an interview with…


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“The pressure is now on the industry to be a 12-month discipline; seeing the recent growth on houseplants and the increasing drive towards gardening being a pursuit to aid mental and physical health is great for the industry, but it’s how we as an industry stimulate that. “Another new trend we are seeing for 2020 is


voice. How do we use Alexa to help us with our gardening? We see this more and more within industry, and something Evergreen as a company is looking to exploit. Watch this space.” This drive towards more natural products


and sustainability has led to Evergreen introducing a number of targets, including aiming for zero carbon emissions by 2050, and accelerating its sustainability goals,


GCU Spring 2020


which has included an audit on the company’s carbon footprint.


“We’ve reduced the amount of virgin plastic used in our packaging by 800 tonnes and in turn reduced C02 emissions by 2,400 tonnes,” says Portman. “40 per cent of our product portfolio is already made from natural formulations but we’re looking to achieve 70 per cent by 2021.”


A CONTINUED FOCUS ON INDEPENDENTS Despite the new company focus, Evergreen is continuing to value the independent retail market, as well as the larger multiples. “Our business is broadly 50/50 if comparing multiples to independents,” explains Portman. “We have two sales directors – one for large


multiples and one for independents. We therefore have two individual sales teams for each core sector. “That’s one of the things I enjoy with this


industry – our customer base is so diverse. There are upwards of 2,000 independent garden centres who are super creative, entrepreneurial and demanding. That’s a great challenge for us to keep those accounts engaged.” Overall, stress Portman, the future looks bright for Evergreen, as Portman concludes: “When I joined, we used the word neglected and our financial performance wasn’t where I wanted it to be. We have stabilised the ship; we are motivated by growth and as we go forward we have a clear growth agenda, putting our customers first and foremost.”


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