YouGarden, the multi-channel retailer of horticultural products, has announced the acquisition of Gardening Direct, one of the UK’s leading online and mail order suppliers of live plants.
The acquisition will enhance the Group’s product proposition around smaller bedding plants and enable it to leverage its specialist infrastructure, management expertise and operations to improve the overall Gardening Direct consumer experience. The acquisition will also enable YouGarden to apply its proven data-led approach to marketing and procurement, with the aim of enhancing customer acquisition and value as well as strengthening the Gardening Direct product range, including by integrating the Group’s proven best-selling products.
The acquisition provides the Group with the opportunity to drive synergies by leveraging its outstanding supplier relationships and purpose-built 11.5-acre nursery in Lincolnshire. This well-invested infrastructure, which enables YouGarden to keep live products in optimum conditions whether in open air, under glass, in polytunnels or in designated cold and warm storerooms, supports high quality fulfilment and best in class delivery.
Underpinned by its unique data-driven model as well as its curated easy-to-understand product proposition and market-leading customer service, YouGarden has disrupted the UK gardening market to achieve consistent, profitable growth and establish itself as the UK’s leading multi-channel retailer of horticultural products. The acquisition builds on the Group’s long-term track record of profitable organic growth, including a pre-Covid 5-year CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) for both revenue and EBITDA of 45+ per cent, and FY19-FY20 CAGR for both revenue and EBITDA of 100+ per cent. The Group’s data-led approach to emerging and established customer acquisition channels has ensured a track-record where repeat customers spend more with YouGarden each year, helping to underpin this consistent growth to date and the Group’s exciting future prospects.
Peter McDermott, Founder and CEO of YouGarden, commented:“We are delighted to complete this acquisition of a well-regarded brand in the growing garden home shopping sector. We look forward to, amongst other things, applying our procurement, fulfilment and customer service capabilities to provide our new Gardening Direct customers the same levels of outstanding service that have been the building blocks of YouGarden’s success to date.
Over recent years YouGarden has disrupted the fragmented UK gardening market by developing a truly multichannel business built on data-led decision making and specialist infrastructure. We firmly believe that gardening is for everyone, which is why we aim to make things simple for our customers by speaking in plain English, giving great advice, and using data analytics to curate a targeted range of products that appeal to customers and that really work and perform. As more and more consumers benefit from the experience of buying horticultural products online, we are very excited about our future opportunities for continued growth.”
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