France: Garden centre chain Botanic integrates organic markets

60 large garden centres, operating under the name "Botanic", have now expanded their product range to include a full range of 7000 organic foodstuffs in addition to an extensive assortment of organic seeds, young plants and nursery products. The markets are located mainly in the east and south-east of France from their founding location in Annemasse.

"We have largely completed the conversion of our garden centres into combi-markets," says Didier Bordat with satisfaction. He has accompanied the family-led company since it was founded in March 1995 and is now Regional Manager for the South. Expansion began in 1998 with a store in Vitrolles near Marseille, followed in the same year by the store in Mouans-Sartoux near Cannes, which is now one of Botanic's largest. "Today, 60 of the 65 garden centres are equipped with large organic food sections," says Bordat happily, "the rest of the stores lack sufficient sales space”. The "Project 2018", launched in 2015, was successfully implemented with the integration of organic food areas in 40 stores.

Sales area and organic assortment

Up to 50,000 non-food items are listed at Botanic headquarters in Annemasse. "In practice, this does not mean that all items can be found in every shop, but there is still an average of 30,000 plus the food sections," explains Bordat. While the smallest garden markets have 2000 m² of sales area, the largest, such as Mouans-Sartoux, have 8000 m² and Avignon even 10,000 m². "Our range of plants alone comprises 3000-4000 articles," Bordat continues.

"We are proud that 95 % of our young plants come from organic cultivation," explains Bordat. All of our citrus plants are organic, as well as 40% of our berry bushes. In the seed segment there is also an organic range with over 100 different seeds. However, the organic share – among around 350 seed varieties - is only one third. Particularly in the ornamental plant sector, it is difficult to offer organic goods at acceptable prices. Currently, Botanic offers mainly products from "integrated cultivation" companies that reduce the usage of spraying agents.

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In France, the organic sector has been booming for years, sometimes with double-digit annual growth rates. In 2017, a further 265 organic stores opened their doors. Among them big organic players.

According to the company, the most important products in the organic food range are fresh foods, especially fruit and vegetables, which are centrally offered in the store. Organic meat products are offered as vacuum-packed products in the refrigerated counter.

Cooperation with local organic wholesalers

The logistics for the supply of the Botanic markets are essentially down to the natural food wholesalers in France. In Provence, for example, this is Relais Vert, based near Marseille. "Of course, we always try to have some local suppliers of vegetables on site to support regional marketing," says Eric Cernon, store manager in Mouans-Sartoux.

Organic at second sight

"The start of the 2500-strong company was by no means in the organic sector," clarifies regional manager Bordat. "But it has developed in this direction step by step." The first 14 shops that the company took over from the French chain Jardiland in 1993, were purely conventional. A trip to the USA in 2005 by the managing director Luc Blanchet gave the decisive impulse towards organic. As a result, all pesticides were removed from the range in 2008 and organic food departments were integrated into the stores from 2010.

Further growth planned

Jardiland is a strategic competitor in the garden sector with markets throughout France. Botanic would like to present itself as an organic alternative and take over further markets or open new ones. In January 2019, the company acquired a regional garden chain with six stores in the Caen region in the northwest of France. Botanic will continue to be run as a family business in the future. However, Bordat sees the problem that demand in the food sector is growing faster than supply as a potential obstacle to growth. Here he sees a need for action to encourage more conventional producers to switch to organic production. This would make it possible to meet the needs of the market in the long term.