September’s BoT figures are out now!
September’s Barometer of Trade (BoT) shows a ‘strong start to Christmas sales’ and some ‘encouraging’ figures.
From the 13 categories logged by member garden centres, 10 were positive, when compared to 2024, with clothing in the top spot at +12.89%.
Encouraging figures
Our Chief Executive, Peter Burks explains: “Members have reported a very encouraging month’s figures for September, helped by the change in the weather, and clearly showing that there was some pent-up gardening demand through the hot conditions across the summer months.
“It’s good to see a very strong start to Christmas sales. It really would be the icing on the cake if this can continue, as it would sign the year off brilliantly.
Shopping the whole centre
“Both gardening and non-gardening categories are doing well – this suggests customers were shopping the whole centre in September, which is a testament to members’ merchandising skills. With the mild weather remaining, hopefully this will continue well throughout the coming month too.”
The figures
Christmas came second in the BoT in September, when compared to the same month in 2024, and was up at +12.75%, followed by gifts at +9.67%. Catering came next at +9.2%.
The garden sundries category recorded an uptick of +8.64%, with seeds & bulbs next at +8.09% and food hall/farm shop at +7.16%. Outdoor plants did well too when compared with September 2024, coming in ninth with +3.94% and pets & aquatics was also up by +3.22%.
Those categories that recorded negatively, when likened with September 2024, where houseplants with -5.77% and hard landscaping at -9.09%. Followed in 13th place by furniture & BBQs at -24.47%.