I often feel like garden centers are up against much of the same issues as book stores. Having grown up in smaller, indie bookstores (that's all there once was), I find this post, "Don't support Your Local Bookseller" at Slate interesting. Could the same things be said about your local garden center? How would you respond to a post titled, "Don't Support Your local Garden Center"? Interesting reading with one commenter saying that, "indie bookstores are like indie record stores (or indie garden centers)— they’re either great, or lousy, without much in-between. When the staff is composed of hipsters (experts) who look down on customers, they’re lousy". What say you?
Watching the Trend Watchers
A post by fellow nurseryman Greg Draiss at Garden Center Magazine will get you stirring this morning. Greg takes issue with some of the trend reports we receive every year. Head on over and see if you agree or dis-agree. Are you a Generation X or Y? Greg lays it out concerning appealing to this demographic. Trends that we are told are hot, according to Greg, are not.
Agree, or dis-agree its thought provoking. You can find the article here.
Quit trying to please me!
Over at Garden Center Magazine they are talking trends in the garden center world. I enjoy reading this stuff whether I agree or not. It helps open your mind, and think about stuff beyond today. At the same time I hate trend reports! Is that weird? My feeling has always been to start the trends, don't follow them. So I find myself interested, yet jaded and skeptical. Turns out I am not alone.
Read the side bar at the Garden Center article titled, "Gen X customers demand a genuine retail experience". I read a quote from a Gen. X on a Facebook post the other day. They said, "In this season of new-found 'political correctness', I am completely offended and infuriated by your attempts not to offend me. Therefore, I'll be boycotting as many of you as possible."
Until our trade quits obsessing over trying to "be cool", we'll never be cool. Quit trying to please me, and instead perform your craft or trade with the best of your ability. That's cool.
Wanted: "Change Agents"
Are your in the garden center business? Are you interested in becoming involved with other "change agents" in our trade? Do you find some organizations to "top-heavy" with no real interaction amongst the members? I do, and have found the solution. It's the most active garden business page I have found on Facebook, Independent Garden Centers & Nurseries.
To join you need to be working at, or own a retail garden center or nursery. The size of the nursery is not important, but rather the size of your ideas that matters. You'll get more information, in a quicker format than any other place, or event. No top down hierarchy to water things down. No advertising. No mass merchants. No vendors. No wholesale growers. Cost? Your time. Results, usually within minutes. We are now an international group with members from Europe joining in.
Just yesterday someone in our group asked, "How are Christmas Tree Sales so far?". This morning there are 22 comments. Real time results. Another member the day before asks, "Have any of you relocated your business from an out of the way location to a better location?" 16 comments by the end of the day. Again, nowhere is there this kind of interaction in our trade on any other trade media page.
Why do we get results? The people on the page WANT to be there. It's not about "being a member", but rather seeing results. Many of our members have mentioned how the ideas that have been discussed on the page, when implemented have produced positive outcomes.
If you feel like your just not getting the results you would like from your current efforts, join us and make a difference. Go to our Facebook Page, ask to join, and be patient. It takes three days to be accepted, but it's worth the wait. You'll be amongst others who see things a little differently than the mainstream.
Buy Quality, Made In America
The shopping season approaches and the seasonal call to buy "Made in America" is heard, this time from ABC news. "Made in America Christmas:Are you in?" asks us to spend just $64 on stuff made in America. Supposedly this will help save 200,000 jobs. Why they figure spending $64 on made in America will save 200,000 jobs is questionable. I guess they needed a big number and that one came up. No explanation how this will save that number of jobs, but who needs facts or figures? No, just tell us how you plan to spend that $64.
Here is the thing. I am not going to buy made in America if it's not a great product. That's what I dislike about efforts like American Expresses Small Business Saturday, or this Buy America effort. Just because it's a local business doesn't mean it's a good business. Just because it's "Made in America" doesn't mean it's a good product. If my locally owned business sells stuff imported from England, what do I do?
Bottom line is, make a better product, provide a better service, at a cost people are willing to pay and you will be successful. I am not sure how many products my local Target carries that are made in America, but I couldn't find any. It is actually quite depressing to walk through any of our major retailers these days looking for "Made in America". What happens if your efforts to "Buy American" causes Target to lay off employees? How does that help the community?
We recently bought an All-American Pressure Cooker for our new hobby, canning. While being American made was a factor, the deciding factor was it's the BEST pressure cooker out there. If it had poor rating, or reputation we would have bought a different brand. I am proud to support "Quality, Made In America".
The way forward is to become a nation of "makers", instead of just takers. We need to make a better product, at a price that the customer will pay. It's that simple. Here is an interesting nugget from the Wall Street Journal Article linked to above, "Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.It gets worse. More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees." I am not criticizing government worker's. My Dad worked in city government all his life. It's just the place we find ourselves today.
If we want people to really get behind the "Made in America" effort we need to build better stuff, at a price people feel gives them value. We could call it, "Buy Quality, American Made"
The Last Black Friday?
Black Friday has come and gone and now retailers are yelling for joy. According to reports Black Friday sales we're up 6.6% from last year. It's a success! But wait, all is not good, "some of the biggest and most rapidly growing components of retailing include segments that we don't really think of as shopping. The biggest retail sector is cars and car parts, which account for about 18 percent of the total; they're up 10.1 percent so far this year. Food and beverage stores — i.e. groceries—constitute about 13.2 percent of sales, and they're up 5.6 percent through the first ten months. Gasoline stations alone account for 11.7 percent of total sales, and their sales are up 19 percent so far in 2011, thanks to higher gas prices. Food service and drinking places account for 10.7 percent of total sales." Inflation rears it's head.
I think this Black Friday may be a watershed moment. Brick and Mortar business, which the day was devised for continue to suffer. How can you sustain a business when your giving away stuff for what you paid for it? A $400 TV for $199 doesn't leave much profit, if any to run on. More and more people are shopping online where the threat of being pepper sprayed while shopping is diminished. The violence we see on TV will cause people to avoid the whole day at the mall, and instead shop from home.
I find Black Friday the antithesis of what the season is suppose to be. Christmas, and the assorted holidays are now just dates on the calendar for many people. A time to spend, spend, spend. It's going to be coming to halt real soon. While anything can happen, I feel we are headed into an era of continued store closings. There are just too many retail stores for the need. It's happening in the nursery business, and many other businesses.
Garden centers and nurseries would be wise to position themselves as the antithesis of Black Friday. Places that calm the nerves, inspire the mind, and provide a locally produced product that increases in value over time.
"Hand-Made Plants?"
Interesting article in Wired magazine,"These May Be The Droids Farmers Are Looking For".The article is about robots and technology working for the wholesale nurseries.
It seems the trade continues to fragment along two lines. Large agriculture (wholesale growers)their customers (box stores and mass merchants), and a smaller ("hand made")agriculture for smaller customers. It would seem that we are coming close to a time when we in the smaller garden center businesses will be able to call our offerings "hand-made", distinguishing our offerings from the "robot-produced" goods the competition carries.
Northern California nursery closes after 60 years
What so weird about the nursery closings out here in nor Cal is the ones closing have been around for a long time, and often we're the ones we looked to as the best. The most recent long standing nursery to close is Scenic Nursery in Modesto. After 60 years in business, Jim Rogers who has worked there for the last 50 years, has decided to close the business. 
Modesto sits smack dab in the middle of The Central Valley, which has been hit hard by the economic downturn and a 15% unemployment rate. As Jim said in an article in the Modesto Bee, “People are just barely hanging on,” he said. And those who aren’t struggling to keep their homes aren’t spending money like they had. People used to have a house that had an equity,” Rogers said. “They would say, ‘OK, I gotta stay home this summer, but we can afford to spend some money on the yard, because look at how much the house is worth.’ People just don’t feel as wealthy.” This is the story of California's Garden Center Business.
The comments concerning the closing show just how hard it is to make ends-meet in this business. One commenter says, "PLEASE DON'T CLOSE!!!!!! I have always loved that nursery, but I could never afford to buy the plants there. JUST LOWER YOUR PRICES. I think alot of people feel that way too. It is an icon. I would just go in there to see the beautiful plants and knowledgeable staff. JUST LOWER YOUR PRICES. I know you will get more business. Where else are we all going to go to get good answers." Where indeed.
Another commenter say's, "My 7 year old son nearly cried when he heard this was going out of business. He said, "Mom, just go there this weekend and give them more money so they can stay open!" We were frequent shoppers at Scenic and my son absolutely adored the kids play area. He also loved all the classes they'd have for children. I disagree with any posts saying their prices were too high. Compared to the cruddy .99 offerings of the big box stores that barely ever survived, Scenic Nursery was a deal! Their knowledge will be missed. I'm not sure where I'll go for help with my tough gardening questions now."
The ripple effects of closing will spread. Scenic bought from Annie's Annuals and is the second Master Nursery to close in just the last month, or two. And really, lowering the prices would have helped? You don't know what your missing until it's gone.
Occupy the garden!
What is it about the Dig, Drop, and Done campaign that is missing? There is no way to spread the message, since there is no message to spread. When you watch the videos do you feel compelled to forward them to a friend? Do you hear a call to action? Where is the social object that we can use, and help spread? We have a product, bulbs. If you look at a tulip or daffodil bulb they are unique in shape and easily recognized. If this shape where used in a marketing campaign the bulb could become an easily shared "social object". Example: Showing Generation X or Y types under the cloak of darkness planting bulbs in abandoned city lot's, or street medians. Now the bulb is a object that can be used to spread a message.
"OTG" (Occupy The Garden!) might be more fitting for the time and place than Juliana's "On Trend" video.
"Occupy the Garden!" Spread the word.
The "Dig, Drop, and Done" bulb video's are here!
We have talked about the bulb industries new ad campaign, Dig, Drop, and Done here. Now for your weekend entertainment we present the video's you have all been waiting for. Check them out. Let me know what you think. Do they hit the right tone? Do they call you to action? Is this the right direction for garden marketing? More of the videos can be found here. Oh, and it looks like Juliana is suppose to be from San Francisco by that window shot. She would be a better fit for the LA lifestyle than what I see in SF, IMHO.
Don't just stand there, "Plant Something!"
While the folks at the Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association are putting together focus groups to find out "Why People Don't Buy Plants From Us" The Arizona Nursery Association figures to heck with focus groups. We know what the public needs. They need to be told to "Plant Something". According to the website of the Association, "ANA received a USDA Specialty Crop Grant this last year to promote the nursery industry. To do this, ANA is working with Park & Co., professional advertising firm, to develop a state wide campaign promoting planting and the benefits that go along with it. The campaign debuted at the 2010 Earth Day celebration."
According to The Park & Co. website the campaign is "a fun, semi-radical campaign that sows new perspectives on the importance of greenery into the minds of Arizonans." Semi-radical? That's what the trade needs right now, "semi-radical" action. I am not even sure if those two words can go together. Well, The Arizona Nurseries paid good money for it, so it must make sense.
Our trade is adrift. What amazes me is after all the talk we have had concerning social media these groups continue to attempt the "old-school" method of trying to reach everyone, including people who just don't want to "plant something". What we really need to do is focus on our current customers, and allow them the tools to help spread our message.
Check out this list of participating nurseries.
Why don't people buy plants from us?
Why does the Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association feel it's necessary to conduct focus groups on how "consumers feel about plants." According to Garden Center Magazine, "CNLA (Connecticut Nursery & Landscape Association)plans to convene four group sessions in a specially-selected, representative sample of consumers throughout the state, using a professional market-research firm." That professional market-research firm will receive "$35,000 specialty crop block grant from the Connecticut Department of Agriculture and the USDA." Now I assume the money is collected from member companies by the Department of Agriculture via dues or some assessment? Kind of like we we're talking about in my last post.What will we get for $35,000? We will find out, "what consumers really feel about the quality of plants, the state's retail stores, service, price points and reasons why they don't buy plants, among others."
Why do you need to spend $35,000 for information that we have already have. Haven't we focused grouped this stuff enough? Does anyone really feel they will gain some new insight from this? Is this just a way to throw money at a problem? Couldn't this be done really cheap through social media? Just create a questionnaire, send it to garden centers, bloggers, media, etc., and ask for a response. It wouldn't be that difficult to do, and it wouldn't cost $35,000.
What is the message?
Do we in the garden businesses need a national advertising campaign to remind people of the benefit's of gardening? That's the message that Danny Takao want's to spread. Danny owns Takao Nursery in Fresno, CA. Danny published an article in Greenhouse Grower, a trade magazine titled, "Danny Takao's National Promotion Idea".He feels, "a non-profit organization serve as the vehicle that collects annual dues from the entire supply chain." He continues, "What if a non-profit organization could be the funding/collecting mechanism via assessed yearly dues? Instead of focusing on one group, we assess the complete supply chain based on annual sales. Let’s say we collect $250 to $1,000. If we spread that over everyone in the industry, no one group or company would bear the cost of this campaign. That should raise a minimum of $1 million, plus enough to get going with our national campaign."
He sums up the problems we face, and they are daunting. To end the article Danny say's, "I know this is blue-sky thinking but I can't think of a better time to get this going. As past president of OFA, I've heard it all – from those who see the vision to those who do but say they can't afford to contribute. My thinking is we can't afford to sit on the sidelines. The wait-and-see approach is not a good one for our industry."
This has caused quite a stir in the garden center world. At our Independent Garden Center Facebook page and our Retail Garden Center, Vendor, and Media page the comments are on both sides of the fence. Everyone agrees that the trade faces some challenges. Some would love to jump all over this while others reject the idea of a "assessment" on their business, or that a national ad campaign will even help.
My question is, "What is the message that we wish to have spread?", and "who are we wishing would hear the message?
Hello Kitty plants are here!
According to FloraHolland.com "Flora Holland, in cooperation with Clayrton's Design and Packaging and ten reputable growers, has developed a unique retail concept called Hello Kitty Plants." According to FloraHolland.com, "The target group of Hello Kitty Plants, which consists of young girls and women, constitutes a large potential market for flowers and plants. Hello Kitty's ubiquitous pink and overall image go together well with flowers and plants, and because of its global presence, the Hello Kitty Plants concept has sales potential in every country."
It would seem everyone want's to get in on the "branding" bandwagon. Sunset Magazine recently announced it's new, "Sunset Western Garden Collection" that according to the website Plantdevelopment.com, "is an exclusive plant collection specifically designed for landscapes of the West." This follows HGTV's recently announced plant collection. Agricola Management Group say's, "The new plant line, featuring everything from high quality perennials, annuals, shrubs and trees to seeds, bulbs and more, comes to market backed by the media power of HGTV and its own high impact marketing program, supported by hgtv.com."
Work at Annie's Annuals
Here is a great opportunity to work at one of the more dynamic nurseries around. Annie's Annuals in Richmond Ca., is looking to fill three different nursery positions. You can check them out here. According to Elayne who works at the nursery, "we're quirky, offer good health benefits and pay fairly. We work really hard - but we also have a lot of fun!"
If I wanted to build or continue a career in garden center retail this would be a great place. Frankly, there are not that many places around that afford this kind of opportunity in our trade. Learn and work with people who are leading the way in garden retail.