Gardman grows its team
Published: 11 September 2014
Strong spring and early summer results at Gardman have driven further investment in the business, with the appointment of three new recruits in sales and category management.
Together, senior national sales manager in the independent sector Lolly Lee, sales account manager Louise Gibbs and category manager Marie Williams, bring a host of expertise in the FMCG, luxury goods and gardening sectors to the company.
Ms Lee joins from Sutton Seeds, where she was national sales manager working with all independent garden centre retailers, independent buying groups including Choice, Tillington, Blue Diamond, Future Marketing Group, Klondyke and Hilliers, as well as key accounts, including the RHS, Kew and the Eden Project.
Prior to joining Gardman, Louise Gibbs was national account manager at Fiskars UK, where she was responsible for B&Q, The Garden Centre Group (now Wyevale), Robert Dyas, Asda and Morrisons. She has also worked at Unilever for global brands including Ben & Jerry, Magnum and Cornetto.
Marie Williams joins from London-based Brand Addition, where she was responsible for product sourcing, quality and delivery on behalf of world-leading brands, including Clarins, La Prairie, L'Oreal and Estee Lauder. At Gardman she will identify trends in garden living and home styles, filter them according to customer preferences and then develop ranges. This includes the development of a new range of Garden & Home Co range of doormats, wall art, clocks, candle hardware and water features, which consumers will love.
Gardman chief executive Stewart Hainsworth: "Our strategy of trading consumers up to high-quality premium brands through consistent marketing investment has driven our results ahead of expectations enabling further expansion in the sales team. Key to our continued ability to deliver on this strategy is the skills and ability of our team. Louise, Lolly and Marie bring valuable expertise that will help us go on developing our consumer brands and build compelling offers for our retail partners."