My membership of the GIN group goes back several years now. The regular meetings, sharing and comparing of KPI’s, and the exchange of information, has not only shown me the areas in which my business can be improved, but how to implement the necessary changes to produce an effective outcome.
Working with Garden Retail Success and other like-minded retailers who understand operating an independent garden centre provides enthusiasm, encouragement, and stimulation.
We have been a member of the Garden Independent Network for three years. The benefits of being in a group such as the GIN group are tremendous. We can interact with other retailers who are only too willing to share business secrets, ideas, methods of accounting, systems, displays and marketing which could take us years to discover.
I have to state though, that the success of the GIN group is also largely due to the people from Retail Garden Success who are constantly ensuring that we run our business correctly and keeping us up to date with world trends. We can take advice on the best ways of merchandising and displaying products, discover new products that we would normally miss out on.
The group meetings with Garden Retail Success gives us a chance to learn and ask questions without intimidation. We can have open discussions about ways to doing things, shop layout and so on. We can share inter-firm KPI comparisons, market updates and trends which give us strength and direction in the day to day running of our business.
By being a member of the GIN group it gives us more confidence to make the right business decisions.
To all those who are contemplating establishing or joining a non-branded independent members cooperative or a mentoring group, I would strongly recommend it.
Benefit of GIN membership to your business
This confirms the several open statements I have made that membership of Garden Retail Success’s mentoring programme was the difference between failure and success for Twigland.
The access of manuals, site visits, group meetings and the general support given by members to one another gave Twigland the encouragement, the confidence that we can match the opposition in the market place.
Our first year with GIN we saw a 15% increase in turnover, currently for this year we’re on 15% increase and rising.
Yes, Good News for Twigland.
We have been part of GIN since it's establishment. The past 6 years I have been running the business mostly by myself as my husband now works elsewhere.
Being part of the GIN Group gives me the confidence, back up and support I need at any time to continue to make good decisions and not use my time poor world reinventing the wheel. If I wasn’t part of this group I know our business would not be doing as well as it is.
The secret for me has been to keep in touch with those who I feel most comfortable with regularly and not to be afraid to ask for help. Over the course of the year all members have helped me in some way to do a better job, have a laugh and get over myself.
We at Décor Gardenworld have been a member of the GIN group in New Zealand for over two years.
We have found that the group has opened up some opportunities that we might not have known about thus aiding in our sales and the business.It has also been beneficial in that we are able compare our KPI figures with others in the group and see more clearly where there are any downfalls and successes.
Additionally, being able to network with others in the same industry as partners rather than competitors has been very advantageous and enjoyable.