Here's a selection of feedback from visitors and exhibitors from Glee 2012:
Tom Dent, Proprietor, Dents of Hilgay
“I’ve enjoyed the show. It’s helped me to move forward as a garden centre. I’ve seen lots of interesting ideas.
Clare Sawers, Managing Director, Click4Garden
“Without Glee I simply would not know what is new and innovative for the next year.”
Paul Cooling, Managing Director, Coolings Nurseries
“Glee is so valuable for me as it keeps us up to date with all the trends and ideas coming in to the garden industry. If I didn’t come to Glee, I would feel I was missing out. I’ve spent quite a lot of time in the Shop Window, which is surprising as it’s a small area – but there are a lot of really great products in there.”
Jean Vernon, Gardening writer, The Daily Telegraph
“Glee is my absolute favourite show, I come every year.”
Kam Dhaliwali and Emily James – NEXT
“The Trend Tunnel is a really, really great idea. It’s full of great information – the colour wheel in particular was interesting for us.”
Gabor Knorr – Managing Director, British Garden (International Visitor)
“I like Glee very much. Everything is concentrated which for me is important. This is where I have to be.”
Brenda Smith, Owner, Bud Garden Centre
“The Shop Window is great. I’ve seen products that make me want to go visit stands, particularly the smaller, niche items.”
Helen Kirkham, Inventor, BBQ Bruce (Innovators Zone)
“I would tell anyone to come to Glee. It’s like a community here in the Innovators Zone. We came to see what retailers thought about our concept product – and we’ve actually been approached by independent and multiple garden centres retailers interested in stocking it, BBQ manufacturers wanting to license or buy the idea from us, and manufacturers offering to make it for us. It’s definitely been worth the cost.”
Alison Croft, Marketing Director, Solar Systems (Innovators Zone)
“We’re promoting our plug-in solar panels which have only been on the market for 6 weeks and really suit the current interest in eco-living. We’ve seen a lot of interest from timber building manufacturers looking for tie-in products, as well as lots of garden retailer leads to follow up.”
Jackie Maguire, Sales Representative, Seeland
“We booked only a few days in advance of the show, owing to the cancellation of another event. Approaching the garden centre market is quite a new idea for us as we normally make most of our sales through another sector. So we’ve been pleased to see garden centre buyers here who already do clothing but don’t stock anything that compares with our quality; and other garden centres who would like to branch out into clothing for the first time.”
Simon Esnouf, Agent, Seeland
“We’ve seen a lot of leads here, including a couple that it would have taken a lot of time and door-knocking to achieve, who just came along to our stand.”
Peter Johnson, MD, Pet Face
“This is our first stand-alone appearance at Glee and we’ve done exceptionally well. We came here because for us, Glee offers a better target market than PATS. We supply a complete range of pet accessories, and buyers appreciate that they can pick and choose the ranges that suit them best, all from one supplier. Our stand was busy on Monday, and heaving on Tuesday!
Jamie Dickinson, Marketing Manager, Lechuza
“We’re a first-time exhibitor and were not sure what to expect, But we’ve been delighted to have received lots of leads and lots of enquiries, all of good quality, from independent garden centres to catalogue retailers. We plan to be back next year.”
Nina Best, Sales & Marketing Manager, Burgon & Ball
“It’s been very positive! We’ve seen buyers from the large multiples, and from smaller retailers. We’ve also had quite a few international enquiries including from Japan, France and Iceland. There has been a particularly big demand for our Eco Gardening ranges. We will exhibit again next year, hopefully taking an even larger stand.”
Paul McGuire, Sales Director, Vivid Arts
“This is our 7th Glee so people are increasingly getting to know us. Our core customers are garden centres but we’ve had interest here from across all the different channels. It’s a great chance to show our new ranges and inspire customers with what we can do. In just the first two days we filled more than three box files with orders and enquiries!”
David Eaton, Partner, The Solar Centre
“This year we have concentrated on building our business with garden centres so we b=have been pleased to see lots of garden buyers at Glee – including both independents and multiples - as well as builders merchants and online gift suppliers. We took 13 orders on Tuesday, of which 11 were brand new customers. We’ve also converted a new customer that we’ve been working on for a very long time! We have been coming to Glee for 4 years and this has been the best yet.”
Ray Newman, Merchandising & Events, Wolf Garten
“We’ve seen a lot of interest from buyers of all kinds, including a spread of independents and multiples. There has been particular interest in our Wilkinson Sword brand.”
Steve Millingon, Sales Director, Bosmere
“This is our 32nd year of exhibiting at Glee, so we have been supporting the show and industry for over 30 years. As a company of innovation, we are always striving to be ahead of the competition and develop products that are fit for purpose. Glee is an absolute must – an annual showcase to meet existing customers and target new business from the UK and overseas. With that in mind, we always try to make out stand different and book bigger space every year! The Bosmere stand has been buoyant with quality visitors across the three days, resulting in a lot of new deals and orders.”
Martine Hirrell, Marketing Controller, TigerTurf
“What a great first Glee for us! We’ve had lots of leads, cards left and great business development – it’s certainly helped us to tap into the right people at the right time. We also found value in donating our turf to feature on other exhibitors’ stands which has pushed more customers our way.”
