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 sadly not possible at the moment for international buyers to travel to the UK, we are holding our Meet the Buyer events virtually via Zoom or Microsoft Teams.  Our next event will be held on Tuesday, 27 July 2021.  The buyers taking part are from leading Canadian online store and bricks & mortar 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 at Gardenex 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 Tuesday, 27 July 2021 is:

Lee Valley Tools – www.leevalley.com

Lee Valley Tools is a multi-channel retailer of a wide variety of products in 4 main areas: woodworking, gardening, hardware and gifts. Founded in 1978, Lee Valley Tools operates 20 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 wood or woodworking, some gift or hardware related, others are seasonal – early spring, early autumn etc – and there are some focused on gardening; Spring Garden and Home & Garden are 2 recent examples. Millions of catalogues are distributed each year in Canada and across North America. Lee Valley offers online catalogues too. The company also manufactures some tools under their Veritas branding. For a more detailed overview of Lee Valley Tools please see: http://www.leevalley.com/en/home/About.aspx – and their ‘online catalogues’ link for 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 categories they handle click: 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.

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 one of the garden buyers 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 buyers at Lee Valley who will select those they wish to ‘meet’.

Virtual meetings will take place on Tuesday, 27 July, from 14h00 to 17h00 UK time.  Each supplier selected by Lee Valley will have a 25 minute one-to-one, private session with one of two buyers.  This is a great opportunity to introduce and present your company, products and USPs – especially at a time when the leading trade shows are being postponed or cancelled!

On the day itself, the Gardenex Events team will coordinate and connect buyer and supplier via Zoom or Teams 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 buyers that they 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 Tuesday 27 July 2021, please complete the application form below as soon as possible.