A leading UK independent supplier of landscaping solutions has issued five essential tips to help merchants and landscapers make the most of landscaping season.
This year, it’s more important than ever that landscapers and merchants are prepared for landscaping season – according to Talasey, one of the UK’s leading independent suppliers of landscaping solutions.
The Scunthorpe-based company has issued five essential tips to help merchants and landscapers make the most of landscaping season – and buck the trend at a time when the UK economy and the general construction sector are facing challenges.
National Sales Manager, Peter O’Loughlin has said that all the feedback and indications from its merchant customers and landscapers suggest that 2024 can be a year of solid performance for those businesses that are well prepared for landscaping season.
“It’s very easy to get distracted by some of the headlines around geopolitics, global logistics and even the UK economy – but the fact remains that sectors such as ours are well versed in having a raft of contingencies to deal with a wide range of business interruptions,” said Peter.
“We have been planning for this year’s landscaping season for months to ensure seamless continuity in relation to the availability of products, stock levels and bringing new products to market.
“Given our pivotal role in ensuring the consistent supply of products to our merchant customers – who, in turn, sell our materials to landscapers for domestic projects – for us, ‘preparation’ is one of our key watchwords.”
Talasey is pointing to five essential tips that can act as a preparation checklist for merchants and landscapers:
- Talk to customers, to ensure they have enough materials for the project – this is a great opportunity for merchants to add value by talking to their trade customers/end users about the projects they’re planning. It’s not just about establishing what products they need right now – but finding out if the project may be extended or if another part of the garden is to be landscaped. If they are, then factors such as batch matching come into play (this is key when ordering porcelain paving). The merchant should check with the landscaper to see if all potential project needs are being fulfilled in terms of full project material requirements at the very start.
- Having the right accessories – yes, having hero products on display, such as porcelain pavers or composite decking, will always catch the eyes of merchants’ customers, but it’s important that merchants also have all the right accessories as well to enable landscapers to have everything they need to help them install a project, such as clip systems for decking, jointing compound, jointing grout and priming slurry for paving – and risers for decking and paving. The list goes on!
- Alternative products – if the availability of a particular product does become an issue, what alternatives are there? A simple example could be alternative thicknesses of pavers. For example, some landscapers are used to working with 20 mm porcelain pavers, but a growing number are switching to 16 mm. Different shades or size formats of a product could also be considered.
- Landscaping trends – keeping a finger on the pulse of landscaping trends helps merchants understand what the latest trends are that consumers and homeowners are looking at.
- Ensuring displays are looking tip-top – make sure displays are clean, and have the correct point of sale (POS) and products. A quick audit of product displays is a great tip for every merchant to show the products off to best effect.
“Preparation will be the key to a busy landscaping season this year, so we make no apologies for helping to remind our merchant customers of some simple but effective things that can go a long way to making a big difference to sales of landscaping products.” Peter O’Loughlin, National Sales Manager, Talasey
For more information, please visit www.talasey.co.uk.
