Last night at the annual GIMA Awards (13th July, Celtic Manor Resort, South Wales) Briers were the recipients of two awards to mark the leading fashion inspired garden clothing and giftware brand’s achievements in marketing and sales in 2017.
The Gardenex Export Award and the Best Point of Sale Award were both presented to Briers by sponsors of the category, host Hal Cruttenden and GIMA Director Vicky Nuttall.
Gardenex Trophy for Export Achievement 2017
Aiming to recognise success in selling British garden and leisure products to international markets, the Gardenex Trophy for Export Achievement has come at the end of a huge drive for overseas business from Briers. The company’s export sales have doubled since 2015/2016, with total export sales in excess of £1 million. The full Briers range has contributed to the success but particular driving forces have been the William Morris collection and Briers Kid’s range which has been greatly expanded since last year.
Briers export to 20 different countries, with particular success in the United States, the Netherlands and Belgium (the latter pair due to partnerships with distributors Meuwissen Agro and Sanac respectively). Briers’ presence and growth on the continent has been cemented by Managain Director’s Jackie’s involvement with EFSA and the long-term commitment to trade shows beginning with the Garden Retail Experience in the Netherlands, Spoga Gafa in Germany and more recently the Kid’s Toy Fair in Nuremberg.
The United States has also been a success story, again after a commitment to be present at the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas and the IGC in Chicago. The quintessentially British William Morris collection and the universal appeal of the Kid’s range featured centrally at these shows and has reflected the success in exports.
Jackie Eades, Managing Director, said: “We are over the moon – we have been working so hard to win over the US market, and are committed to our role within EFSA, whilst also working hard at shows in America and in Europe. We’ve got an incredibly hard working team, undaunted by the challenges faced by Brexit, and that determination is paying off.”
Best Point of Sale Award 2017
Due to its carefully considered use of space and colour, the merchandising concepts for Briers kid’s range took this highly contested marketing award by producing a system that has been proven to ensure a high sales yield from minimal space.
Comments included: “The Briers Kid’s display concept blends the need for the retailer to display a high impact range that delivers in a compact footprint, and is robust enough to withstand the retail environment. These merchandisers offer retailers flexibility to choose their ranges, and to cater for their customers with different product mixes.”
Jackie Eades added: “Bigger than ever before, the Briers kid’s range, together with our licensed Gruffalo range, has meant that we now offer the most complete children’s range in the country. I’m thrilled, it’s a fantastic achievement, and all down to the hard work of our marketing and design teams.”
To find out more about Briers’ award-winning ranges please visit www.briersltd.co.uk
Briers Ltd is the UK market leading manufacturer of garden gloves, footwear, kids gardening, garden gifting, indoor and outdoor clocks, plus branded ranges. Launched in 1999 with only four pairs of gloves, selling to local garden centres, they now supply numerous gardening and lifestyle retailers with thousands of different SKUs.
For more information, interviews or images please contact the Briers PR team:
Kimberley Hornby Tel: 01604 373700 Email: kimberley@hornbywhitefootpr.co.uk
Robbie Cumming Tel: 07765 251173 Email: robbie@hornbywhitefootpr.co.uk