Haskins and Simpsons discuss their success with Woodmansterne’s new gift packaging range.

For many garden centre customers, being able to select from a comprehensive range of greeting cards and gift packaging is now expected. As garden centres increasingly take over the role left by department stores leaving the high street, meeting the expectations of customers will become even more important.

Woodmansterne has been working hard over the last few years to supply garden retailers with a range of quality greeting cards and has created its W-Select service to make this department run smoothly. Testament to its success is the GCA Supplier of the Year award it won at the beginning of the year. Voted for by GCA members, it’s proof that Woodmansterne is offering exactly what garden centres need.

On the back of its success with greeting cards and taking on board retailer feedback, Woodmansterne introduced a gift packaging range this spring. Now customers can co-ordinate card, paper, tag and gift bag purchasing while retailers benefit from a one-stop solution for the planning and category management of gift packaging.

The range gives retailers the option to dedicate up to 5m of wall space for premium quality gift packaging. Working with licences such as Emma Bridgewater, Sanderson and Quentin Blake, eco-credentials have been a priority. Gift bags have 100%woven paper handles, tags have paper string, and rolls of gift wrap are protected by a paper sleeve.

Adding to the everyday range, will be a full gift packaging selection for Christmas.

Strengthening relationships

Woodmansterne has been a Haskin Garden Centre strategic partner for a while and Vicky Moore, Haskin’s Gift Buyer says both companies share similar values. Adding sustainable, plastic-free gift packaging to its range, she says, was an opportunity to further the relationship. “Working with Woodmansterne has been great,” she says.

“They are easy and accommodating to work with and have helped us find solutions to a custom sized layout sized layouts and fixtures at our centres.”

Vicky reports sales have grown across all Haskins sites and customers love the contemporary and licensed designs. “We’ve worked closely with the W-Select team and would definitely recommend them.”

Top ups for Simpsons

Having introduced the Woodmansterne card range a few years ago, both Simpsons garden centres are seeing a positive increase in sales. “It was an easy decision to extend the department and include a bigger gift wrap offering,” says Robin Bosworth, General Manager at Simpsons in Inverness. “The new extended wrap display compliments our card department very well. Customer feedback has been excellent, and sales have been very positive, with a lot of repeat purchases. We had five top-ups in the first few months and often see customers purchasing matching items from cards and wrap to tissue and ribbon. Our team also love the ranges and are happy to show customers the department whilst highlighting their own personal favourites.”

“We would recommend W-Select to anyone looking for a fresh and exciting quality greeting card and gift packaging offering. The service from the team, and the sales from the new collection have made the move worthwhile. The products are of the highest quality, and sustainable which fits in well with our sustainability policy, and attention to detail and re-stocking has been excellent,” says Robin.

Why Woodmansterne?

Woodmansterne has been a family-owned, family-run business since 1953. Selling over 30 million cards in the UK every year, it is now delighted to have branched out into gift packaging. Following the success of its W-Select programme for greeting cards, it now offers a one-stop solution for the planning and category management of your gift packaging display. You can be assured that every service it offers receives the same dedicated attention to detail as its publishing.

Get in touch

Call 01923 200600 or email hello@woodmansterne.co.uk