LANDSCAPING L
andscape membranes might not be among the most glamorous products on your average merchant’s stock list, but according to Vernon Elsey, they’re one of the biggest untapped sales opportunities. Sales director of Growtivation, Elsey says the company’s remit is to help merchants increase sales of landscaping membranes by making the products easier to understand, easier to stock and easier to sell. Rather than simply supplying products, the company works closely with merchants to improve category performance through training, merchandising, product selection and ongoing support.
“We say that we don’t just sell membranes,” he explains. “We grow builders’ merchant sales.” The company’s roots go back to horticulture when Elsey and his brother started supplying products to nurseries and garden centres, but as that market evolved, they noticed landscaping becoming a much wider opportunity. The company soon realised the same membranes were increasingly being sold through builders’ merchants, but that the market was completely muddled. “Customers were simply buying whatever happened to be on the shelf. They didn’t necessarily know which product should be used where,” he says.
This led to the development of a clearly defined range of premium membranes, each designed for a specific application and supported by simple branding.
“We wanted to take the confusion away,” explains key account manager Bruce Goody. “People shouldn’t be using weed membrane beneath a driveway, and they shouldn’t be wrapping soakaway crates in the wrong product. Every membrane has a job to do.” The Growtivation range currently allows merchants to offer straightforward solutions for weed control, ground stabilisation, filtration and drainage, making it far easier for both counter staff and customers to select the correct product. “We deliberately made the branding simple because merchant counters are busy places. Staff are dealing with thousands of products. If we can make our range almost self-explanatory, we’ve made their job easier,” Goody continues. “ It means the end-customer gets the right product first time, the contractor gets a better installation, with no call-backs, and the merchant makes another successful sale.”
The product might end up in domestic gardens, but, Goody says, it’s the professional contractor, whose time is money, that is the influence behind the company’s quality focus. “They expect quality, consistency and reliability because they can’t afford failures.” The premium membrane range is made from 100% polypropylene, with the latest versions incorporating recycled polypropylene without
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WHAT LIES BENEATH
Just because a product is invisible when installed, doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t strive for quality. Fiona Russell Horne talks membranes.
compromising performance. “We’re committed to sustainability, but never at the expense of quality,” says Goody.
Elsey adds that longevity is one of the biggest sustainability benefits. “If a product lasts properly, it doesn’t have to be replaced. That’s good for the contractor, good for the customer and good for the environment. If you’re putting an expensive driveway or patio down, the membrane underneath becomes critical.” He continues: “You can spend a fortune on the surface, but if the membrane underneath isn’t good enough you’ve wasted a large part of that investment. Professional landscapers understand that risk. They can’t afford callbacks. If they have to rip everything up because the membrane has failed, they’ve lost all the profit on the job. That’s why consistency is so important.” Availability is another major advantage, as landscaping projects rarely allow for a long lead time. “Contractors decide today what they need tomorrow morning. If the product’s not on the shelf, they’ll go elsewhere. Having stock is absolutely crucial.”
Goody also believes this gives merchants a clear advantage over online suppliers. “Trade customers want to collect what they need first thing in the morning and head straight to site. That’s something builders’ merchants do exceptionally well.”
Alongside membranes, Growtivation supplies complementary products including fixing
pegs, expansion joint materials, screed fibres and other site essentials. These products help merchants increase average basket values, and help to reach minimum order quantities, while giving contractors everything they need for a project.
There have been significant increases in raw material costs, particularly polypropylene. Elsey says transparency has been essential. “We’ve always kept our customers aware of what’s happening with our pricing, and they understand why. We’ve said that as soon as prices come back down, we’ll pass those reductions on.” The company remains committed to continued growth, and Elsey says this ambition has been helped by the acquisition of the landscape and geotextile fabric division of TDP. The deal saw Growtivation take on products including landscape fabrics Plantex and TDP50, geotextile TDP115 and fibres for concrete, screed, plaster and render. “It also expanded our in-house conversion capability, which has strengthened our ability to serve merchants while improving supply chain resilience.”
Goody believes the biggest opportunity lies in education. “There are still membranes not being sold where they should be,” he says. “Helping merchants close that gap remains the priority. If we can help merchants recommend the right membrane every time somebody buys paving, decking or driveway materials, everyone benefits.” BMJ
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net September 2026
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