A strong showing in the plant sector

Intratuin was established in 1975 by the Covatuin purchasing organization. It now has a market share of around 33 per cent in Holland, making it the market leader in the garden centre sector. The catchment area of an Intratuin garden centre covers roughly 220,000 to 300,000 inhabitants, equivalent to around 100,000 to 120,000 households all within a 20-minute drive of the store. The average size of the stores is just under 10,000 m², and average sales per square metre of retail area are between 600 and 1,000 D, according to the company. Intratuin’s overall range comprises some 150,000 products, including private-label compost, fertilizers and pond pumps.
The 7,000 m2 garden centre in Barneveld is an advertisement for the garden centre group.
Intratuin garden centres offer a number of unusual retailing solutions that have more than proved their worth in Holland. One of these is the Dutch model for routing customers though the store: every Intratuin garden centre has an entrance/reception area, which is separated from the rest of the store by walls and sliding doors. This leads the customer directly into the cold glasshouse (featuring plants, the garden pond, garden decoration) and its adjacent outdoor area. Only then do customers arrive at the warm area containing furniture, equipment, pets and interior décor among other things. “This method of routing customers increases sales“, says Ton Uljee confidently. Uljee runs the garden centre in Barneveld and is one of the creative thinkers in the group. “This is because the customer comes in from outside and enters the cold glasshouse, which seems warm to him. And after that he enters the heated glasshouse, where he feels inclined to linger for a longer period due to the warmth.”
The garden pond section is mostly to be found in the cold glasshouse and thus well away from the pet department in the heated glasshouse.
The heated glasshouse in all Intratuin stores also contains a pet department, with a retail area of up to 500 m². The pet product range focuses on food and accessories, and birds and rodents make up the live animal selection. Cold-water fish are also available in the garden pond department, but in contrast to other garden centres, these are in the cold glasshouse at Intratuin, some way away from the pet department. In general the pet department makes an important contribution to sales, because it evens out seasonal fluctuat-ions in the sale of plants and gardening products, and pet food is also a very…