Garden Centres

[businessopportunityseeker]

I am trying to sell products wholesale that would be ideal for garden centres to buy. I want to know how I can contact garden centres and advertise my products. I understand that garden centres use representatives to source products for purchase. I've tried emailing them directly but I bet those messages just get caught up in their spam filters. I would like to know how to get in touch with one of these garden cetre reps. To be honest I don't know much about how garden centres get their stuff. I would welcome any information on this topic.

 

[Sobie]

Depends on the garden centre and the product.
We mainly plan our stock at least 6 months in advance as gardening is such a seasonal business.
Best way is to phone a couple of garden centres that are local to you to arrange meetings with the buyer or ask if you can post some information.
Maybe a garden centre near you will be happy to try the product on sale or return basis.

 

[alexlowe]

GLEE show at the NEC

A pitch can be very expensive but good if you can afford. Or you could just go and try talking to agents.

If i remember rightly there was a kind of notice board there and agents would put there cards up.

The agents are freelance with contacts in garden centres in certain regions.

If you dont want to pay a commission I would phone the GC's direct and ask to send an email then try and make an appiontment... i dont think you'll get anywhere by email introduction alone.

 

[sellickbhoy]

why not simply take a sample down to the garden centres in your immediate area

ask to speak to the manager, show him your goods.

if he's too busy, ask to make an appointment

if they fob you off, ask who in the organisation deals with sourcing products and can you see them/make an appointment

Once you've been around 5/6 different garden centres, you'll have a better idea of how/who/when/where they buy their products

But, before you go emailing and calling every garden centre in the country and incurring yourself a bit of expense, why not just knock on the doors of the ones that are close to you 1st?

Once you are getting some sales/good feedback form teh local ones - then google can be your friend to find all the others in the country.

 

[WendyS]

Check out IMS publications - you can do a fairly cheap ad in this and it gets sent to all Garden Centres on a 3monthly basis.

 

[Sobie]

Check out IMS publications - you can do a fairly cheap ad in this and it gets sent to all Garden Centres on a 3monthly basis.

We've purchased from suppliers advertised in their publication "garden shop catalogue". but I don't always bother to look in it as its normally the same suppliers each quarter.

 

[businessopportunityseeker]

I have actually tried talking to people at my local garden centre but it seems that no one is buying at the moment. It's not a very good economic climate for it. However I know that someone is buying somewhere and I'm sure there's a way of contacting them that I haven't tried yet which works. Is there a way of contacting garden centres in other countries, maybe in the US? They've got to get their stock from somewhere and I'm selling good stuff. I was just hoping that there might be some way of contacting the agents that I hadn't thought of yet.

 

[An Oasis]

Hit the chains in the UK - Capital Gardens, Dobbies, Hillier, Notcutts, Squires and Wyevale & DIY chains B&Q and Homebase

 

[sellickbhoy]

I have actually tried talking to people at my local garden centre but it seems that no one is buying at the moment. It's not a very good economic climate for it. However I know that someone is buying somewhere and I'm sure there's a way of contacting them that I haven't tried yet which works. Is there a way of contacting garden centres in other countries, maybe in the US? They've got to get their stock from somewhere and I'm selling good stuff. I was just hoping that there might be some way of contacting the agents that I hadn't thought of yet.

if no one is BUYING have you thought of giving it on sale or return - give them a stock of products to sell.

if they fly out the door, you can bet they'll be buying

 

[Sobie]

I have actually tried talking to people at my local garden centre but it seems that no one is buying at the moment. It's not a very good economic climate for it. However I know that someone is buying somewhere and I'm sure there's a way of contacting them that I haven't tried yet which works. Is there a way of contacting garden centres in other countries, maybe in the US? They've got to get their stock from somewhere and I'm selling good stuff. I was just hoping that there might be some way of contacting the agents that I hadn't thought of yet.

What are the products? PM me with details I'll take a look for you. We buy our stock from all over the place and from all sorts of people, if you are passionate about your products then agents will not do the job any better than you can!
Or see if you can sell your products to the cash & carries or wholesalers.

 

[roydmoorian]

Hit the chains in the UK - Capital Gardens, Dobbies, Hillier, Notcutts, Squires and Wyevale & DIY chains B&Q and Homebase

But remember Dobbies are owned by Tesco - Dobies are not. You may need to modify your approach accordingly.

 

[businessopportunityseeker]

Please keep them coming! I value everyone's input here. This has proved to be quite an education for me. I would like to consider contacting the big suppliers you mentioned but I don't know any way of doing that which wouldn't get stuck in their spam filters or ignored as a cold-caller. I want to contact people who will actually read my messages and listen to what I have to say. I'm selling good stuff at good prices and I know it could find a market but I need to find a way of communicating with people who care. I need to find the right people with the right contacts.

 

[Wavecrest Ltd]

I have a client that sells a gardening product in the UK, Germany and also the US. She exhibited at GLEE and took a lot of orders at the show.

She spent a lot on the exhibition but it has paid her back.

Glen

 

[businessopportunityseeker]

An exhibition sounds like an interesting idea but I don't know how to set one up.

 

[lww]

An exhibition sounds like an interesting idea but I don't know how to set one up.

Shows like GLEE are organised on a very large scale - you talk to the company organising it (I think GLEE is run by Emap at the NEC in September) and book a stand space. Large established companies book "space only" and construct their own elaborate stands, smaller companies often buy a "shell scheme", which is a bit like a fenced off area of flooring You literally just need to bring along your products, some "decorations" for your stand and a good pair of shoes for standing up all week! It varies from one exhibition to another but a stand might cost something like £300/m2 plus the usual dodgy compulsory "marketing package" for £250 or so - minimum stand size varies, you might be able to get a 2x2m or even a 2x1m possibly.

We are also trying to target garden centres - although our products are not gardening related (they are kids products but loved by parents/grandparents), our best-selling retailer is a garden centre so we know they are one of our prime targets. We tried the IMS publication and to say we were underwhelmed by the response would be an understatement! We are looking at doing GLEE, but as we already attend Spring Fair and the Education Show the marketing budget will only stretch so far!

 

[businessopportunityseeker]

I was wondering if this is the best way or the only way to attract buyers. I feel that we're missing something here. We seem to agree that just emailing them is no different to spamming them and they won't be interested. going to garden centres and speaking with the manager has the disadvantage of traveling around the country finding the garden centres. Phoning them up has a very low success rate. Exhibitions are expensive, time consuming, hard-work and offer no guarantee of success. I just feel that it's strange. I know that people want to buy garden things. I know that garden centres stock lots of different items from the four corners of the earth. But I don't know how they do that when they seem so unapproachable. It's in their interests to communicate with sellers direct rather than hiring agents as it's cheaper. But they don't seem to want to talk to a salesman, they want to let others source things for them....even when this means they have less knowledge of their own market. I think these agents operate on some sort of patronage system. If you don't know them and offer them things then they won't suggest your products to the buyers. Why do garden centres listen to these people?

I once got very close to a deal through happenstance. I got talking to a guy in a cue at the shops and he turned out to be a wholesaler. He was really interested in my products when we were chatting and said he would seriously consider buying. He gave me his contact details. But when I wrote to him he never replied. It's quite sad. But I feel that happenstance is probably the best way to find a buyer now!

 

[lww]

It's in their interests to communicate with sellers direct rather than hiring agents as it's cheaper.

I'm not sure that's true - the agent takes his cut from the manufacturer, the garden centre will still pay the same wholesale price, plus they will deal with one point of contact whom they trust and on terms they have previously agreed. I might not like it either, but I can see how and why it happens - they stock hundreds/thousands of lines, they can't maintain relationships with hundreds or thousands of suppliers. What you need to get to are those established wholesalers/distributers/agents who are the major suppliers to garden centres...

 

[businessopportunityseeker]

I guess you're right. I suppose I was just getting frustrated. It's just that those agents are pretty hard to deal with. I feel that they are not completely transparant in their business. Have you got any tips on how to communicate with them, how to get their attention and how to begin negotiations?

 

[Naughty Vend]

I am trying to sell products wholesale that would be ideal for garden centres to buy. I want to know how I can contact garden centres and advertise my products. I understand that garden centres use representatives to source products for purchase. I've tried emailing them directly but I bet those messages just get caught up in their spam filters. I would like to know how to get in touch with one of these garden cetre reps. To be honest I don't know much about how garden centres get their stuff. I would welcome any information on this topic.

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=196388

Point made in Legal thread...

E : Everything
M : Marketed
A : Automatically
I : Is
L: Lazy

 

[businessopportunityseeker]

Good point. Right now I am trying to come up with other strategies. I don't want to abandon email altogether. All of my messages are unique and it remains the quickest and most efficient way to communicate over long distances.

 

[chiggs]

We tried the IMS publication and to say we were underwhelmed by the response would be an understatement!

Useful to know, thanks, as they've approached me to take out an advert, and I was uhming and ahing . I think they got in touch as I have a handful of garden centres stocking my products, incidently I got those through exhibiting at a trade fair.

 

[businessopportunityseeker]

It seems that exhibiting at trade fairs are the way to go. Are there any other ways?

 

[businessopportunityseeker]

I'm rather saddened that this thread has died. I think we were having a productive discussion. I am still interested in this topic. If anyone is involved in the garden centre trade or knows someone who is I would be very grateful for your incites. While I can't promise to offer any material reward I think that the prospect of a business relationship with someone involved in this particular trade could be profitable for us both. Regardless of whether or not there is any money to be made from this topic I think that this is a genuinely interesting question in its own right 'How do Chinese exporters get into a business relationship with UK Garden Centre Importers?' There must be a way of bypassing the middleman and setting up a partnership or deal without exhibitions or intermediaries. I welcome anyone's imput.