Nursery Today September 2021

Page 22

nursery matters JOHN BARKER

Harrogate International Nursery Fair is set to exceed expectations in 2021.

Barking Mad This month Pramland’s John Barker take a quick look at stock issues, but what’s really on his mind is visiting the Harrogate Int. Nursery Fair - here he takes stock of the 2021 show!

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ello one and all, welcome to my little corner of Nursery Today. I trust the last month has been good for you all and you’re all looking forward to the final quarter and the inevitable boom that is new year. New Year! Are you crazy that’s months away and we have lots to look forward to before then. . . .like the return of trade shows! Yes, October means we finally get to leave our stores and travel to a trade show, something none of us have done for a long, long time. More on the show later but first I thought I’d touch on the issues we are all experiencing with stock. Stock delays are continuing, no news there. Stock issues are forecast to continue in 2022, no news there. However, the press are starting to mention on a regular basis the chaos being caused by a lack of HGV drivers and this is starting to have an impact on the attitudes of ours customers. Given the increased coverage in the media customers that take the time to keep up with the worlds events are now more aware of the issues being experienced. OK, so the press are primarily focusing on the affects on the food industry but customers are far more appreciative that these issues extend to all goods. We have seen an increase in customers ordering 22

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early in order to avoid potential delays and in addition to this customers with items delayed are far more calm. It’s been a pleasant change not having customers tell us that it’s our fault their order is delayed by a week or two. I just hope that there’s no shortage of boxes of Christmas chocolates come December! So back to Harrogate, literally! What’s not to love about Harrogate? It’s a super pretty little town and home to our very own UK nursery trade show. And what a show 2021 is set to be! I’ve been in the industry for about 15 years now and I remember when I first started, my Dad used to visit Harrogate for the weekend, it warranted it. Lots of halls, rammed full of all the brands you’d hope to see. Cologne was always in the background but Harrogate was everyone’s “go to” show. Sadly, as brands started to leave the show and become more Cologne focused the Harrogate nursery show started to look a little flat. The weekend visits ended up as a day out and I even remember one year we spent a total of 4 hours in the halls! I may be wrong but I seem to think the show only

Trade shows are brilliant for presenting new opportunities. It may be a brand you’ve been after for a while or something that just catc hes your eye. When you spend all day in your store it’s very easy to become blinkered, a trade show opens your eyes to the bigger picture and opens doors to new products and brands

john@pramland.co.uk


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