Garden centre group Wyevale Garden Centres has been awarded two Which? Best Buys for both its multipurpose compost and its multipurpose compost with John Innes. The compost was subject to stringent testing by Which? and was compared with 23 other types of branded compost to be awarded the endorsement. The Best Buy status of these two products follows a sustained period of high-sales of the products in centre, the retailer adds.
In January this year, Wyevale Garden Centres introduced their range of 19 varieties of own brand compost to centres up and down the country for the first time. Since launching, this range has proven to be exceptionally popular with customers and the business has sold three million bags of own-brand compost.
Growing media is a big category for Wyevale Garden Centres and their own brand compost range now accounts for more than 60% of this category. The garden centre retailer saw a 5% increase of multipurpose compost with added John Innes sales thanks to its own brand variety hitting the shelves in January.
Wyevale Garden Centres have been so confident in the quality of this range that each product has been subject to the same “tried and tested” quality guarantee; if a customer uses the own brand compost to plant in and does not get the expected results within four weeks, Wyevale Garden Centres will replace the product free of charge.
Wyevale Garden Centres chief executive Roger Mclaughlan commented: “We are thrilled to have two of our best-selling, own brand compost products recognised by Which? as ‘Best Buy’ products. Since launching the range in January this year we have seen an exceptional response from customers, so it is great that we can now bring these popular products to even more shoppers, having been endorsed by the UK’s leading consumer testing body.”
He added: “As the UK’s largest garden centre retailer, growing media is a huge area of our business and we felt it was very important for Wyevale Garden Centres to have its own presence within this product category. We strive to provide our customers with the best possible experience by ensuring they receive expert advice from our garden centre colleagues. This recognition for our products acknowledges our expert insight that has been of central importance to developing these market-leading formulas.”
