Design and Development | Zest Outdoor Living

The centre for product development

At Zest, we have invested £400,000-plus in product development facilities and personnel.

We’ve built a specialist ‘Innovation Centre’ at our headquarters in Wales. It’s a state-of-the-art product design and development suite including research and concept development, the latest CAD design technology, a prototyping build area, a production studio, and a marketing zone.

Zest invests in consumer research and design excellence to ensure on-trend, best-selling products.

Every Zest piece is designed not only for the heartland of traditional gardeners who take pride in their gardens, but also for families and younger gardeners, discovering the pleasure of growing, admiring, enjoying, and relaxing in their outdoor space, however small or large.

Innovation at the heart of Zest

We’re committed to innovation, from designing new products, to improving systems, to ensuring we are environmentally-friendly

Product design – for style, beauty, comfort, convenience, sustainability and longevity – is at the heart of what we do. But we are also innovators when it comes to ensuring that our supply systems meet the needs of our customers. This includes great communications, consistency and quality of supply and making sure we are meeting our environmental responsibilities.

Focusing on the changing needs and aspirations of today's consumers

At Zest, we focus on the needs of the consumer and our philosophy, when it comes to product development, is to spend time listening to today’s garden enthusiasts through market research and focus groups. This is ‘User Centred Design’ at its best and customers love the results.

To this end, we have built a dedicated product development centre with a product design team focussed on designing products that match the changing needs and aspirations of how people in the UK use their gardens and outdoor spaces.

We have also recruited across operations and logistics and brought in digital expertise both in the UK and Eastern Europe to ensure a continued robust supply chain going forward.

Like everyone in the industry, we have seen the potential challenges of the pandemic and Brexit on worldwide logistics and we are strengthening accordingly to ensure supply sustainability.

A new warehouse management system is also being integrated as part of a digital implementation programme across the board.

Further developments are ongoing as we are experiencing significantly increased demand for certain products consistent with consumer trends towards spending more time in the garden.

“All suppliers and manufacturers have faced a unique situation over recent times with massively increased demand – especially for garden favourites such as the Miami Swing and the Lily Relax seat – creating practical supply challenges never witnessed before. Zest has taken the opportunity to review its supply methodology with a view to making it both robust and future-proof.”

Steve Morgan Chairman