Meet-the-Buyers Events

A great chance for British suppliers to hold one-to-one meetings with international trade buyers seeking new products from the UK!

Gardenex holds regular Meet-the-Buyers events at our offices in Brasted, near Sevenoaks, Kent.  These provide an invaluable and cost-effective opportunity for UK-based suppliers to have one-to-one meetings with international trade buyers.  Our speed-dating format allows UK suppliers the chance to promote their  products and services in 25 minute meeting slots, and start the foundations for an excellent working partnership.

Buyers taking part include garden centre retailers, importers / distributors / wholesalers, mail-order and online stores from Europe and occasionally further afield.

Our next event will be held on Thursday, 7 June 2018 at our offices in Brasted, near Sevenoaks, Kent.  Buyers taking part are a German mail-order company/online store, a Polish importer/distributor that also operates three B2C garden businesses, and an Estonian wholesaler/distributor with customers across the Baltic States that also operates a B2C web-shop.  For full information, please see the Buyer Profiles tab.

UK suppliers – don’t miss out on the chance to take part!  To apply, please take a look at the buyer profiles and product requirements and select which you would like to meet.  Then complete and submit the application form, indicating your order of preference, by the deadline of 11 May.

After the deadline we will send to the buyers the list of applicants with brief product descriptions and links to websites so that they can select which they would like to meet.  This ensures that the meetings are as useful and productive as possible.  We will then contact you to confirm your meeting arrangements.

We have attended a number of these events and have always found them to be a very useful tool for our export market. In general they are very informative and have repaid the time, effort and expense many times over.

- A happy supplier!

The buyers taking part in the Gardenex Meet-the-Buyers event on Thursday, 7 June 2018 are:

Gärtner Pötschke – www.poetschke.com

Two buyers from Gärtner Pötschke are making their annual visit to the Gardenex Meet-the-Buyers event and are looking for new suppliers from the UK.  This is a leading German specialist garden mail-order company and online shop.  Its buyers are also regular visitors to Glee and source products from many Gardenex members.

They are looking for innovative, practical and decorative garden products, particularly those not already available on the German market.  They are looking especially for products on the general theme of ‘pets, nature and wildlife in the garden’; anything from nature-friendly plants and accessories to rabbit hutches, chicken coops, wild bird products and items related to pets being outside in the garden.  They are happy to work with UK companies that are new to exporting.

A regular Meet-theBuyers event attendee, Gärtner Pötschke usually sources from more than half the companies seen on the day and is an ideal target for companies looking to market their garden innovations in Europe’s largest market for garden products.  They send out thousands of mail-order catalogues each year, some of which have 200-300 pages, reaching 4 million consumers.  Their range covers seeds, plants, all types of practical gardening accessories and equipment, along with garden decoration.

ACM Agrocentrum – www.agrocentrum.com.pl

ACM Agrocentrum is a Polish importer/distributor of hobby greenhouses sourced from the UK, with over 20 years’ experience in greenhouse sales.  The company supplies garden centre retailers, not the DIY sector.  It has also acted as importer/distributor supplying farmers with plant protection, fertiliser, feed and tools for 25 years.

In addition, ACM Agrocentrum operates four on-line shops selling to end-users at www.agrosklep.pl (a broad range of garden items from boots/gloves to watering equipment, pest control and bird food), www.topszklarnie.pl and www.kupszklarnie.pl (hobby greenhouses) and Allegro (plants).  The company also operates six retail garden centres/shops and two wholesale outlets.

The owner/buyer is looking for new, interesting products for distribution to garden centres and for online sales.

Horticom – www.horticom.ee

Two buyers from Horticom, a leading wholesaler/distributor of garden and horticultural products across the Baltic States, are taking part in this event.  The company was originally founded in 1995 as Selteret LLC, a wholesaler of garden and horticultural products to the Estonian market.  The owners of Selteret attended our Meet-the-Buyers events in 2010 and 2012.

Since 2015, this company has been trading under the new name Horticom following its acquisition of the companies formerly operating as Schetelig on the Latvian and Lithuanian markets.  In that year they moved to new offices in Harjumaa and also have an office in Tartu.  They are now focussed on acting as wholesaler of horticultural and garden products across the Baltic States.  They also have an e-shop www.aednik24.ee which offers a wide range of practical accessories for gardens, balconies and indoor gardening.  Their main customers are garden centres and garden shops, DIY stores, supermarkets, landscapers/garden designers as well as professional growers.  They work with suppliers from across Europe.

They offer a broad selection of garden and horticultural products, including seeds, bulbs, pest control products (for in- and outdoors), plant protection and weed control products, pots/garden plastics, gloves etc.  Their range for professional growers includes seeds, seed potatoes, onion sets, plastic pots, greenhouses, pesticides, peat, soil, fertilisers, textiles etc.

The buyers are looking for a wide range of items for their e-shop and generally for distribution to their Baltic States markets.  Everything from seeds to technical tools in the gardening sector but also new and innovative products for agriculture and horticulture.  In particular they are interested in meeting suppliers of the following:

• Products for landscapers (decorative containers, hanging baskets, flower towers).
• Roof top gardening and related products.
• Technical gardening tools.
• Hobby greenhouses, greenhouse shelving and other greenhouse accessories.
• Children’s outdoor playground items (climbing ladder, rope etc).
• Apple collection baskets with shoulder belts/harness.
• Beekeeping for the hobby and professional markets.
• Fruit-picking products.

I am really pleased with the incredible service offered by Gardenex & PetQuip. This was the second time that I had participated in a Meet-the-Buyers event and literally, just a few days earlier, I had received an order along with an order forecast from the buyer I met at the previous Meet-the-Buyers event.

- A happy supplier!

Meet-the-Buyers sessions start from around 08h30 and, in 25 minute meeting slots, you have the opportunity to present your company and products to the buyer(s) and to hand over brochures, information and/or product samples.

As far as possible we try to allocate buyer meetings in blocks so that participants can maximise their time on the day.

Refreshments are available throughout the day.  The meetings conclude at around 16h30.

On receipt of the application form, Gardenex will invoice applicants for the meetings requested.  Invoices must be settled in advance of the event.  Payment can be made by credit card over the telephone, BACS or cheque.

The Gardenex Meet-the-Suppliers events are better than five days at a trade show!

- A happy buyer!