Garden products supplier, Gardman has recorded additional retail sales worth £16million of its wild bird care products in its latest year-to-date figures.

The company attributes the uplift to its “4 Big Ideas” strategy, introduced following the launch of its wild bird care catalogue last year. Gardman CEO Peter Utting said: “We identified “4 Big Ideas” that we believed would deliver significant change and growth. It’s now eight months on since this launch and I’m delighted to report that we’re seeing an outstanding growth.”

He continued: “From having a better understanding of category dynamics and consumer needs, we’ve been able to tackle seasonal sales dips, target untapped younger markets, overcome barriers to feeding and tap into decorative lifestyle trends.”

Gardman’s four-pronged strategy includes getting customers to feed wild birds all year round, introducing a new and younger demographic, making feeding easier than ever and bringing decorative style to feeding.

Under the first ‘big idea’, Gardman sold more than £3million-worth of charity products in autumn to raise £200,000 for the Royal British Legion. Over 840 independent garden centres supported the campaign, selling a total of 300,000 units and surpassing the original donation target by 20%. This spring, the company launched a Marie Curie charity campaign, which it says, is already showing signs of matching the success of the autumn promotion.