today’s consumers plan their visits as a full day’s destination shopping. Moreover, even in the wet and cold months of the year, indoor sales like cooking, dining, bakeware, tabletop and small domestic electrical appliances can be relied upon to stimulate interest. For garden retailers who may still feel uncertain of the growth potential of housewares in general and barware in particular, the latest EPOS data from the GfK BHETA Index is worth referencing www.bheta.co.uk/market-intelligence/gfk/. This great news and many garden centres are already taking advantage of these sectors, but an even more successful one that might not yet be so much on the buying radar is barware, which is enjoying immense popularity with consumers. Sales really got going in the hot summer, boosted by the World Cup and the Royal Wedding, but they then continued right through into the festive period and show no sign of stopping.


The BHETA GfK Index is well worth a look for anyone with a business in the garden market. BHETA’s quarterly retail data service features live links to all the product groups represented in the four categories detailed in


GCU January/February 2019 www.gardencentreupdate.com | 17


BHETA’s online Retailer Zone, enabling BHETA members to check where their ranges sit in relation to national statistics instantly and easily. Circulated in infographic form, the BHETA GfK Quarterly POS Index is available to members on an exclusive basis thanks to the trade association’s exclusive deal with research and data provider, GfK. Recent data is available on the website to give a flavour of the possibilities. The Retailer Zone features a real-time search function – by product category, by brand and by supplier, enabling retail buying teams to find not only practical product and supply details, but real inspiration for future listings, all from laptop, tablet or phone.


also spoke about growers’ roles in the future and what we can expect from the online retail world as it unfolds. John was definitely a huge hit with all our


delegates, many of whom took copious notes, so it was wonderful he was able to fly over from Australia to join us this year. We also heard from our garden centre inspectors about their findings when visiting members throughout the year and we celebrated the very best centres by presenting them with our annual awards. I have now been Chairman of the GCA for a


year and I am really looking forward to the next 12 months before I hand over in January 2020 to Mike Burks, who is our Chairman elect and the managing director of The Gardens Group, which has garden centres in Dorset and Somerset. I cannot stress enough, to all our members, how important it is to visit fellow members to talk about the issues of the day and to share your ideas.


• To find out more about the GCA and its work, please get in touch by calling us on 01244 952170 or by visiting www.gca.org.uk.


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