But What Does it Do?

Jennifer Polanz

I’ve been on the road a fair amount lately, and in my travels and in discussions with retailers, I’m hearing that across the country there’s still enthusiasm for gardening, but the number of transactions is down. It’s hard to know whether this is an overall garden retail thing or an independent garden retail thing.

What I do know is it’s harder now than it was a couple of years ago to keep customers coming back. It takes systems in place like loyalty programs, point-of-sale systems that create automated messaging and social media content that inspires customers to hop in the car (or online if you offer it) and swipe the credit card or pull out the cash.

The products you carry and offer are a big part of that, and a big part of the story you tell to customers. A product should give the customer a reason to buy it. Often times it’s providing a solution—whether that’s a plant that’s low-maintenance or drought tolerant, or a pest control that provides relief from an infestation. In my case, it’s often a plant that’s deer resistant (re: last month’s column).

I visited the BFG Distributor Show that takes place every September right here in Cleveland (what we affectionately refer to as “The Land”). I’d never been before because I always go to a different industry event that takes place at the same time—this year they were finally in different weeks. The products I saw at the show highlighted for me how the story behind the item makes a big difference. One line of products was made from recycled plastic and was recyclable at the end of its life, completing the circle. Others showed how they addressed problems for customers, like confusion around feeding houseplants, for example. You can read about all those products and their reasons you might want to carry them.

As editors in the hort industry, one perk we get is plant samples. Every year it’s like Christmas in May as boxes of plants arrive to test out from various breeders. I always try to give as much feedback as I can to “earn” them. But we also provide feedback in selecting a few that really performed well for our annual Stuff We Love editor’s picks (and you can find out why Bossman Beytes wasn’t able to participate and what he chose instead).

We know it’s also always interesting to see what other retailers are doing, perhaps to drive traffic, give the customers a top notch shopping atmosphere in store and provide a treasure-hunt style experience. This month we have two examples of that, with Dave Williams’ take on Black Shed and Jen Zurko’s visit to McAuliffe’s Valley Nursery.

I think it’s always important to keep in mind that your store is a solution for the customer. The problem may be as simple as a bad day, for which they need some plant retail therapy. It may be deer pressure and they need a spray or a fence. Their ethos may involve a sustainable lifestyle and the solution you can provide is a product that won’t go into a landfill once they’re done with it.

You may not be able to solve all the problems of the world, but you can be the happy solution to your customers’ problems. Hopefully, we can help a little with that, too. GP