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Dear Sir,

Join us in the garden! There are three days in September that are no doubt already marked in your calendar: The 4th, 5th and 6th of September will see spoga+gafa return as the meeting point for the garden industry. Marvel at new trends, be impressed by variety and gain inspiration from fellow green-thumbed enthusiasts.
More about spoga+gafa!

What are the current garden trends? Find out for yourself at spoga+gafa! Look forward to a large selection of products and a comprehensive market overview. And don't forget to visit the new premium area "garden unique". This is where you will find outdoor furniture to meet the highest of quality and design standards.
More about garden unique

Current marketing trends: Under the motto "Green Shopping", the "boulevard of ideas" offers you innovative POS concepts for areas large and small. Six impressively designed spaces will have plenty of successful ideas for product presentation.
More about the Boulevard

And that's not all! The “Grillpark” will also be showcasing top innovative ideas in 2011. There will be an entertaining presentation of new products taking place in the garden furniture area and in the plant park a flourishing centre of communication awaits. The “IVG Get-Together” will be taking place on Monday evening.
More about the accompanying events

Your ticket to the world of green! Order your admission tickets today from the spoga+gafa online ticket shop. It doesn't get much easier than that! Order tickets now!

We look forward to seeing you here in Cologne!

Your spoga+gafa team

The latest information from the garden world:

Floramedia launch smart phone technology
Lawn products fare best in hand tool market
Garden Centre Association



Floramedia launch smart phone technology

New to the market is Floramedia's FloraLinQ brand, which uses smart phone technology to give garden centre customers immediate access to information about the plant they are already thinking about buying and also possible companion plants from suitable planting schemes.
Customers are routed to the FloraLinQ website by scanning the QR code on the plant's label with their smart phone. On the website users can access information about suggested companion plants by clicking on images.

Customers can group plants they are interested in on a 'mood board' which could, in a bespoke version of the system for a retailer, be emailed though to the plant centre team for collection from around the garden centre.
Planting schemes include themes such as 'retro' and 'cottage' gardens and spring and autumn flowers and plants.

The potential to boost sales through helping retail customers engage with groups of plants that work well together and in a garden style that appeals to them, is regarded as a breakthrough by Floramedia.
Floramedia UK's stock labels will be the first to be launched with the new QR codes.



Lawn products fare best in hand tool market

Market analyst GfK has found overall demand for garden hand tools has declined by 2.8 per cent this spring compared to 2010. Despite the drop in Volume, Value for the Category is up 4.7 per cent driven through Price increases.

Products that are associated with the maintenance of lawns have done best, including edging knives and lawn shears which have reported volume gains of 20 per cent and 22 per cent respectively.
Lawncare company GreenThumb recently conducted a survey of 2000 people indicating that one in six of people who have installed decking have had it removed to create new garden space.

Areas that have not fared so well consist of spades, which experienced volume declines of 16 per cent, secateurs, (-9 per cent) and trowels (-7 per cent). These products have failed to reach the performance set in the previous year in which we saw sales driven by the prolonged dry weather.



Garden Centre Association

May figures show a sliding of gains after record sales in April.
Last month's early figures from 19 centres show sales were 10 per cent down on May 2010. Garden furniture and BBQ sales were hardest hit, down 26 per cent.

The year is still five per cent up for the year to date.
Sales of garden products were at £130m for the first four months of 2011, up from £110m in 2010 and 2009 and £78m in 2008, according to analysts GfK.

And B&Q has revealed a 10 per cent thanks to plant sales rising by 19 per cent for the three months to April 30. But B&Q owner Kingfisher CEO Ian Cheshire said the early spring may have brought forward some outdoor sales and that he expected the rest of the year to be tough for retailers generally, especially in the UK.

Overall, parent company Kingfisher lifted profits for the quarter by 21% to £174m with sales up 3.3% to £2.7bn. France saw profits rise by nearly a third to £77m at DIY chain Castorama and specialist trade supplier Brico Depot. Sales in Poland and Russia rose. In China the company cut losses from £11m to £7m.

Meanwhile, an IGD Shoppertrack survey of grocery shoppers has found 28 per cent of all respondents said they plan to grow their own fruit and vegetables

Issue 02B/2011

spoga+gafa at a glance

 
Date
September 4-6, 2011

Organizer
Koelnmesse GmbH

Website
www.spogagafa.com

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Travel and accomodation

 
Hotels, travel packages, flights or rail tickets can be conveniently booked here.

To book low-price direct flights to Cologne, go to www.germanwings.com

Exclusive Lufthansa offer:
Discounted travel for international attendees. To make your online reservation, click here and enter the code DEIPN.





 
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Koelnmesse GmbH
Messeplatz 1, 50679 Köln
Germany
Phone 49 180-580 5775
Telefax 49 221-821 99 13 00
visitor@spogagafa.de
www.spogagafa.com
Executive Board: Gerald Böse (Chief Executive Officer), Herbert Marner
Headquarters and place of jurisdiction: Cologne - Amtsgericht Köln, HRB 952
VAT reg.no DE 122 656 857