Viewpoint – Easter puts spring into step of garden centres

 

Retail Insider and K3 Retail bring you a monthly column taking a look at some of the most pertinent and interesting topics of the day in the big wide world of retail.

Easter is almost upon us and the big action in the retail sector is without doubt happening in the gardening sector. Apparently we are heading for a scorcher over the Easter holiday period and so garden centre operators will be rubbing their green-fingered hands at the prospect of a bumper yield.

While the spring heat-wave will probably fail to happen we are still pretty much guaranteed plenty of business across the garden centre category around the country. Worldpay reckons more than £30 million will be spent during the run-up to Easter – which will represent a 39% increase in takings against the average week in Britain’s garden centres.

When extending this over the four-week period straddling Easter the forecast is that £65 million will be spent in total. This is a result of the obvious seasonal nature of gardening as well as the increased desire for consumers today to entertain at home rather than spend out-of-home.

The latter trend has been maintained following the arguable ending of the austerity period, despite disposable incomes for many people rising. This is especially relevant to garden centres as they are heavily skewed to the relatively rich (mortgage-free) older demographic.

While the prospects look good the risks are that a failure to plan meticulously could scupper this crucial period for some garden centre owners. Let’s see who puts the ground work in and comes up smelling of roses.

Glynn Davis, editor, Retail Insider

K3 Retail deliver multi-channel solutions that enable retailers to create joined up shopping experiences for their customers whether they choose to buy on-line, direct, in-store or via mobile. It has over 20 years’ experience delivering award winning solutions, to more than 175 internationally recognised retail brands.