Fancy a Visit?

I’m planning for 2010 at the moment and I will be out on the road over next 6 weeks visiting potential new clients with a view to working with them next year.

Would you like a call when I’m in your area?

No commitment required, I would just call in and discuss how we could work together and what I could do for you.

-I’ve ran one of the largest garden centres in the country
-Saved garden centres thousands of Euro in overpaying VAT
-Increased garden centres Bord Bia star rating
-Designed logos
-Created signage
-I’m experienced in purchasing and sales
-I’ve set prices and reviewed margins
-Made profits for garden centres
-plus much more

What have you got to lose? Just email me and I'll do the rest.

Liam

References available.

Not so Ho-Ho-Ho?

Has your Christmas display not turned out as you hoped?
Sales not as expected?
Need some help with Christmas and the rest of your Centre?
Contact me, I've seen and done it all!
I can help push you forward.

Flyer October 2009

Click to see it closer

Promotion Planning, POS signage, Merchandising

In an ideal world every garden centre would have a promotion calendar of events and offers for the year. In practice very few have, as this requires a good deal of discipline and creating the first one can be time consuming. If you don’t advertise externally it is possible, if not advisable, to do promotions a month or so in advance, not to mention spur of the moment offers if you get a deal from a supplier.
Nowadays people expect every retailer to have promotions of some description and although there is a fine line between having too many, looking too ‘cheap’, or affecting your corporate image, it’s all about how you do it. But you do need to do it.
Signage and positioning, as well as merchandising, play a large part in any successful promotion. Developing the right signage templates for both standard stock and for ‘offers’ is crucial, especially the latter
In-house signage is easy to do right and keep right. It’s just a matter of developing some templates and sticking to them. Merchandising is another big issue of course but as with everything, it comes down to a few simple rules and a close monitoring of customer reaction and sales.
Interested?

Overkill Signage

Yes, there is such thing as too much signage!

The next big thing in garden centre retailing?

Vegetable, or edible, gardening is the current big thing and I have been thinking and researching about what the next big thing will be.
I read somewhere while trawling the net that it was going to be wildlife gardening. I guess this would seem like a natural progression in one way. Maybe you should test the water and see what the reaction is? just pull together existing products, make a decent display, use some good POS and see what happens.

Quality Counts

I've said it before and I'll say it again; Quality Counts.
Even in these tomes of the big 'R' it doesn't mean that customers will accept any old rubbish just because it's cheap. You have a responsibility to provide quality product at an affordable price, that hasn't changed.
Don't leave crap plants out on display. You should have turned them into money before that.

Be Positive

With the sun coming out and customers stirring at last, many people can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. That light may be a long way away but it's there. It's important now to stay positive and project that positivity to staff and customers. If they're happy then it will boost sales.
Be Happy!

Set your stall out

This year more than ever you need to be sure of what you plan to do while bearing in mind that it will be an unpredictable year. I know that's a contradiction really but the important thing is to have a plan.
Sure, you might need to change it quarter or half way into the season depending on what's happening elsewhere but by having a game plan and setting out your stall at least you have a point of reference to work from.
Don't fly from the seat of you pants!
Oh, and Happy New Year!