Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
A total of 56 members of The British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) enjoyed face to face time with garden retail chain The Garden Centre Group last month.
Eight buyers from The Garden Centre Group, representing the home, horticulture, and garden categories attended the sixth event in BHETA’s ‘Meet The Buyer’ series, plus two members of the visual merchandising team. All were available for appointments with existing and potential new suppliers at the event, which took place in London on May 23.
Jasper Raby of The Garden Centre Group said: “The Meet The Buyer concept is a great idea. It helps buyers save time and uncover new ideas that might not have been found otherwise. We should do this annually, as we often get approaches from potential suppliers and don’t have time to see them all. I’d be happy to refer them to BHETA who could co-ordinate our future Meet The Buyer events.”
One of the BHETA members was Kosnic. Retail and export director Richard Green endorsed the Meet The Buyer principle enthusiastically. He said: “We sell light bulbs so on the face of it, why would The Garden Centre Group wish to talk to us? BHETA gave us an opportunity that we would not have been able to access without its help. It also ensured that we got the details of our project team to the right person within The Garden Centre Group, potentially opening doors for future projects.”
Participating BHETA members were allowed a 20 minute appointment at the event and a maximum of two people to represent the supplier company. A brief had been agreed for presentations to ensure that limited time was put to maximum use.
BHETA home improvement sector director Peter Stone commented: “Yet again, our winning Meet The Buyer formula proved successful, with some very productive meetings – not only for Kosnic, but also for some of our increasing number of garden members.
BHETA has several more such events lined up already for 2014, covering both home improvement and home enhancement, and we are looking forward to a full and successful programme of retail engagement to come.”
