The cheque which is 35% larger than the previous year was presented at their recent all Members’ Meeting held at Solus Garden & Leisure. This remarkable achievement was the result of Choice garden centres working in close partnership with their key suppliers and achieving agreed sales targets.
Commenting on the rebate, Paul Elding, the Group’s Chairman, said “Choice is firmly committed to its key suppliers and although our centres are independently owned we speak with one voice in our relationships with our suppliers. The Choice marketing programmes ensure that carefully targeted campaigns are co-ordinated with supplier’s own marketing activity to achieve maximum sales results. Choice members fund all the overheads of the organisation which means that every single penny of this £850k rebate goes back to the members. Despite a difficult trading season, we are proud of our outstanding achievement”.
Choice is well on their way to even greater success in 2009. With an exceptional sales boost this past couple of weeks, group sales are already significantly ahead of last year.
Nick Davies, Solus Managing Director said “Choice is a professionally managed business, they commit themselves to their key suppliers and focus on achieving agreed sales targets. We are delighted to be a key supplier to the Choice Group.”
In its 8th year of trading, the Group now comprises 27 independent garden centres throughout the UK, pooling their buying and marketing resources together for the benefit of its individual members. With 3 new additional members in 2008 this number is expected to increase in 2009. John at Torwood Garden Centre, Choice’s latest new member said “I had been thinking about joining a group for a while now and Choice Marketing ticked all the right boxes for me, allowing me to retain my individuality and independence whilst working as part of a dynamic and forward thinking Group”.
In addition to preferential purchasing arrangements, Choice members benefit from a comprehensive range of marketing services including a customer loyalty scheme, local press advertising and a powerful consumer leafleting campaign hitting over 1 million homes three times a year.
