2016 Profit - Loss Study Results Are In

The 2016 Profit & Loss Study Results are in!

2016 may be past history, but history in the form of garden center financials can teach us many good lessons. Measuring what occurred in the past and using that information to set a more Profitable course is the key to good retail management. 

Such is the purpose of The Group's Thirteenth Annual Profit & Loss Study. Submitting twelve pages of very detailed data yielded nineteen pages of analytical data comparing your center's performance against subsets closely resembling your mode of operation.

 

Comparing your center against your center's past results reveals areas of improving or weakening performance. Likewise, externally benchmarking your center against the other subsets either validates your current method of management or reveals opportunities for improvement. One other mention of note, the P&L Study does not contain exactly the same subset of centers each and every year, varying as Centers begin reporting or they drop out. I will say that the large majority of the Centers remain constant from year-to-year.
 
This year's report was comprised of seventy-eight centers, up four over the 2015 report. While this may not seem major, I would take a 5% increase any year. The more data, the more accurate the results.
 
Revenues for reporting Centers totaled over $158,000,000, bringing the average garden center in at a little over $2,000,000 each. No matter the centers involved in the Study, that mark seems to be a mainstay from year-to-year. Also a steady number is the relationship of Retailers (2/3) and Retailer/Growers (1/3), this year numbering 52 and 26 respectively. We subset each group into three sales groups, less than $1.5M, $1.5M - $2.5M, and greater than $2.5M in Revenues.
 
There were nine Regional Groups this year, ranging in size from sixteen centers in the South to four in the North Carolina/Tennessee/Virginia and New York/Ontario groups. Two other sizable regions were the MidAtlantic and Midwest, each with thirteen centers.
 
The first good news is that overall Profit increased by 0.3% in 2016 vs. 2015. While this may not seem like a major shift, this does mean almost a half-million dollars in additional Profit total for these centers. The Group has now surpassed where they were in 2006 before the recession hit and began the downward spiral that bottomed out in 2011. It's been a slow and steady climb back to the 4.9% achieved in 2016.  And while it may not seem like a major accomplishment given the goal of 10%, you have to remember that many centers that join The Group do so from a lower-than-desired Profitability position.
 
Improving upon reporting center's Profitability is the goal of the P&L Study, and no subset of centers gives us the tools to use better than the Best Practices/High Achiever Group. The BP/HA group was comprised of twenty-six centers ranging in Profitability from 5% up to 15%, averaging 10.8%.  Interestingly, the makeup of this group was roughly the same percentage of Retailers and Retailer/Growers  (2/3 to. 1/3) as all centers reporting. Regionally, the South led the way with five centers in this group and Midwest, Northeast/Nova Scotia, and the Northwest/British Columbia all having four.
 
That's what I call the Size and the Scope of the P&L Study. In future articles, we'll examine the results in greater detail and how those numbers might help your center.
 

Don't forget - if your center reported to the 2016 P&L Study, shoot me an email or give me a call and let's set up a time to review your report in a private, free one-hour phone consultation. If it's difficult to find the time to talk personally, join us this Wednesday, April 5th, for a one-hour online P&L session outlining some of the key methods for using the P&L Study to your center's advantage. Details to follow. Better yet, do both. Hope to hear from you soon.

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Got questions or need more information about the WDR, P&L Study or your profitability? 
Give Steve a call or email!
Steve Bailey
Tel: 618.319.9205
Cell: 618.521.5225

Email: CLICK HERE

 

Steve Bailey is a service provider for The Garden Center Group and manages all Group financial sharing programs. The Weekly Department Review (WDR) and The Annual P&L Study are exclusives to The Garden Center Group and are included in your retainer!

REMEMBER: Your interaction (by phone and email) with Group Service Providers such as Steve Bailey, Robert Hendrickson, Sid Raisch and Jean Seawright,  are included in your retainer! So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of all that The Group has to offer and give them a call or send an email now!

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