Glee 2019 Retail Lab sponsor interview: Meadow View Stone

Retailers seeking products of the future and the latest in-store merchandising ideas need look no further than the Retail Lab at Glee. Now in its third year, this inspirational feature area, in association with the Horticultural Trades Association, is bursting with ideas. In fact, 61% of Glee's visitors say they will attend Glee 2019 as a result of seeing the Retail Lab last year. Here, we meet one of the sponsors of this year's feature, Meadow View Stone, who brings over 25 years' experience of supplying the widest range of imported and exclusive decorative aggregates and landscaping stone to the garden centre industry.

Meadow View Stone's Marketing Director, Sarah Hill, said: “We've been a sponsor of the Retail Lab since its initial conception, and see it as a great tool to not only showcase our products, but also view it as a great insight into current trends/buying direction.

“For us, we view the Retail Lab as a great inspiration hub, providing garden centre retailers and merchandisers with invaluable insight into how to display products in store to drive sales and provide great cross selling opportunities.  We strongly support this theory as we have similarly merchandised a selection of our key accounts with similar extensive lifestyle display gardens which have greatly inspired customers and as a result retuned excellent sales growth for these accounts.”

Whilst the Meadow View Stone team are still deciding on which products will feature in the Retail Lab come September, Sarah has confirmed that a selection of the company's porcelain

paving and some of its exciting new product lines - yet to be released - will form part of the various displays.

With future trends such a key focus of the Retail Lab, Sarah shares some of the key trends that have been shaping Meadow View Stone's business in recent months, and will continue to influence future ranges. She said: “The colour grey has been a major influencer on both our paving and aggregate collections. This has been proven now over the past two years and is still featuring heavily in our product selections and sales performance for the immediate future.

Looking ahead to the wider show, Sarah added: “We will be maintaining the same core elements of the stand, with our extremely successful Gin Bar and Innovation Hub, both of which were immensely successful last year. 

“The Innovation Hub will continue to feature great insight into how garden centres can increase the sales value of their areas, whilst providing invaluable trend reports and case studies from customers who have embraced our stocking suggested and recorded some excellent sales successes.  The Gin Bar undoubtedly is now an established part of our stand and provides an excellent informal and relaxed social space, allowing us to conduct private meetings whilst rewarding our customers with a well-earned drink!

“Our POS and innovative display gardens will also feature as a means to show retailers how to inspire their customers and generate increased sales. With two new product categories also to be unveiled we have an exciting collection of products and merchandising to suit every garden centre visiting Glee 2019.