Should garden centres join or stay out of Black Friday 2026?
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Black Friday lands on 27 November this year and the "early access" emails started weeks ago. For garden centres the Christmas department is already open, the café is busy and footfall is building, so is cutting prices really the best way to make the most of the run-up to Christmas? Or does it chip away at the margin and the premium positioning so many centres have spent years building?
There's no single right answer, but last year's numbers give a pretty useful steer.
Is Black Friday still worth it for retailers?
In volume, yes. Barclays found Black Friday 2025 was the busiest day of the year for retailers, with transactions 62.5% higher than an average day. The bigger picture was less cheerful, though. Card spending across November fell 1.1% year on year, the sharpest drop since early 2021, and Black Friday shoppers spent noticeably less each time, with average order values down 27% on the previous year's event.
So, shoppers turned up, they just bought cheaper and in smaller baskets. For a sector where margins are already being squeezed by wage bills, energy and business rates, that's worth thinking about before a blanket 20% off goes up across the shop floor.
Shoppers are getting more skeptical too. In Barclays' pre-Black Friday research, 68% doubted the real value of Black Friday deals and 65% felt the events encourage unnecessary spending. Which? found that only 2% of products on offer were actually at their cheapest on the day itself.
Would garden centres benefit from offering the discount?
Garden centres had a strong November last year without leaning heavily on price. The HTA reported sales up 8% on November 2024, with Christmas sales up 9% year on year and a huge 40% on November 2023. Catering was up 11% too, helped by both higher spend per visit and more people coming through the café doors. By December, Christmas products made up 24% of sales, more than the garden and gardening categories put together.
If your festive range, food hall, and gifting are positioned around quality and experience, a Black Friday sale can quietly teach customers to wait for the discount, and that's a hard habit to undo come spring.
What are garden centres doing instead?
Plenty of businesses in and around the sector have found a middle ground. Online garden centre Primrose has run a Green Friday sale built around plants and fruit trees, while family-run Cowell's Garden Centre in Gateshead opts out of Black Friday altogether and encourages customers to spend the day outdoors instead. In its own words, "we want our customers to know that they can rely on us whatever day it is."
Dutch home and garden chain Dille & Kamille went a step further and chose to plant trees on Black Friday rather than offer discounts, an approach that fits neatly with the sustainability messaging many UK centres already use all year round.
Others are swapping discounts for experiences. Tong Garden Centre in Leeds is running afternoon teas throughout the season and has added Santa Paws for 2026, where visitors can bring their dogs to meet Father Christmas.
How to participate successfully:
Staying out isn't the right call for everyone, especially centres with a big online offer or plenty of end-of-season stock to shift. If you're joining in, a few things help:
- Keep it targeted: Discount end-of-season outdoor living lines, garden furniture or overstocked hard goods rather than your Christmas range or your café.
- Use it to clear space: Black Friday is a handy moment to move autumn stock out and make room for festive gifting.
- Give people a reason to visit in person:The top reasons for shopping in store on Black Friday are checking product quality (35%) and discovering unexpected deals (27%). Strong displays and knowledgeable staff do that far better than a website can.
- Pair offers with experiences: A late-night shopping event, a wreath-making workshop or a festive menu in the café adds value without relying on price alone.
- Reward loyalty over one-day spikes: Member-only offers look after your regulars without training everyone else to wait for a sale.
Where does this leave buyers planning for 2027?
Whatever you decide this month, the bigger lesson is about the range you're buying. Products with a clear story, whether that's craftsmanship, sustainability or simply being hard to find on the high street, are much easier to sell at full price.
That's why sourcing matters so much. Glee Birmingham returns to the NEC next September, bringing garden wholesale suppliers, wholesale garden decor suppliers, and outdoor living brands together under one roof, with co-located Autumn Fair covering gifting and home. It's one of the best garden trade shows for buyers looking to build ranges that hold their value.
If you like what you've seen here, why not join us in-person for the retail event of the season? Glee runs from 6-8 September 2027 at the NEC, Birmingham. Register your interest here, and join our newsletter for the latest updates before the show.