Green marketplace in Birmingham

Just like last year’s Glee, the event will this year again be occupying Halls 1 to 8 of the Birmingham NEC. Approx. 1 400 exhibitors are expected to present their products and services at the venue. The entire product offer is subdivided into nine colour-coded areas. These cover landscape gardening, plant cultivation, garden care, giftware, tools and machinery, products for leisure in the garden, outdoor furniture and barbecues. Added to this are services for the retail trade, as well as pet products at Petindex, which was for the first time last year held within the framework of Glee.
The integration of the pet fair no doubt made its contribution to last year’s significant 22 per cent increase in the attendance figure. A total of 24 456 trade visitors registered during the three days of the event, and eight per cent (2 002) of them came from abroad. It appears from a survey carried out by the organisers that 50 per cent of the visitors are managing directors, co-proprietors or owners, 18 per cent arrive in the capacity of buyers or product managers, and 14 per cent come from the areas of sales and marketing.
The new products will this year again be the centre of attraction for visitors. The best of them will be chosen to receive the Glee New Product Awards, then be on show for the entire duration of the fair.
There are several new features in Halls 3 and 3A. The old “Indoors” section of the exhibition is now called “Home & Gift” and is expected to be of special interest to garden centre buyers. On display here alongside gifts and accessories are outdoor games, which represent a growing segment in the opinion of the organisers.
Another new feature here is the “Retail Services” area, with products and services that include design advice for garden centres as well as catering companies, IT enterprises, personnel consultants and store designers.
Yet another new attraction is the “Avant-Gardening Trail” with over 100 high-quality, design-oriented and elegant garden products.
As part of the accompanying support programme, management consultant John Stanley will provide interested trade visitors with information about the future of the garden industry and the aspirations of its customers.