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Lets Become Famous For Plants
Published: 25 Nov, 2009
When we talk about gardens and gardening, the first things that come to mind are plants, in all their various shapes and sizes.
As retailers we call ourselves Garden Centres, or we at least have the words Garden or Gardening
somewhere in our name or tag line. This creates an expectation in the consumers’ mind that here is a store that knows something about plants.
somewhere in our name or tag line. This creates an expectation in the consumers’ mind that here is a store that knows something about plants. When I need some advice and products for my pets I go to a pet store – and when I enter that store I am confronted with things that are all about pets. At a furniture shop I see furniture; at a gift shop I see gifts.
But so often when I go into a Garden Center I don’t see plants. I was recently in a garden store where a lady customer came to the checkout to ask “Where are your Plants?”!
How has this happened and what are the reasons for it?
Obviously, gardening is about more than just plants. It is about a way of life, a recreational activity, a hobby or interest. And, of course it involves a whole range of other products which combine to make a garden, and rightly a garden centre should sell some of these products.I recently saw a garden center advertisement that was full of outdoor furniture and not a plant in sight! And this in the middle of spring, a prime planting time and the most important time for garden centres to sell plants!
In my early days we sold mostly plants and fertilisers, potting mix and compost, stakes and chemicals – everything to do with gardening - it was our core business.
Now I know what you will say, and you are right and I agree – the market has changed, we have changed, we are now more than just plant retailers, we are catering to a new consumer, and we are catering to a lifestyle.
But I wonder if in all this we haven’t been swept along on a wave of diversification, and in the process lost sight of our core business, and let some of it slip away to other retailers. It’s time to claim it back.
I think this is particularly relevant in our current economic climate where a world recession has seen the 
renaissance of the vege gardener and with him/her a new wave of beginner gardeners.
renaissance of the vege gardener and with him/her a new wave of beginner gardeners.In most cases the reasons for this diversification have been sound, but often it has been done to prop up a poorly performing business. Giftwares, pet accessories, spa pools, furniture, have all been seen as some sort of panacea for the problems besetting the core business. In many cases they have taken the focus away from the core business so that it has not improved, or may even have got worse.
Many retailers have been lured by the high margins they could achieve from these supplementary product groups and have invested huge dollars into stock and inventory. Unfortunately these high inventories and low stock-turns have not equated to high profits.
There is money to be made selling plants. One of our most successful and profitable clients in Ireland sells mostly plants – colour and s
easonal lines. A small garden center I know of has almost doubled its turnover in the last eighteen months by selling plants. I am heartened to see two new Garden Centres opening in New Zealand, both heavily focused on plant sales. It’s a question of how well we do it.So let’s go back to our core business and become the best at it.
Let’s become famous for gardening and plants, let’s win over this new breed of “Grow your Own’ gardener, and the beginner gardener. Then let’s add some supplementary and complimentary products to our mix, but only those we know we can do well and then let’s become best at them.
