With weather forecasters predicting a cold winter ahead, retailers should now be getting their wild bird care departments in shape in order to maximise sales in this key period, says Gardman.
According to director of business development Lolly Lee: "Around 80% of all till purchases are impulse, so the importance of effective merchandising techniques cannot be emphasised enough."

Oaktree Garden Centre & Nursery in Bracknell, Berkshire is one of many garden centres that have set up special displays to help drive wild bird care sales this autumn. Working with Gardman's marketing department and its specialist point of sale materials, the centre gave its foyer a seasonal wild bird care makeover to wow customers as they entered the store.

"We wanted to create a compelling autumnal entrance display that would generate impulse sales and also entice customers to visit our wild bird care section in-store," explained general manager Phil Went.

"Gardman's visual merchandising team managed the coordination of this fantastic theatre display and the results have been great, particularly bird tables, which have seen a definite uplift in sales."

Gardman's merchandising team has come up with five top tips for effective merchandising in a wild bird care department:

1. Keep your wild bird care displays easy to shop by grouping product ranges together
2. Draw customers in with an impactful display of bird tables and bird feeders
3. Highlight seasonal lines with promotional POS to encourage increased basket spend
4. Use freestanding display units (FSDUs) to encourage sales of key and promotional lines; till point is a great place to catch customers so, try dual-siting FSDUs here too
5. Consider using stands, plinths and gondola displays, which can easily add extra selling space to the wild bird care area