With bedding plants in great demand, horticulture sales boom during lockdown

Nisa said its horticulture sales have skyrocketed during the lockdown, driven mainly by the demand for bedding plants.

The horticulture sales between the start of the COVID-19 outbreak and the middle of May have seen an increase of 425 percent when compared to the same period in the previous year, the symbol group said.

Summer bedding plants, introduced for sale on Easter weekend, accounted for more than 50 percent of overall sales.

Josie Bates, wholesale category controller at Nisa, said: “Summer bedding has been a huge success, with such a lot of interest from partners – more than we could have imagined. We introduced 14 lines, a selection that were on a 3 for £5 deal which have done really well, and the most popular line was the hanging baskets which we have sold in two varieties.”

In Warrington, Mike Sohal of Dallam Stores has been inundated with demand for plants with stock selling out and shoppers even placing orders.

He said: “We’ve bought hanging baskets and planters from Nisa as well as plants from a local nursery and are selling out in a matter of days.

“We can’t get enough hanging baskets. One customer came to us from the other side of town, spent almost £250 on plants and ordered eight hanging baskets.”

It’s the same story in Morecombe where James Brown at Beech Stores, Nisa Heysham has seen huge success in sales of plants and compost, with supplies from Nisa supplemented by a local nursery.

Meanwhile, last week Nisa retailers were offered an exclusive autumn pre-sell on bedding plants allowing them to continue catering for more garden loving shoppers later in the year.