April sunshine boosted garden centre sales

PEOPLE were busy in their gardens in April (2013) according to The Garden Centre Association’s (GCA) Barometer of Trade (BoT) results for the month.

Outdoor plants and seeds and bulbs sold particularly well during the month with sales up 11.87% and 15.99%, respectively, in comparison to April 2012.

Peter Burks, Chairman of the GCA, explained: “We have had a testing few months with unseasonably cold weather and we were all relieved to see some sunshine in April.

“Because people weren’t able to be out in their gardens before April we saw a huge surge in sales. Gardeners were itching to get out planting.

“Most areas saw good sales during April, garden sundries were up 12.8%, furniture and barbecues up 5.83%, hard landscaping up 22.7% and catering up 6.48%. Overall sales were up 7.62% for the month.”

The GCA BoT reports are compiled using actual sales figures and provide an up-to-date trading position statement.

Peter added: “Although our members had a good month in April they need strong sales to continue to be able to recoup any losses from the past few months. The overall year to date figures, calculated at the end of April, stand at 9.03% down.

“We’ve had a good start to May so we are remaining optimistic.”

The BoT reports produced by the GCA allow member garden centres to compare their trading positions with other centres.

For further information, please call 0118 930 8918. Alternatively, please visit www.gca.org.uk, log on to www.facebook.com/pages/GardenCentreAssociation or follow the organisation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GC_Association.

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