Originally published September 2007, Today's Garden Center

It’s what customers want to buy
Selling the dream…

A lot goes on at a typical trade show. This summer’s OFA Short Course in Columbus, OH was no exception. What’s interesting is how seemingly un-related events, conversations and exhibits can combine to shape new ideas and business opportunities. This year’s educational sessions were all buzzing with ideas and strategies designed to address the X generation customer. For the most part retailers and growers were flush from a successful spring and open to buy both products and ideas. They got plenty of both.

Novalis and the ‘Tommy Bahama’ booth

Someone asked me to sum up the Novalis booth in Columbus. I was at a loss until J. Guy, president of Carolina Nurseries, told me the story. He told me about his quest to put together a true ‘lifestyle’ display. The result was a ‘beach house’ of sorts that included a complete Viking outdoor kitchen, elegant furniture from Summer Classics, and a plasma screen on the second floor above a deck surrounded by a walled garden, landscaped completely with Novalis product. J. summed it up as his “Tommy Bahama” house. Perfect! We agreed that this is what retailers should be selling – lifestyle and all the elements that went with it. Just tune into any HGTV show and you’ll find that any landscape challenge worth its salt is selling the same dream. After all, it’s what customers want to buy.

Dean Bemis from Goldsmith Seeds – what I would do if I were a retailer.

I’ve known Dean for years and I never leave a conversation with him without learning something. At the show we spent some time talking about what’s new and noteworthy. Dean told me a story about a conversation he had with a retailer recently. The upshot was his take on the garden center of the future. “I would set it up like a car dealership. You know, a sales area planted with garden designs that would inspire customers. Then I would have a ‘closer’s’ area in the garden center where customers could sit down with staff and work out a garden design that would work for them.” At the end of the day we know that is… of course, what customers want to buy.

Bob Ferda, Dawn and ‘We Plan, You Plant’

Later that evening, while exiting the Garden Center Group’s trade show review, I ran into Bob Ferda. Ferda’s had been one of the first retailers in Ohio to sign up for our ‘We Plan, You Plant’ program. The WP,YP was created to help retailers address the growing interest in garden and landscape design. With the program a customer can schedule a 30-minute consult with a design professional (usually one of your staff – since this is what you are already doing). They take home and complete a simple questionnaire that helps the designer understand the customer while providing the customer with a better understanding of the project. Long story short, they related a couple of remarkable success stories. I told them that a retailer recently shared that their ‘average’ transaction as a result of the program was around $500. They shared with me that they might do $500 just in ‘color’ (bedding plants) alone and that their average was closer to $800, and if it turned into to a full on landscape project it was at least $2500. The customers were thrilled and Ferda’s saw a sales spike in an entirely new category. It was easy – after all, it was what customers were interested in.

Shoreline Stone Supply

When I returned to the office I had a meeting with Joe Benson from Shoreline Stone Supply. We had worked with Joe on some creative work involving a new identity for a consumer driven off shoot to their successful re-wholesale yard. The concentration was on supplying consumers with the pavers, fieldstone and wall material and advice to help them with their home hardscape project. Earlier in the winter we had met and shared ideas about the sales yard and a display area. They had recently completed a portion of the project and he brought photos with him. I got really excited – this was the inspiration that consumers needed to motivate them to start landscape projects. His displays featured wall stone, outdoor grilling areas, water features – everything they would need to construct the foundation of sorts for an ‘outdoor’ room. All that was needed was the furniture, container gardens, and foundation plantings to bring the project to life - just like the “Tommy Bahama” house. Which leads us to…

Perfect Patios and Dream Decks – delivering on both design and décor

Isn’t it a logical extension to move from landscaping projects to exterior design? Why not help customers turn that deck or patio into a space they love to come home to? When I took a closer look, wouldn’t any patio area or deck require multiple planters? Of course, so why not sell groupings of planters that worked well with the flooring (pavers, brick, fieldstone, decking) and house style (contemporary, classic, cottage, asian, etc.). It would certainly generate a significant sale that might result in more residual sales than even the ‘We Plan, You Plant’. After all, those containers need to be re-filled each spring (or summer, fall, and holiday). Since the customer was investing that much in containers they might also be interested in a watering system. Sure enough I found the new ‘Water Wise’ watering system from Proven Winners. Ka-ching!

In the time it took me to drive back from Columbus to Connecticut I had sketched out the general idea for the PP,DD (Perfect Patios & Dream Decks) program. It seemed like the perfect combination of the “Tommy Bahama” house featuring outdoor living ‘rooms’ (DIY projects like those seen at Shoreline Stone Supply) accessorized by a retailer that offered ‘container gardens designed & delivered by XYZ garden center. No pavers? No problem. Most customers already have a deck or patio; they’re just not all that thrilled with it. Now, coming home to ‘Bahama-ville’ is another story entirely. After all, it is what customers want to buy.