GrowGeneration to focus on store brands during COVID-19

Denver-based GrowGeneration, a chain of 27 specialty hydroponic and organic garden centers, reported a record-best $80 million in annual revenue for fiscal 2019, up 174.9% from 2018, when its revenue was $29 million. The company also said it’s putting more attention on rolling out its store brand products, largely in part to the coronavirus pandemic.

On the heels of such a successful earnings report, GrowGeneration said the company will need to focus on internal growth for the next few quarters due to struggles from the COVID-19 pandemic, including more deployment of private label products and execution of its buy-online-pick-up-in-store strategy. The company sells organic nutrients and soils, advanced lighting technology and state of the art hydroponic equipment to be used indoors and outdoors by commercial and home growers.

The company also announced it will donate up to $500,000 of free product to loyal customers severely impacted by the pandemic.

Highlights of the company’s earnings in addition to the annual gains was a fourth quarter reporting of sales up 180% to $25.4 million, from $9.1 the year before. Gross profit margin for the year was 28.3% for the year and 25.8% for Q4. Same store sales were up 62% for Q4 and up 36% for the full year.

Part of the success is owed to acquiring 10 new stores that performed better than projected, an integrated omnichannel strategy that saw order online and pickup in-store grow, and a commercial division that is nearing $20 million in sales, said Darren Lampert, co-founder and CEO, GrowGeneration.