RANGE REVIEW: GARDEN & WOODCARE
SEASONAL CHANGES SEES GROWTH FOR GARDEN AND WOODCARE SECTOR
The beginning of spring and the sudden burst of warmer weather has gotten consumers excited to garden, Kiran Grewal speaks to figures in the industry to see which categories are performing best and why.
T
he unseasonal short burst of warm sunny weather in late February and March proved
to be an excellent dress rehearsal for the forthcoming peak season. With temperatures making it feel like summer, the garden industry sprang into action, and companies like Zest 4 Leisure, trade supplier of quality timber garden products including furniture, arches, arbours and fencing, has revealed that its pre-season preparation is already paying off and say orders are flooding in from across the UK, resulting in an increased flow of goods being dispatched from the Saltney warehouse and distribution centre. Commenting on the pre-season spike, head of Zest 4 Leisure, Alwyn
20 DIY WEEK 26 APRIL 2019
Williams says: “This ability to cope with the unexpected spike in demand is thanks to the many improvements and investments in time and resources we made at Saltney at the end of the 2018 season. The warehouse has been restructured with a maximum emphasis on LEAN and 5S implementation. We also moved towards zonal picking which increased our distribution and delivery capacity.”
Even though the sector faces challenges, and Zest 4 Leisure admits there are “concerns” with this going forward, with “fluctuating currencies, border controls, labour costs and availability”, as this all impacts directly on the business. Alwyn takes a cool approach and says “these are concerns that many British companies are having and we will know more hopefully by the end of the summer.” Although
demand has been lower than previous
years, Alwyn remains
upbeat that the sunny weather will boost orders: “Fencing demand does seem to be a little lower than on previous years and with the rising costs of raw materials this hasn’t helped this area of the business. Timber prices have a direct and immediate impact of the cost of fencing production and all products; however the current demand seems to remain relativity constant. With regard to timber garden products the demand has been significant especially due to the Mediterranean weather we had at the start of the year. As a result of this we were excited to see the increase in orders due to the early burst of warm weather– weather is so important within the garden industry and we hope the good weather continues. It’s difficult to be specific about the
future but we have seen increases in sales for outdoor entertaining products including the dining sets and arbours.”
Atmospheric heating Outdoor living buyer at Homebase, Katy Higgins, noticed that customers are going for a more natural feel and this has seen a growth in sales of firepits and chimineas at the chain: “The growth of an ‘outdoor-room’ has naturally led to an increase in outdoor cooking and alfresco dining. However, our customers aren’t necessarily relying on a traditional BBQ for this. Firepits and chimineas have grown in popularity over recent years with this trend continuing in SS19. Not only do they provide an atmospheric heating option for long summer evenings but they can also be used for dining and entertaining by simply adding
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