The warm, or occasionally very hot, weather has continued well into the late summer now, which has unfortunately taken some of the gloss off the early season gains our Garden Centre Association members saw in the gardening categories in the spring.
However, the non-gardening sectors have continued to trade very well. I usually refer to these as our ‘wet weather’ categories, but maybe I need to add in ‘very hot’ to that title as well!
For the year to date, up to the end of July, catering is showing a 6.89% increase; food halls/farm shops are up 9.01%; clothing is plus 10.5% and giftware up 7.96%. The giftware category showed an 11.07% increase compared to July 2024 – a very strong result.
These large increases could be attributed to the increased footfall in the year compared to last, but I feel there is a lot more going on in all these categories that is making a big, and it will be a long-lasting, difference.
One of the big benefits of being a GCA garden centre member is that every year during the spring months, you have an unannounced visit from one of our team of five inspectors, who score all areas of the business against specific factors.
In fact, there are 220 different factors, covering everything from the appearance of the site from the road, the car park, entrance, all retail areas, toilets and also the website and social media.
From the scores received, we then present awards to the highest scoring centres, firstly by area, and then nationally at our conference in January. These are great accolades that the centres can use in their own PR, advertising and social media and the award sponsors get huge exposure too.
The criteria that they are judged on are very specific to remove the chance of inspectors scoring on their own personal preferences. The critical factors for the indoor lifestyle section, of which gifts is the biggest area, are as follows; clear segmentation of the offer; strong themes on each display location; exceptional standards of housekeeping; a good range of natural materials with both recycled material and the ability to recycle products once they are no longer required in evidence. The inspectors also judge with the eyes of a customer.
Within the department there are then 10 factors, each of them having their own specific criteria for the inspectors to check against.
These are: physical environment including the building, lighting, fixtures and fittings; cleanliness and hygiene; layout and flow; merchandising and stock management; product offer, good range but minimal duplication; product quality; other services offered such as gift wrapping; displays; signage; promotions.
The garden centres can then use the results to see where they compare with other members and where they can improve, and it’s this ability to take big strides in the offer based on the inspection results, that I feel has driven the big increase in standards and with that comes an increase in business.
We always see that better standards result in better business.
