How to make your garden centre book range unique
The role of the local garden centre is changing. It’s no longer just a destination to source plants or gardening equipment, but a place to socialise, pick up a gift or find lifestyle inspiration. Garden Centre Association figures this year revealed its members have seen the biggest sales increases across catering, clothing and food halls, reflecting this evolution.
A curated approach to product range development and creative visual merchandising can help craft a retail experience that people will want to spend time in. Books are a versatile product that can contribute to this aim, signposting seasons and trends, boosting average transaction value and adding visual intrigue to displays.
Here are some tips on how to develop a unique book range to add value to your garden centre product lines:
1. Think beyond gardening
Gardening books are an obvious starting point when developing a book range for a garden centre. It’s a no-brainer, right? But other themes can sell well in garden centres, such as cookbooks, children’s books, nature writing or even fiction. Think about who’s visiting and reflect their interests or gifting requirements in your selection. Mix practical books with more aspirational titles to cater for different customer motivations and to provide choice at different price points.
2. Make the most of seasonal opportunities
Books can be a great way to visually signpost new seasons or occasions, so it’s important to supplement your core range with timely titles to keep things fresh. Each new season brings a new gifting opportunity, and the right books displayed at the right time can spark extra sales.
3. Break out of the bookshelves
Book covers can be works of art, so let your customers see them and display them face out. Be creative. You don’t even need specialist display equipment. Books laid out thoughtfully on a flat surface can encourage browsing at arm’s reach. And almost anything can be repurposed to display books, from an Ikea plate stand to an upcycled storage box. With a bit of imagination, you can easily weave books into the interior style of your shop floor.
4. Curate don’t cram
A small, well-chosen book range often performs better than a large, cluttered one. Rotate titles regularly to keep the selection fresh and limit duplication within categories.
5. Find the right partner for your books
For a more bespoke approach, it can be challenging to stay on top of new book releases or the best seasonal titles, especially if working directly with publishers. A wholesaler, such as Bookspeed, can survey the whole publishing market on your behalf. Drawing from market knowledge and sales data, the Bookspeed team can help curate, source and supply the best titles for your retail space throughout the year.
Chat to us about how books can fit your retail vision
If you’d like some advice on how to develop your book range to complement your garden centre retail offer, get in touch with us at Bookspeed.
- sales@bookspeed.com
- 0131 467 8100
