Vol. 7, Issue 3 | September 2015

Australia Down Under

By Leigh Siebler

Australia has kicked into spring with a reasonable yelp despite quite poor weather. Victoria had its coldest winter for 26 years but we are still very optimistic.

The Aussies who went to the Denmark Congress enthused about it and I know a number of others are considering Switzerland in 2016.

The Garden Centres are ready and waiting, they are full of excellent plants and products. Creativity seems to be the name of the game with lovely displays of plants and products featuring in the better centres.

The challenge for us all, I believe, is to maximize the sales to customers in our centres and obviously get more customers through the doors too. A successful customer is our best asset, they will come back again and recommend our centres to others. GCA, along with key suppliers, is planning specific selling and merchandising training later this year.

Social Media is becoming more popular although the industry has been slow to adapt. Clearly plants create wonderful photo opportunities so Social Media is ideal for us.

Honeysuckle Gardens in Sydney has opened a new Garden Centre and that is the first new one in NSW for some years. Our congratulations on this new venture go to Peter Thorburn, his family and staff. Some early photos are below.

garden RELEAF 2016

Our dates for 2016 are April 8 & 9. We are delighted to have a number of key media personalities on board as Ambassadors endorsing the program for us. Johanna Griggs, host of top rating television program Better Homes & Gardens is our national Ambassador and we aim at having at least one key personality in each state. Graham Ross also from Better Homes & Gardens TV plus radio has confirmed acceptance too.

Now we need Garden Centres to commit.

Leigh Siebler
Garden Centres of Australia