Interesting Times?

There is an (alleged) Chinese curse that says "May you live in interesting times". It's an interesting turn of phrase and it certainly applies to the current climate; both economic and weather wise.
I think the key thing to remember is not to panic. Have a good look around your store (or get me to!) and highlight the areas that need improving to drive sales.

Are your offers good enough?
Is your signage good enough?
Are you buying as well as you should be?
How are your margins?
And most importantly, how am I getting customers in to my store?

Do it now!

The Big Cheese

To promote any product you need eyecatching, colourful, appropriate signage. Think about what you want to say and how to say it.
Cheese anyone?

Thanks to Jusben at MorgueFile for the photo.

Plant Picking Proposal!

It's funny how those outside of retail and wholesale gardening perceive the buying of plants. they seem to think that if you order a certain variety of plant in a certain size of pot that it will be the same from any supplier.
As anyone in the business knows, this is not the case. If you order 1kg Miraclegro from different suppliers it will always be the same product if not the same cost. Plants on the other hand can vary incredibly from one supplier to another. One wholesale nurseries perception of quality can differ greatly from another.
I hope in the coming months to amend this by setting up a plant vetting system for garden centres. I will visit nurseries and compile and independent looking good list based on their stock and my own perception of quality. I am researching it at the moment and hope to contact nurseries and garden centres shortly to see if it's of interest to them.
Let me know if your interested.

I'm back!

Sorry about dropping off the radar over the last few months.
I will be posting regularly from now on so keep checking in.

Anniversary

It's just about a year since I started my company and I guess I'd like to say a big thank you to all those that have supported me in many ways. It has been a successful year and I feel the next year will be even better.
More to follow.

Make the most if it.

I came across this picture on morguefile.com by blue lotus studio while searching for lifestyle images for a client. It just goes to show that you can always make the most of a bad situation by creating a promotion.

Get Moving

With most peoples credit cards maxed out and funds pretty tight, January can be a strange month. The sales will usually mop up the last bit of disposable income in most pockets so it’s usually February before spending gets back to anything approaching normal. Customers could be scarce for the next few weeks!
With that in mind, it’s a great time to spring clean your establishment and get started on the layout for your furniture and lifestyle section. Try and get all the noisy, messy bits out of the way before you have a lost of customers around.
Create a plan and a time scale and stick to it. You won’t have much time once things kick of in the spring to re-do it.
Get moving!