Bulletins

All Change

17 Jan, 2012: In our retail businesses there are hundreds of aspects, areas and activities we could change. Before we dive in let's pause and have a good think about the reasons and the benefits change could bring to our business and to our customers. Read more...

How Good is Your GMROI?

14 Dec, 2011: Monitoring and Benchmarking GMROI to maximise profit. Read more...

Pricing For Value

10 Nov, 2011: Everywhere in the marketplace there is aggressive discounting, specials, 'everyday low price' strategies. This is all largely due to economic as well as other world events causing uncertainty - but is it the best strategy for your business? Read more...

Sharing and Learning

12 Aug, 2011: Garden retailers who 'go it alone' and are exccessively protective of information about their business and its performance can miss out on all the many benefits to be had from joining a retail group. There's much to be gained from sharing and learning with your peers. Read more...

Whose Business is it Anyway?

14 Jul, 2011: Do you feel you are 'up against a brick wall' when you try to implement change or inject fresh ideas into your garden retail business? Remedies to prevent resistence to change Read more...

Mystery Shoppers

13 Jun, 2011: How useful are they? Do you use a Mystery Shopping Service wisely as a management tool? Read more...

The Shopping Experience

13 May, 2011: Garden Centres should raise the bar to meet increasing consumer taste for an interesting and enjoyable shopping experience and to draw customers away from the convenience and excitement of virtual shopping Read more...

How Important are STOCK TURNS?

14 Apr, 2011: Bill Brett illustrates how high stock turns are a major pathway to high profitability and how you can improve them. Read more...

Creating a Culture of Customer Care

08 Mar, 2011: Most garden centres are reporting static customer numbers. What are the secrets to building a culture of customer care that pays dividends in reputation and word-of-mouth recommendation to bring more customers through your doors? Read more...

Implementing Successful Promotions

08 Feb, 2011: Effective promotions lead to increased sales yet many garden centres fail to make them work effectively. What is required for a retailer to implement cost effective promotions that result in more sales? Read more...

Having a Genuine Point of Difference

10 Jan, 2011: If a gardener has a choice of three garden centres to shop in your area why would they choose yours? Many garden centres claim points of difference that are necessities in modern retailing, not genuine points of difference. Read more...

Getting Customer Service Right

07 Dec, 2010: Customer service is much more than the interaction of serving a customer and satisfying their needs. Customer feedback in Focus Groups suggests most dissatisfaction comes from areas least expected. Read more...

Research methodology - does it dupe consumers to tell fibs?

11 Nov, 2010: Bill Brett questions the accuracy of some interpretations and recommendations, especially those focussed on the perceived popularity of 'green / eco-friendly / organic' products. Read more...

Undercover

08 Oct, 2010: Garden retailers often question the virtues of covering the outdoor greenlife sales area. What are the reasons for doing this and what advantages does it bring? Read more...

Understand How Your Customers Shop

06 Sep, 2010: Understanding customers, how they think, how they shop and what drives their buying behaviour is something Garden Centres can capitalise on in their approach to retailing, says Bill Brett. One of our Australian customers increased their average customer sale by $8 instantly, following a few simple changes. An increase in customer numbers followed. Read more...

Winners

02 Aug, 2010: What are the business categories and drivers in garden retail that mark winning garden centres from average garden centers? Read more...

Making it Happen

07 Jul, 2010: Over the last year or two, garden centre owners have approached us with two simple questions: How do we get more customers in the door? and How do we improve profitability? Read more...

Finding Good Staff

08 Jun, 2010: Finding the right people to work in, or manage your garden centre is not always easy. Read more...

Retail Awards

05 May, 2010: Retailer of the year awards will force you to have a good look at your business and reassess just how well you are doing things at your store Read more...

Marketing - reap rewards from your Database

14 Apr, 2010: Database emailing proves to be an effective way of communicating with customers. Read more...

Consumer Demand for Service and Information

05 Mar, 2010: In the industry it's often said consultants are divorced from the day to day reality of running a retail business. John Russell decided to work on the shop floor of a garden center attached to a big box retailer earlier this year. He found a lot hadn't changed but two aspects surprised him..... Read more...

Clean Up Your Act

30 Dec, 2009: There is an aspect to merchandising plants that is often over-looked. Many case studies prove, good fit for purpose plant display fixtures that are clean and tidy, well merchandised, and signed can greatly increase sales. Read more...

Lets Become Famous For Plants

25 Nov, 2009: When we talk about gardens and gardening, the first things that come to mind are plants, in all their various shapes and sizes. Read more...

Attracting the Female Shopper

09 Oct, 2009: It is a well documented fact that the majority of garden retail customers are women. Yet strangely, when it comes to the design and layout of a garden centre or plant store, it seems to be the men who are calling the shots Read more...

Successful Retail Mentoring Programme Launched in UK

04 Oct, 2009: Brett & Associates successful garden retail programme 'Making it Happen' is being launched in the UK in a joint venture with Ian Boardman's IBBIS consultancy Read more...

Grow Your Own

25 Aug, 2009: Several garden centres are taking the initiative to grow their own business in these recessionary times. Read more...

Signs of the Times

22 Jul, 2009: Can you imagine finding your way around an airport or railway station, or along a motorway, if there weren't any signs? Read more...

Loyalty Programmes

12 Jun, 2009: The recent slow- down in retail sales has prompted many garden centre owners to look for ways to increase, or even maintain, sales levels and see loyalty programmes as the answer. Read more...

Business Planning and Key Performance Indicator Monitoring

06 Apr, 2009: One of the upsides to an economic downturn and a hardening of trading conditions is that it forces business owners to take a long hard look at their operations. Read more...

Convenience, Value, Inspiration

20 Feb, 2009: The last five to ten years have seen a dramatic shift in market share in gardening, away from the traditional garden centre, to hardware and mass merchandise stores, and to landscapers. Read more...

New Year - New Challenges

23 Jan, 2009: Every New Year brings with it a new set of hopes and aspirations. And rightly so. We all need to have goals and dreams to work towards. Read more...

Training

12 Dec, 2008: Should we focus on cutting staff and personnel-related costs when times are tough? Read more...

Fashions and Fads

05 Nov, 2008: John Russell writes...... I have read a lot of articles recently about the need for garden retailers to be keeping up with the latest fashions, trends and colours. Read more...

Merchandising for today's customers

29 Aug, 2008: John Russell writes: We all know that modern day consumers have changed considerably from their counterparts of twenty to thirty years ago. Read more...

Know your customer, Know your market

11 Jul, 2008: John Russell, Brett & Associates writes: I am surprised by the number of garden retailers we come across who don't know who their customers are. Too many ot them believe they are the same customers they had 20-30 years ago. And who were they? Read more...

About Garden Retail Success

14 May, 2008: Our website is a resource centre for garden retail operators, managers and staff. Its focus is to provide tools, resources, information and ideas to achieve increased sales and bottom line profit. Read more...