an interview with… The future is Evergreen
Aſter going through a period of company restructuring in the past two years, the future now looks bright for Evergreenin the UK, with a new website and product range catering for the increasingly complex demands of the modern day consumer. Alex Fordham reports
A
s the leading garden care company outside North America, Evergreen Garden
Care has some of the most recongisable brands in its portfolio, including Miracle Gro, Round Up, Weedol and Levington. However, its managing director for the UK and Ireland, Mark Portman, shares with Garden Centre Update the need for the company to re-engage with its customer base, after a period of neglect. Portman takes up the story: “After joining Evergreen back in March 2018, it was apparent that we had pulled away from working closely with our customers for various reasons – we weren’t engaging with our consumers and not managing some members of our team in the right way.
“As a business we had reduced some of our marketing spend, slowed down on some of our innovations and pulled away from some of the trade customer events that we had gone to. “As a team we made a commitment to
reverse this and refocus our business strategy.” Having worked in the DIY and
gardening sector for a number of years, including seven years at Henkel as commercial director in the UK, and latterly as general manager for the UK, Ireland & Nordics, Portman is well placed to use that experience to bring a fresh outlook to Evergreen’s operations, after a period where the company has seen a gradual decline in profits and market share. To combat this, Evergreen has employed a twofold strategy in focusing on internal issues of staffing restructuring and externally, re-engaging with its customer base. “Despite the challenges our company
This has been supported externally by relentlessly going out to talk with our customers, to listen to them, and adapt our style to better meet their needs, be it on the national or independent side.”
GCU Spring 2020
has experienced, we have something many companies are envious of in the fact that our product quality has never been compromised,” notes Portman. “Our brands are still either number one or number two in their respective market category. “Internally we have made a number of
changes to our commercial, sales and marketing teams.
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