SUPPLIER NEWS
Under new owners, the now re-branded UK arm of Scotts Miracle-Gro, Evergreen Garden Care UK has been making big changes to the way it works with customers, how it showcases its brands, and has even bigger plans for the future.
n May 2017, it was announced
that
private equity firm, Exponent had made an offer to buy garden care giant,
Scotts Miracle-Gro’s international business, including operations in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and the UK. The deal completed that September and now, with a new name, new management team headed up by former Gardman group sales director and former Henkel UK MD, Mark Portman, and a clear vision of the future, Evergreen Garden Care UK is on a mission to engage customers and grow the garden care category. Evergreen managing director UK
& Ireland Mr Portman said: “There is a reason why the company was bought – the fundamentals are
very strong. The business had just lost its way a little bit.” He added: “What made me want to join the organisation was the motivation to take the gold dust we’ve got and make the business great again.” Evergreen marketing director Ann-Marie O’Riordan explained that the company’s retail customers many
not have always felt
supported by Scotts in the past, adding “it’s not always been that easy to do business with us and we have not helped them in the right way, so they felt frustrated but we are working to build greater intimacy with the retailer now.” Mr Portman is taking a very
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hands-on approach with this and gets out to see retail customers every single week. He said the company is geared towards, “being more external than before” and he is keen to make himself and his team more
accessible in order to build trust and gather all-important feedback. And, with more than 2,000 independents across the UK, plus national chains stocking Evergreen’s products, there are plenty of people willing to have those conversations and work to strengthen their relationship with the organisation. The business has seen huge change, with a new team at the helm, greater investment in marketing key
A BRIGHT FUTURE I
brands, improvements on the supply side and, explained Mr Portman, “more investment in our people to help strengthen our capabilities”. The ‘gold dust’ Mr Portman refers to includes Evergreen’s people – some of whom have been with the company for more than 20 years – and also its market-leading brands, Roundup and Miracle-Gro. However, both Ms O’Riordan and Mr Portman explained that further above-the-line investment was needed – something Evergreen has put a real focus on, with significant investment in its two key brands and a new £3.5million ad campaign this spring. “We have invested more today than last year, which in itself, was more the previous years,” said Mr Portman.
Looking ahead and referring to new launches and innovations for next year, Mr Portman said: “The future looks bright and we are excited about what’s to come. We are looking at new innovation, investing in our colleagues, increasing our marketing spend, working with our retail customers more
closely, understanding the
consumer more and communicating with them in the right way…If we can start to pull all of that together we will unlock the potential in the market and grow the category.”
8 DIY WEEK 26 APRIL 2019
www.diyweek.net
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