Meet-the-Buyers Events

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

In normal times Gardenex holds regular Meet the Buyer events at our offices in Brasted, near Sevenoaks, Kent.  These are an invaluable and cost-effective opportunity for UK-based suppliers to have one-to-one meetings with international garden 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.

As it is difficult at the moment for international buyers to travel to the UK, we are holding our Meet the Buyer events virtually via Zoom.  Our next event will be held on Wednesday, 9 March 2022.  The buyer taking part is from Canadian multi-channel retailer Lee Valley Tools.  For full details and an online application form, please click on the tabs above.  If you would like more information, please contact Eleanor Wigram by email.

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 company taking part in our virtual event on Wednesday 9 March is:

Lee Valley Tools – www.leevalley.com

Lee Valley Tools is a Canadian multi-channel retailer of a wide variety of products in 4 main areas: woodworking, gardening, hardware and gifts.  Founded in 1978, they operate 18 up-market retail outlets located in major cities across Canada, stretching from Victoria in the west to Halifax in the east. They produce many different catalogues annually, some focusing on woodworking, some gift or hardware related, others seasonal – early spring, early autumn etc – and there are some focused on gardening; Spring Garden and Home & Garden are 2 recent examples. Please note, their range includes much more than just tools!  Millions of catalogues are distributed each year in Canada and across North America.  Lee Valley offers online sales too.  The company also manufactures some tools under their Veritas branding.  For a more detailed overview of Lee Valley Tools, please see: here  – and the links to their latest Home & Garden catalogues.

Lee Valley provides regular newsletters on woodworking and gardening and the individual stores offer in-house seminars on gardening and woodworking topics. Their emphasis is on quality. The focus is on practical gardening products including propagation, greenhouse accessories, cold frames, composting, watering, tools, indoor gardening, hardscaping/landscaping, pest control, pruning and tree care, lawn care, potting and planter products, raised beds etc. They also handle wild bird accessories, clothing, some kitchenware, time & weather products, storage items and much more. With a few exceptions, they do not handle garden furniture, grills or decorative items. For a full overview of the garden categories they handle see: here.  They emphasise that their reputation is built on customer satisfaction (goods can be returned by the consumer within 3 months), integrity and treating the customer like a friend.

Lee Valley has their head office and distribution centre in Ottawa and they have warehousing facilities in New York state. They handle over 18,000 items and the company employs over 850 staff. They also act as importers and currently work with a number of Gardenex members. Their buyers have visited Glee and are regular visitors to the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas and to spoga+gafa in Cologne.

The buyers are looking for suppliers of innovative and practical garden products that will complement their existing range. They are NOT looking for garden decoration, but are looking for products to include in their Fall/Winter catalogue.

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!

If you would like to have a virtual meeting with the garden buyer at Lee Valley Tools, please submit the short online application form (see tab above).  Gardenex will send a list of all UK suppliers who apply to the buyer who will select those they wish to ‘meet’.

Virtual meetings will take place on Wednesday 9 March 2022, in the afternoon UK time.  Each supplier selected by Lee Valley Tools will have a 25 minute one-to-one, private session with the buyer.  This is a great opportunity to introduce and present your company, products and USPs – especially at a time when many trade shows have been postponed or cancelled and international travel is difficult!

On the day itself, the Gardenex Events team will coordinate and connect buyer and supplier via Zoom and then withdraw, only re-entering the meeting when your 25 minute slot is over.

The cost is shown below:

On receipt of the online application form and confirmation from the buyer that she would like to meet you, Gardenex will send you an invoice.  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!

If you would like to take part in our Meet the Buyer event on Wednesday 9 March 2022, please complete the application form below as soon as possible.