In the last two months I have worked with clients in New Zealand, Australia, U.S.A., and Europe. Business people often think the U.S.A. is the world leader in technology, but I was surprised to see many garden centres in that country still hand writing price stickers and having no real control over stock and their financial destiny.

Compare this with King’s Plant Barns in New Zealand where they are leaders in the field of using computers to manage their business.

The retail management system they installed was launched in 2002 and is being rolled out in Australia and New Zealand. This program is now available in the U.S.A. and Canada.

There are many systems available in the market place, but you need to select one that specialises in the garden centre market and provides what I believe is the most critical part, a reliable backup system. Without that, many retailers are buying a headache. (more…)