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Retail news from inside and outside the green industry
December 1, 2006 - Volume 2 Number 42
GREEN PROFIT DECEMBER ONLINE NOW!!
CLICK HERE FOR INSTANT ACCESS!!
Exclusive stories! Thought-provoking columns!
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Greetings!
I trust everyone had a great Turkey Day and enjoyed three football games and plenty of pumpkin pie—I know I did. Thanks to all of you who sent me holiday good wishes and funny e-mails such as, “’Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving.” It’s pretty cool that an industry-related e-newsletter has actually brought me closer to you all. As you continue to think about the upcoming new year, let me know some things you hope to read in BuZZ during 2007. Click HERE to offer ideas.
Big News From LGYP.com
I doubt if anyone would disagree that our industry is somewhat fragmented and has been slow to develop an online presence. The team behind one of the industry’s most comprehensive Web tools, Lawn & Garden Yellow Pages (LGYP.com), has been working tirelessly to grow the search directory, and to that end they have announced a partnership with Master Nursery Garden Centers this week. That means each of MNGC’s 800 member stores will have an online footprint through LGYP.com, helping drive consumers to their doorsteps and introducing gardeners to MNGC’s suite of branded products.
Marketing your store to consumers searching the Web is vital now and will be even more so in the future. LGYP.com drives customers in your area to your store. That’s a very good thing and as the directory continues to grow and develop, your store is sure to benefit from its inclusion. To get your store listed at LGYP.com and find out about additional Internet marketing options, visit www.lgyp.com, e-mail inquire@10-20media.com or call (888) 999-5133.
Two Holiday Stories
It’s that open house, event and in-store promotion time of year, and I’ve received a bunch of e-mails from retailers hosting events and doing cool things at their stores heading into the holidays. Here are a couple, and I’ll share more as the season progresses. I like to read holiday stories, so be sure to let me know what your store is doing and some strategies that are resulting in increased sales and/or happy customers and kids.
Pete Bergquist at Green Arrow Nurseries in California sent me a link to a slideshow from his store’s event, “Watch It Snow,” which lets L.A. County, California girls and boys play in the snow as it falls from the sky over Green Arrow. I asked him what it took for the store to pull of this fun event (that runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night from 4 p.m. until close). He responded that it was the brainchild of employee Brian Mendoza who used to work for Disney. It took a lot of time and effort to set up and Pete warns it’s definitely not feasible for anyone to execute.
“As you can tell, this ‘Snow Show’ is a BIG PRODUCTION,” Pete says, “one which only someone like Brian, with his special skills, could conceive and put together. Plus Brian synched the whole show to great Christmas music, which he edited and put on a timer.”
Here’s a link to the Green Arrow Web site, which is another story in and of itself. Click on the Watch It Snow slideshow link: http://www.greenarrownurseries.com/news/6/48/
In other ideas, Kate Nelson at Wallace’s Garden Center in Iowa told me a great story about the store’s Christmas Open House and how they were able to move a good number of “Stranger in the Woods” DVDs, a movie for kids. Wallace’s hadn’t sold any of the DVDs until they set up a TV and started playing the movie in the store. “There were kids and adults stopping to watch all day,” Kate says. And the best part: She charged full price for the video and sold six in one day.
What’s the moral of this story? If you want to sell movies, make sure you have a TV set up playing them!
PPA Plant of the Year
The Perennial Plant Association named its Perennial Plant of the Year for 20007: Nepeta Walker’s Low. Catmint is the common name, and the perennial can be marketed for its aroma as well as silver-green foliage and dark blue-purple flowers from late spring until frost. Be sure to tell your customers to prune the plant back two-thirds when flowers fade to achieve the darker colors late in the season. For more information about PPA and its Perennial Plant of the Year, visit www.perennialplant.org or call (614) 876-5238.
In The News
I spotted three things from various news outlets that I feel compelled to report on. First, Jennie and I were walking through Cleveland Hopkins Airport heading to Washington D.C. for Thanksgiving when I spotted a familiar sight out of the corner of my eye: a greenhouse full of poinsettias pictured in a newspaper. Lo and behold, it was a shot from Petitti’s Casa Verde growing facility in Cleveland and it took up more than half of the paper’s front page, above the fold. Talk about great press for the grower/retailer and a beautiful image of our industry.
The next two news items were reported on in the FlowerWeb e-newsletter last week.
Story #1: Luxury Plant Care. Clifton Nurseries in the UK now offers a service called a “Plant Hotel and Spa.” Basically, staff from the nursery will go to a customer’s house; pick up pots, trees and shrubs; keep them in top condition through pruning and required maintenance; and return them when the customer is though traveling or after a cold season ends. It’s sort of like having your own plant babysitter.
Story #2: Live Christmas trees are on the rise. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, Americans bought 32.8 million live trees last year, up from 22.2 million in 2002. That’s a good trend, and the association speculates customers helping raise the numbers are in the “younger family” demographic. Ashland, Ohio grower Blake Rafeld explains, “The children of the Baby Boomers seem to be far more open to the message that real trees are friendlier to the environment than fake trees.”
Reader Reactions
Last week, I mentioned a National Garden Bureau mailing that proclaimed the Top Ten Reasons To Garden. I asked you all for some more reasons and by compiling more than a dozen responses have come up with “10 More Reasons To Garden.” I also want to take this opportunity to encourage you to visit www.ngb.org to learn more about the National Garden Bureau and what a great resource it is for you and especially for your customers.
10 More Reasons to Garden:
1. Garden to make the world a better place.
2. Garden to teach our children.
3. Garden for ecological balance.
4. Garden for solitude and peace.
5. Garden to rationalize the state of our society.
6. Garden to live longer.
7. Garden for physical therapy—especially for arthritis therapy and Alzheimer’s or other memory disorders.
8. Garden for wildlife and habitat—especially birds and butterflies
9. Garden for restoration.
10. Garden for a sustainable lifestyle.
Food For Thought
I gave you a break last week so I’m expecting some awesome responses to this week’s question(s). It’s also your chance to help me out with an article I’m working on for the January issue. What are some trends in indoor plants and foliage you’ve seen in the past two or three years. How is availability when you place orders? Is the category growing or shrinking in terms of importance at your store? Click HERE to respond.
Talk to you soon,
~Bill
Bill Calkins
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GREEN PROFIT DECEMBER ONLINE NOW!!
CLICK HERE FOR INSTANT ACCESS!
Exclusive stories! Thought-provoking columns!