Working closely with The Gardenworks Group Ltd, the tours have been designed specifically with retailers in mind, and will deliver support and advice to ensure they get the most from their visit to Glee.
John Connel from The Gardenworks, said: “The Glee Guided Tours will undoubtedly help you get a unique perspective on this year’s show. We believe they will make retailers’ visits more insightful and relevant to the needs of their business and customers. Embracing Glee’s core values of ‘Guide’, ‘Connect’ and ‘Innovate’, each tour will be led by an industry expert who will help retailers to focus on the most vital aspects for the development of their business, such as key consumer trends, new category opportunities, as well as highlighting how to make the most of meetings with suppliers.” Each of the tour guides has been carefully selected by The Gardenworks, for their wealth of experience and varied expertise. Names confirmed include Andy Campbell from Andy Campbell Consulting, and garden retail experts Roger Crookes and John Stanley. Lynda Murray, former Director of Visual Merchandising at House of Fraser, and the current MD of International Visual Ltd and senior consultant with The Retailer, will be bringing over 20 years of experience to the tours to help retailers translate trends and products on display at the show. Phil Hill, Creative Director at International Visual Ltd, is also confirmed as a tour guide, and will be helping to identify creative ideas that will stimulate visual thinkers. John Connel and Kevin Waters are also stepping into the role of tour guides to share their own retail experience.
John added: “Taking just 40 minutes, each tour will also provide the perfect opportunity to get a birds-eye view of the show’s layout, as well as highlighting the educational content that is on offer throughout Glee. Each tour will also allow participants to network with their peers, and to ask questions – covering everything from great ideas on how to grow your business to ideas on useful conversations to have with suppliers.”
Glee event director, Nick Davison, added: “Any retailer who joins one of the new Guided Tours will be given the tools and advice to ensure they make the most of their time at the show. The Guided Tours are also about helping to reaffirm Glee’s role as the annual event for the garden retail industry – and the place where buying decisions can be made and finalised for the year ahead.”
Find out more
More details about Glee 2012, including the wealth of new features that will help create an even more interactive and valuable Glee than ever before, plus registration for your free ticket can be found at www.gleebirmingham.com.
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The Gardenworks team take Britain to the IGC Show, Chicago
Ahead of Glee 2012 the team from The Gardenworks will also be taking their expertise to a worldwide audience via their forthcoming attendance at the Independent Garden Centre (IGC) Show (21-23 August, Navy Pier, Chicago).
In addition to participating in the shows Know2Grow Retail Conference, the team will also be facilitating a series of workshops, designed to set retailers up for the year ahead. With a captive international audience John and Kevin will also be using the opportunity to showcase the birthplace of gardening – the UK. Key events such as Glee will also be promoted as part of this activity, designed to encourage attendance of the 2012 show. In doing so, the team hope to ensure retailers from around the globe will avoid missing out on the latest innovations and new launches from some of the world’s leading suppliers of garden, landscape, home and leisure products that are set to be showcased at Glee 2012.
