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Display inspiration

A couple of garden retailers were among the winners of Midwest’s first Show Us Your Sparkle in-store display and events contest for independent retailers.

Midwest sponsored the Sparkle contest to bring attention and recognition to independent retailers who show creativity and excellence in displays and in-store events, two key elements to driving traffic and sales. More than 300 entries were submitted, and Midwest awarded 10 independent retailers with first-, second- and third-place recognition.

Garden Supply Co. in Cary, N.C., won first place for its holiday display that encompassed several themes and a plethora of product. You hardly feel like you’re in a greenhouse!

Osuna Nursery in Albuquerque, N.M., won a third-place recognition for a clean, crisp presentation of Colonial Candles. I like the way the designers tied in non-candle products like permanent botanicals and potpourri for add-on sales.

Midwest designs the Seasons of Cannon Falls brand of holiday and seasonal home accents and Colonial Candle brand of candles.

-- Kevin

Customers hop on shops that pop

“This year more than ever, retailers need to be at the top of their game,” said Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of “Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience.” In the book, a retailer that focuses on enhancing the shopping experience is described as a “shop that pops.”

“A shop that pops is one that is transformed from an ordinary store into an extraordinary shopping experience,” Danziger said. “A shop that pops becomes a destination for loyal customers to visit again and again, not because they need to buy anything, but because they want the thrill of shopping there once more. A shop that pops thrives because all the while shoppers are getting their experiential thrill, they are also shopping and spending money.”

Danziger profiles extraordinary retailers who have overcome obstacles to succeed, such as:

• Prairie Edge, Rapid City, S.D., offers authentic Native American arts and crafts -- with a big vision. The goal is not only to sell rare and fine objets d’art, but also to preserve the heritage of the native peoples and to provide a fair price to the artisans. Prairie Edge is one of the early pioneers of fair trade at retail that makes customers feel involved in the store’s mission.
• Tiger Lily, Charleston, S.C., is a florist shop that has won both local and national awards for stunning arrangements and superior service. The store succeeded only after its owners rejected what other people told them they needed to do to run a florist shop, like sell balloons, giftware and other non-flower items. Instead, they got rid of all the extraneous non-flower stuff and focused exclusively on delivering “awesome flowers.”
• Damsels in This Dress, Worthington, Ohio, has transformed from being just a fashion boutique. The store helps customers discover their own personal style by “bringing out the inner diva hidden inside every woman,” the store owner said.

Tell us: what are you doing to make your shop pop?

-- Kevin

Garden centers: The search is on for your Web site

Steve Cissel is founder and CEO of 10-20 Media, an Internet publishing company with specialized knowledge of the green industry. He also writes the blog Dot Common Sense. Today he discusses a way to be recognized by search engines.

At the ANLA Management Clinic in February, I reviewed more than 150 web sites for search engine optimization (SEO) structure, and all failed.

Is it any wonder that our green industry businesses are not showing up in the search engines? We are not being found. When consumers can't find the information they're looking for about our lawn and garden businesses, they pursue other things -- like doing research on buying a big screen TV. This information can be found online easily.

Now I'm not saying that you did anything wrong when you built your Web site initially. Everybody (OK, almost everybody) is in the same ‘lame Web site’ boat. What I am saying is that it's time to upgrade your site accordingly with sound SEO structure.

Data from many sources tells us that an Internet search -- or research on the Internet -- influences 70% or more of consumer purchases, and these dollars are being spent locally. Here is a graph that explains it.

So what does it mean to SEO your site? It means that your site needs to have pages for specific search terms. One of the most glaring weaknesses for the garden centers and nurseries that I reviewed was the lack of a page dedicated to the keyword ‘plants.’

Use any keyword suggestion tool and you will find that the keyword ‘plants’ is a jugular vein for traffic.

Another component of SEO is the geographical parameters of a page. More than 40% of searches have a geographical qualifier as part of the keyword. For example, if I do a search for ‘plants 54321’ (54321 = ZIP code). Will you be found? Most the time I see geographical information on the ‘contact us’ page only. Big mistake. People don't search for ‘contact us 54321.’

Bottom line is that a Web site needs to be constructed with individual pages that represent profit centers of the business, and each of those pages needs to be optimized for keywords that get traffic. Then, geographical information needs to be blended into the pages so that your business shows up in the search results covering the geographical reach of your business -- the areas beyond your immediate ZIP code.

If you decide to SEO your Web site sooner than later, you'll have first-mover advantage. The majority of green industry businesses have not awakened to SEO.

Wait? No telling what the price will be to play catch-up.

-- Steve Cissell

A call to veggies

At the ANLA Management Clinic, I heard a lot of people talking about the generation gap. Some were mystified about these foreign entities called Gen Y, and wary of the untold damage they will do to their business in the next few years. Others enjoyed batting around statistics and sharing opinions. Others dismissed the idea of a gap as overblown and as something that would have very little effect on garden centers.

The reason the topic stirs so much anxiety is that retailers don’t have concrete ideas of how to attract younger gardeners. More money on marketing? Better signs, more color in the store? Those ideas are good ones -- and frankly, something stores should be doing anyway. But they are kind of nebulous, not solid in the way that will reassure retailers.

I think I know of a good, tangible way to draw in younger gardeners: Vegetables.

Are veggies the answer?
Growing veggies at home meets a lot of different needs for young homeowners and even apartment dwellers with a sunny balcony.

• Economic. Homegrown veggies are cheap. Prices are soaring at the grocery store, and the first group to feel the pinch are those on their own for the first time and new homeowners.
• Buy local. One of the mantras of the sustainability movement is to favor local vendors first. When it comes to food, this is even more explicit. Consumers are urged to consider “food miles” when they buy their meat and produce, the distance the food had to travel to reach the stores. Stores popular with the younger crowd, like Whole Foods, have really embraced this trend. And what could be more local than growing the vegetables at home?
• Cooking is hot. This generation is really into cooking shows. The hosts are superstars, and many are their peers, like Rachael Ray, Jamie Oliver and Giada. And those customers that are just a few years older have their own peers in Bobby Flay and Mario Batali. Cooking is sexy. And each of these chefs emphasizes good food requires good ingredients. What’s better than freshly harvested?

Ideas to promote homegrown
Just offering vegetables isn’t enough. You need to tell these new homeowners and apartment dwellers they want homegrown vegetables. All the elements are there, you just need to nudge your future customers.

Here are a few ideas on how to do that:

• Move vegetables to the front of the store.
• Create signs that are emotional. Eating homegrown food isn’t just a practical matter. It taps into self-image, health and doing good for the environment. Use pictures that show harvested veggies, a family gathered around a kitchen island, chopping and laughing, or even the completed dish.
• Hold cooking classes. Cooking is hotter than gardening right now. Why not piggyback on the trend? Invite popular local chefs to conduct grilling classes. When you are negotiating the chef’s fee, include a pitch of how you want to encourage locals to take control of what they eat by growing it themselves. That might help reduce the fee. Also, make sure that any vegetables highlighted during the class are set up in a display just outside the door for easy follow-up sales.
• Join your community’s version of the Welcome Wagon. Create a flier emphasizing vegetables and throw in a coupon for new homeowners. Again, the promotional piece must have an emotional appeal. You can throw in a free soil test to assess how ready their yard is for growing veggies.
• Offer ready-to-harvest container vegetables. While most customers who decide they want homegrown vegetables on their table actually want the experience of gardening, you can appeal to the impulse shopper with ready-to-harvest plants. If you carry these, make sure you add tags or signs with something like “Enjoy a fresh cucumber salad for dinner tonight!”

Those are just a few of my ideas. If you brainstorm with your employees, you will likely come up with even more.

One complaint I’ve heard about vegetables is that they are so cheap that they make very little impact on your bottom line. But that’s thinking far too narrowly. If you get these younger gardeners hooked on gardening with vegetables, then you are creating long-term customers. The greatest worry about the younger generation is that they know almost nothing about how to garden. Vegetables just may be the path to garden retail’s future financial health.

-- Carol

Charged with being in charge?

We’re going to assume by your interest in this Web site that you (A) are a boss or (B) have a boss. It’s probably a reach to figure there are many students using me as the primary reference for their end-of-the-term research papers. Should you fall in that latter camp, however, take this advice (with apologies to the great Groucho Marx):

I wouldn’t want to read a paper that would have me as the subject.

Now, back to that boss thing. I can count on one hand the number of great supervisors I’ve had through the years. Meanwhile, I need another hand besides the two already in place to keep up with the mediocre/inconsequential/bad/intolerable leaders. Indeed, there’s a reason many of us laugh out loud at “Dilbert,” at “The Office,” and at “Office Space.” We’ve been there and done that … so we revel empathetically in the stories of those being there and doing that.

What we revel in more, though, is the boss that “gets it.” I recently ran across a Web site that defines such a supervisor, in case you’re looking to become just that. It’s even valuable if you’ve been bossin’ for a while and just want to maintain your edge.

Because you always try to maintain your edge, you’re no doubt wondering by now, “How does Yale feel about his current bosses?”

The answer depends on two factors: (1) Do they constantly strive to improve an employer/employee relationship?, and (2) Are they likely to read this blog?

-- Yale

Organize a great new year

I’m a list-y kind of person. I’m not so far gone that my lists have lists, but it’s a close thing. Recently, I discovered the joys of labeling. This combines organizing and office supplies for me, what could be better?

There are several personal labelers on the market but my particular favorite is the P-Touch. It’s portable, not too big and does lots of nifty things that satisfy both my organizing and creative needs. You can change the fonts and styles, make ’em big and fancy and italic – all sorts of cool things.

There is also the well-loved throwback labeler that I remember from the ’70s – you remember, you had to feed the black or red tape in and click the dial to a letter, squeeze the handle to make the impression and so on. I still have one of those!

Happy labeling!

-- Jennifer

Yuletide inspiration from GCA's Holiday Tour

Last week, I was on the road with Garden Centers of America visiting retailers in the Boston area. Here are some of the great display ideas I gleaned from the tour. Enjoy! Look for additional coverage in the February issue of Garden Center Magazine.

At A.J. Tomasi Nurseries, a decorative urn and bamboo obelisk pull double duty as a holiday bow display.

Churchill's dazzled visitors with ornate life-sized vignette displays.

Cole Gardens brought the holidays into its birding nook with charming bird-themed trees.

Mahoney's Winchester store found a festive way to display artificial wreaths without taking up precious wall space. These painted fence posts give quick and easy access to products.

Mahoney's Winchester also brings the holidays into its bird department. A birdbath makes a perfect display vessel for ornaments.

Seasons Four, a store specializing in outdoor furniture, doesn't store its primary wares during the holidays. Instead, tables and chairs are decked out for Christmas with themes befitting each grouping's individual style.

-- Sarah 

Consumers rely on directional signs, study shows

Forty percent of shoppers rely on directional signs while shopping, according to a recent study by M/A/R/C Research. Also, 13% of impulse purchases occur because customers saw a sign promoting the item.

“Impulse purchases are a key to retail success. When you factor in that 13% of these were driven by promotional signage, you quickly see the impact signage can have on sales,” said Tony Amador, M/A/R/C research v.p.

--Sarah

Netflix for handbags

Services that rent luxury automobiles and Vera Wang wedding dresses already exist, and it’s not all that uncommon for garden centers to rent out large tropical plants for weddings, parties and conventions. So I shouldn’t have been surprised to learn that handbag-rental services are the latest thing for fashionistas.

Instead of buying their shoulder candy, more women are renting them online. For the price of a single designer bag, women can rent a year’s worth.

BagBorroworSteal.com charges a monthly membership fee of $5-$9.95, which entitles women to choose from 3,000 bag styles, whose fees run from $6 a week to $275 a month. FromBagsToRiches.com doesn’t charge a membership fee, but its rental fees are higher: $34.95-$299.95 a month.

In the age of new luxury where some shoppers would forgo a month’s rent for the latest Chanel clutch, retail analysts predict more such companies may sprout up if interest in high-end products continues.

Let’s see now. Look around the garden center to see what kind of products are ripe for rentals: fountains and statuary for a corporate reception; fully decorated Christmas trees; planted urns and combination containers; pergolas, trellises and arbors; a potting station for a pot-your-own-plant party; chimineas, fire pits and cushy patio furniture. The list goes on.

-- Kevin

Simply glovely…

You’ve got to hand it to Tom Tuton and all the good folks at Athens Stonecasting Inc. Adding a pair of sturdy works gloves to each order of the company’s ornamental concrete products is a thoughtful — and prudent — gesture.

In this age of add-on sales — “would you like fries with that?” — it’s not uncommon to turn an item into an ensemble. In fact, that’s standard procedure in most buyer/seller settings. But to throw in a practical/useful/durable item on top of a purchase — at no perceived cost — leaves the customer feeling special and probably happy that she chose you as her source for things garden.

Sometimes the concept of “value added” is best expressed with the simplest of acts. Certainly, Athens Stonecasting has beautiful, lasting statuary and other decorative concrete items. Just as certainly, beautiful, lasting statuary and other decorative concrete items are difficult to maneuver around the yard. Tossing in a pair of gloves helps in that endeavor, BIG TIME. Plus, it shows the customer that you want to make her purchase as beneficial to her as it is to you.

Good thinking, Tom & Co. As soon as I take off my new gloves I’ll give you a big, green thumb’s up.

-- Yale