The overriding message received by delegates from the UK garden and petcare sectors who attended the ‘Global Workshop’ organised by the Gardenex and PetQuip export associations was that there is an abundance of help and support for those companies seeking to expand their overseas sales.

The Prepare to Export on November 14 was staged alongside one of the Federation of Garden & Leisure Manufacturers’ popular ‘Meet the Buyer’ events. The programme and meet the buyer opportunities it contained brought high praise from the UK suppliers and overseas buyers in attendance.  According to early feedback, all of the buyers will be dealing ultimately with some of the contacts made during the one-to-one business meetings.

Other Gardenex initiatives this autumn have also met with similar successes. Home2Garden, one of the group of exhibitors within the Gardenex pavilion at the spoga+gafa international fair in Cologne in September has announced orders worth £100,000 as a result of exhibiting. The orders, mainly from Germany and France were for a variety of the company’s garden ornaments, wind chimes, solar lights and glass and mosaic garden items, including several recently introduced models. The new customers comprised a mix of leading retailers, mail order and internet companies and a TV shopping channel.  Other British companies exhibiting in the Gardenex-organised group have announced major export orders in recent weeks.

The buyers at the recent ‘Meet the Buyer’ event were from Allox – a Swedish importer/distributor of garden products; Arett Sales Corporation – the leading US garden distributor/wholesaler; Dubai Garden Centre – the premier garden retailer in Dubai; Solfang – a Norwegian garden internet sales company; TiendAnimal – Spain’s leading internet sales company for pet food and accessories; and Warmako – an importer/distributor of pet products based in the Netherlands.

The event, held in the Midlands, was supported and funded by UK Trade & Investment as part of its Export Week and in support of its ongoing joint export programme specifically for the gardening and leisure and pet product sectors in conjunction with Gardenex and PetQuip.  

In addition to workshop presentations by UKTI and the Gardenex and PetQuip associations, market research company Euromonitor provided valuable information on latest figures and trends, including details that will aid exporters looking to exhibit at spoga+gafa and Interzoo next year. 

Gardenex and PetQuip will be organising cash grant-funded groups at both of these major international trade shows. 

Another presentation that proved popular with the delegates came from Arett Sales Corporation, the leading US garden distributor/wholesaler that has distribution in twenty NE US states. 

The next ‘Meet the Buyer’ event will be on 27 March 2014.  To register early interest contact emma@petquip.com



Top picture: Doug Lawrence, UKTI export communications consultant, presentation on ‘Using your website to communicate with customers around the world’.

Above: Garden and pet product suppliers in informal one-to-one meetings with buyers from Dubai, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain and the USA.