Managing a Marketing Plan 101

anthonycurnow.com
Introduction

In last months Groundswell we looked at the considerations a business must make in developing a marketing plan. Like all plans, Marketing Plans are subject to change and require regular review to remain effective. With the 4 P’s in mind (Price, Product, Promotion and Place), this article takes the marketing plan one further, by introducing you to two common analysis tools which can be used to evaluate your marketing strategy.

Ansoff’s Matrix

Igor Ansoff first introduced this matrix in the Harvard Business Review in 1957, and is used by marketers around the globe. The matrix focuses on the businesses existing and potential new products and customers, or the proposed market of the business. This is expressed by the following:

Market Penetration – By adopting this section of the matrix, the business is committing to selling its current products and services to the existing market, with the aim of increasing its overall market share. You may do this by rebranding, or marketing your product through conventional means. This is a low risk opportunity, and like most business decisions that are low risk, will provide the slowest return on investment. Once a point of market saturation is reached, the business needs to adopt another area of the matrix.

Market Development – Here the business looks to open its doors to a new market by identifying key product lines that may appeal to that particular demographic. Key opportunities here may be the ‘grow your own’ trend where there is scope to market to the junior generations who typically occupy far smaller market share in garden centres.

Product Development – This becomes more high risk, but certainly necessary in retail garden centres where new plant introductions are staple to generating turnover each season. It’s how you go about this that really makes the difference. People love new products, and product development and selling these to your existing customers is what will generate increased footfall and greater sales.

Diversification – Diversification holds the greatest risk, and involves the introduction of a new product geared towards an entirely new market. We have seen this take place in many garden centres over time with the introduction of gift shops, outdoor living and cafes. We have all read about nurseries that are currently taking this one step further with the introduction of farm shops, health and well being centres and garden design and maintenance services. Most of these examples are what we would call related diversification, i.e. they are related to your existing business. Unrelated expansion is far less common. While risk is high, diversification provides opportunities for greater returns and a broader business portfolio that may secure you against losses in other areas.

Boston Matrix

Have you ever heard someone say ‘what a dog of a plant!’? The meaning of this traces back to a very effective marketing strategy tool titled the Boston Matrix. The Boston Matrix was developed in the 1970s by Bruce Henderson of one of the largest business strategy consulting groups in the world – Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This matrix looks to identify opportunities for market growth given your existing market share.

Stars – high market share, high growth

These are product lines that return a lot to a businesses growth; however they also require large amounts of investment to compensate for this growth. Should the product maintain its large market share, it may eventually turn into a cash cow.

Cash Cows – high market share, low growth

These are product lines that maintain a high market share with low growth, requiring fewer resources to be input while continuing to return large margins. These are your ‘bread and butter’ lines and rarely will they drop out of the market, reducing them to dogs.

Dogs – low growth, low market share

Bringing me back to my original question about a dog plant – Dogs are products that have a low share of the market but require continual investment with minimal return. These are plant lines that you may hold in your product range as a means of providing the customer with a point of difference to your competitor, but they are not your money earners. Liquidation is the most common solution for your dogs.

Question Mark – high growth, low market share

A question mark is placed on those products that consume a lot of cash while providing a minimum return. You may invest in a question mark as many have potential to turn into stars once market share increases, and then become cash cows. However they often are not sustainable at this level, resulting in the product falling out of the market, reducing it to a dog. Should you wish to invest in a question mark, it’s pivotal in understanding the time which one should liquidate.

In thinking about this matrix, consider where plants such as the Golden Diosma, common red Geranium, Goji Berry, Flower Carpet series and even olives, particularly on a commercial level, might fit into the matrix.

Selecting and reviewing your product lines should be an ongoing process. All too often buying and stock control decisions are made on a whim. Careful line by line sales analysis will provide you with information to make informed decisions about your stock range. By maintaining a shared portfolio of stars, cash cows and question marks, while avoiding the dogs, you can increase your overall turnover and profitability.

Conclusion

There are lots of systems that address business performance, and getting professional advice is important when making significant business strategy decisions.

Growth of a business comes through careful planning and a proactive means of attack, once you have identified your customer’s needs. Using the above systems as a basis for building your clientele, you can then look at harvesting these people for repeat business through a Customer Relationship Management program. Read more on these, and how you might work them into your business strategy in a future issue of Groundswell.

References

McDonald (2007) Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them

Ansoff, H. I. `Strategies for diversification,' Harvard Business Review, 35 (5), 1957, pp. 113- 124.

Elliot, Rundle-Theile, Waller & Paladino (2008) Marketing: Concepts & Applications, 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons Australia.

Designing a Marketing Plan 101

anthonycurnow.com
I’m often asked about how businesses can go about marketing themselves effectively. This is not an easy question to answer, as marketing encompasses many more activities than most people realise. The term marketing clearly comes from the word ‘market,’ which simply refers to the transfer of cash for goods or services. On a more defined level, marketing might be described as a set of processes used to ensure customer satisfaction. The result of customer satisfaction is clear – greater profit in your pocket.

Step by Step Design 1 – Define Your Target Market

The first step in designing a marketing plan is identifying and understanding who you want to sell to, and create relationships with. There are two groups that need to be considered, both of whom need to be marketed to differently.

Consumer Market – these are individuals who are driven by their own motivations which are influenced through demographic, behaviour and psychology.

Business Market – these are individuals or groups who are buying for someone else. In the nursery and garden industry the business market is often the landscapers that deal direct with retailers. The business market is influenced by geographic location, the client, and end use of the product.

2 - The Marketing Mix

Once you have identified your target market, you are then in a position to develop a marketing mix. A marketing mix identifies a businesses four P’s - Products, Price, Place and Promotion, which are designed and balanced to work together to achieve the businesses objectives.

Product: Deciding on what products you carry in your garden centre is critical. They must meet the needs and desires of your current and potential customers. If you have products that appear not to be turning over, it is likely because your customer has no need for them or doesn’t want them. Conducting research through satisfaction surveys or other indirect means may be useful in providing product that they will purchase. It could be as simple as getting staff to log requests of items throughout the year, with the aim of introducing these into your range given demand for them.

Price: Price is a critical component of the marketing mix because customers are invariably concerned about the value of a purchase. Price is the most readily changeable characteristic of the marketing mix due to fluctuations in market share, production costs, competition and the customer’s perceived value. Balancing these influences is the tricky bit, and should be in a state of constant review on each product line.

Place: Place is concerned with where and how your products are distributed to the consumer. This might include on site facilities such as the physical attributes of your store. The Australian Garden Centre Accreditation Scheme (AGCAS) focuses on achieving professionalism in this sector of the market mix. Place may also relate to processes to assist the customer in the purchase of a product such as lay-by, delivery or even on-line stores.

Promotion: Promotion covers the communication tools used to build and maintain relationships by informing and persuading your target audience. There are a number of ways that a business can communicate with customers:

• Personal Selling: Old fashioned customer service, providing the right advice and aiding the customer in their choices for the purpose of a sale.
• Sales Promotion: Price deals, coupons, loyalty programs and rebates.
• Public Relations/Publicity: Participation in community activities, media programs, causes for individuals. Generally presenting your business as an engaged corporate citizen.
• Advertising: Television commercials, radio broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, newsletters, billboards and websites.
• Direct Marketing: Methods for directly communicating with customers such as newsletters, direct targeted mail outs, emailing and phone calling.
• Combination of above – A customer relationship management (CRM) program may employ a variety of the promotional activities above.

Once you have devised a marketing plan using the processes discussed, it is important to continually evaluate your plan at regular intervals to make sure it continues to be effective. A SWOT analysis can be a very useful tool in evaluating not only marketing plans, but many other aspects of your business too.

SWOT Analysis

Some of you have probably used a SWOT analysis before, or at least are aware of what they are. A SWOT analysis seeks to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within your business. Once identified, these may be compared and analysed, allowing you to be subjective about decisions relating to the development of the business.

The top side of the quadrant, the strengths and weaknesses, are internal influencing factors. These are current and existing issues within the business. The opportunities and threats on the bottom of the quadrant are external influences and can’t necessarily be controlled, but can be used as a tool or guide to your own development.

On the left side of the quadrant you have the positive influencing factors to your businesses growth. The strengths of your business are those that currently exist, it is the things in your business that set you aside from your competition. For many retailers in rural parts of Victoria, AGCAS Accreditation plays a key role as one of their strengths. Their participation in the program assists their businesses development and growth while also being a very marketable attribute. You need to think outside the square and in turn identify the niche that holds current strength and opportunity for growth.

The negatives of your business can be found in the right hand side of the quadrant. These include your current weaknesses such as lack of marketing experience or poor quality stock. External negative influences are considered threats and may be a new competitor, or price wars initiated by an existing competitor.

A SWOT analysis is a very subjective means of identifying your businesses positive and negative attributes and should be used simply as a guide. It would be worthwhile for a SWOT analysis to be carried out at least by the business owner, but also by staff. This allows you to identify the varying perceptions within the culture of the organisation, providing opportunity to turn current negatives, into positives for business growth.

Conclusion

While much of what has been presented here may seem obvious, it is the structured process of analysing your existing and potential markets that will provide opportune benefit to the development of your business. So, grab a pen and piece of paper and start planning! In the next issue of Groundswell I will introduce you to further tools for managing your marketing plan.

References:

Belch, Belch, Kerr & Powell (2009) Advertising and Promotion, An Integrated Marketing Communication Perspective, 1st Edition, McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd
Elliot, Rundle-Theile, Waller & Paladino (2008) Marketing: Concepts & Applications, 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons Australia.
Summers, Gardiner, Lamb, Hair & McDaniel (2003) Essentials of Marketing. Thomson

Selling to the Next Generation of Gardeners

anthonycurnow.com
Generational change is the hot topic, with the baby boomers moving to retirement, a shift in the expectations of the ‘average’ customer is taking place as it’s the babies of the baby boomers who are now having the babies. That’s right! With this shift comes opportunity to harness new customers and adapt to the times with the next generation of gardeners coming to the fore.

I was in a bar one weekend recently and ended up speaking to a friend of a friend who is in a senior management role, and sure enough the conversation went from the stresses of employment to what one does to create balance in their life. Gardening was the activity of choice for this person; with the statement ‘gardening is relaxing’ being expressed. I was intrigued by this. Finally, people my own age are turning to their own backyards for recreation. The Gen X/Yers are now in the key target market for gardening. Many of us have our own spaces which we want to beautify and show off to our friends, many of us also don’t own our space which is why portability is important. We love to grow our own, and the latest Newspoll shows this with 76% of Australians between the ages of 18-34 planning on doing spring gardening this year, 5% higher than all older age groups. In addition to this, the Grow Your Own food trend is on the rise, with 66% of Australians growing their own fruit, vegetables or herbs this year.

While the Gen X/Y may seem like a difficult demographic to sell to, it’s simply a matter of understanding them. Generation X/Y exhibit very varied lifestyles. Someone who is 26 may be a born again hippy of the 60’s, or they might be the up and coming stockbroker on Collins street – it’s up to you as the salesperson to identify what they ‘want’, as opposed to need, base upon current trends and the individual customers position in life.

In terms of gardening inspiration, Newspoll found a staggering 75% get inspiration for their own gardens from other people's gardens, 68% from gardening or lifestyle TV shows and 53% from garden centres, which is more positive news for garden retailers. This tells me we really need to paint this generation a picture, we are lagging behind here in areas of inspiration and experiential retailing – get some young creative people on staff and let them take some ownership with visual merchandising – given creative flare, they will create exactly what this demographic wants.

Never hard sell, soft selling with minimal pressure is the approach to take. The younger generations are rarely persuaded by pressure, and if put in such a position they will simply walk away. You as the salesperson simple needs to paint a picture in the customers mind based on the information you draw from them. Understanding exactly what the customer wants, combined with good product knowledge is key to offering the sole solution to the customers needs and desires.

Tell me something you don’t know right? People in the age group of our up and coming gardeners despise being told what to do; they ultimately despise looking incompetent or unknowledgeable. Understanding this is the first step to making a successful sale out of this customer demographic. This is a key point to keep in mind.

On the topic of staff, David Cripps (Town and Country Gardens) noted the importance of matching staff with customer. An upper class lady in her 50s has totally different needs, opinions, interests and expectations to our next generation of gardeners. Suitably matching staff to your customer base is the first step to what I would label as a naturally occurring sale.

The following presents an interesting quadrant system of identifying customer emotive decision making:
http://www.youngentrepreneurs.net.au/generationselling.html

Finally, what is your garden centre doing to capture and engage the next generation of gardeners? The two garden centres below have taken initiative by creating ‘children’s days’ as a means of education, community support and building business.

Anthony’s top 5 tips for selling to Generation X/Y

1 – Identify how much space they have – are they renting and need to be able to move their plants in the future?
2 – Don’t pressure them – we are a generation who can make our own minds, and pressuring us in our decisions puts up high walls immediately.
3 – Offer solutions, not options – they know what they want, it’s up to you as the salesperson to identify this. Gen X/Y aren’t concerned, nor do they want to be confused by options.
4 – Be clear and concise with your technical transfer and only tell them what they need to know, not everything you know.
5 – Don’t forget decisions are made with emotions, impulse is everything.


Case Studies: Two retail nurseries engaging the junior generation.

Garden Classes – The Gardeners Corner Store

Last school holidays, The Gardener’s Corner Store in Brighton decided to run a series of garden classes designed to encourage interest in the next generation of gardeners. The objectives of these classes were as follows:
• Promote the future generation of gardeners
• Focus on sustainability
• Share knowledge and passion for gardening
• Encourage kids to be more active rather than playing computer games

Each two hour class introduced the children (ages 3+) to the basics of what plants need to grow and gave them the hands on opportunity to plant up a variety of vegetables and seedlings. With all classes oversubscribed, they were well received by parents who enrolled their children and enjoyed by all participants (and staff!).

Earth Kids – The Outside Bit

On Sunday 27th of September, The Outside Bit (Melanie Cole, Tony Hellier and staff) sponsored and organised the running of an event dubbed as Earth Kids, Raising This Generation Sustainably. Being run by the Koonwarra Business Group in collaboration with Koonwarra Sustainable Communities Centre, the event stretches well beyond the gates of The Outside Bit.

The initiative aims to promote to all carers how we can all take simple steps to protect the planet. It’s all about what is in our food, how to grow food in any size of space, and products that embrace the principles of minimum packaging, recycling or chemical free origin. The opportunity to sell preloved goods will help manage the needs of our growing children through the many stages and show children steps to lead by example in valuing recycled products.

Melanie wishes to mention the strong support of Debco, Oasis and Aussie Rice Straw, of who have all assisted in providing opportunity for the kids’ activities of planting a vegetable seedling to take home to nurture.

The event was a huge success, with people travelling far and wide to get involved and learn about how we impact on our planet and what we can do on an individual level to make a difference. Melanie noted that simply put, ‘when you give back to a community, you receive, not just financially but on a personal level’ too.

Feeding or Leading? A new approach to 'GYO'

nthonycurnow.com

Feeding or Leading? A new approach to ‘grow your own’.

I am forever looking at ways in which other retailers do their thing, to ascertain new retail models and understand the way retailers of varying goods and services sell these to the consumer. A lot can be learnt through every day retail experiences.

When it comes to ‘grow your own’, I believe we are feeding the market trend by offering what people want, but are we leading it? Media has a strong position in guiding the public with the ‘grow your own’ trend. This is being marketed relatively well to the consumer, which is why we have seen a surge in this area.

Each time I visit Ikea, I walk away with a new idea – my latest of these is that relating to demonstration. While some retailers have installed 'no dig' gardens, and others have constructed entire veggie plots, I wonder how it is that you link this in with your sales.

Demonstration gardens are important in setting the scene of your garden centre, but unless they walk away from the store having been sold the package, the consumer will be as misguided as the moment they stepped into the store. Education is very important in this role. So what am I proposing is the following:
1. Keep the display vegetable patch simple - sow/plant in rows, or ensure that the patch is clearly defined and each plant is identifiable.
2. Point of sale needs to be simple too and most importantly, linked in with your stock lines. In doing so you might create a 'planting map' - this would be similar to the Ikea model rooms where each item is labelled and can be picked up in the self service area. Take a photo of the punnet of vegetables and include on the POS - you need to educate the newer gardeners by creating the link between what a seedling looks like compared to a full size plant. My housemate recently planted 4 capsicums and a tomato in one 12 inch pot - my point exactly.
3. If you are hoping to make this as self-serviceable as possible, remember that you need to provide the customer with the resources to link between demonstration and a sale- i.e. a pencil and piece of paper, or a physical planting plan to take away.
4. Have appropriate stock on hand at all times, don't demonstrate something you can't offer - disappointment is nearly as negative as a poor salesperson.
5. Encourage interactivity - offer picked vegetables for free and utilise taste as a sensual sales point while also allowing children to pick your veggie patch - remember never use negative signage like 'not for sale' or 'do not pick'.

Growing your own is undoubtedly the biggest trend to hit the retail market in decades, and it is up to you to foster this new found interest in people. You want them to walk away with knowledge and the products to succeed in their ventures, so as to ensure they return - negative experiences are scarring.

So when you come to selling the ‘grow your own’ trend, make it simple and educational, as not all consumers can assemble their own productive patch with no instructions.

Challenging Times Calls for Proactive Measures in the UK

anthonycurnow.com
The retail market conditions in the UK have been incredibly volatile at late, with the global financial crisis pressuring retailers nationwide. Nigel Eaton is Head of the Royal Horticultural Societies Wisley Plant Centre, which has responded to the changing retail environment in a proactive manner. Generating footfall is one way of increasing gross profit, and Nige presents some ideas which they have utilised over the past Spring/Summer season and which you too might be able to adapt to your garden centre.
Overview of the Season Past
At the end of 2008 retail sales in the UK had taken rather a pasting, even high street giants such as Marks and Spencer were offering “discount days” to draw in the customers.

I have managed garden centres through three recessions now, and luckily the garden centre industry has always weathered the storm well because of people staying put in their homes, making them as welcoming and attractive as possible during times of money shortage. On the back of this knowledge, the garden centre trade held its nerve and planned for a good spring and summer, and it paid off.

This year we were armed with “Grow your own” as a great marketing tool and the country took this to heart. This saw a significant rise in sales of vegetable plants, seeds and soft fruit [berries, currents and strawberries to name a few] as well as the accompanying garden care products. This included modular vegetable beds, hand tools, seed trays, cold frames, plant supports, any number of feeds, pest control and barriers. To demonstrate the British consumers love for growing their own, the waiting list for allotments now stands at 200,000. All this activity was rewarded with a great growing season so the public were successful in their activities which only reinforced the success of the campaign.

In addition to identified marketable trends, we held a number of events running for single days or weekends depending upon their potential attendance. With these we focused on a plant variety or collection of varieties to drive plant sales and link sales of garden care products. “Orchid Weekend” is always a favourite in our calendar in January [England’s Winter] and we saw a significant number of customers visiting over the two days for informal talks and potting demonstrations. We then had “Snowdrop Splendour” where we highlighted these beautiful heralds of spring, which saw a huge interest over the two days doubling our turnover from the previous year. “Hellebore Heaven” we have been running for a number of years, but this was still a strong draw as was our “Auricula Spectacular” and our “Riot of Roses”.

Now comes the interesting one - We held an “Agapanthus weekend” where we invited Jason Bloom of the famous Bressingham Gardens and Nurseries to speak. It was one of our highest attended events ever, with Mr Bloom speaking to a full house - in excess of 80 people at each presentation. On each of the 6 talks Mr Bloom advocated for other plant associations including Crocosmia (Montbretia) which also helped boost sales. Interestingly, Ryan Simpson our Australian Special Option Certification RHS trainee (who you will all know) informed me that these plants are weeds in Australia, and he couldn’t believe how the customers were so blown away by them!

I’m sitting here typing this article having just set up our “Fabulous Fuchsias” event (I can hear you groaning at all the tacky titles) and our speaker for the day is Carol Gubler the President of the British Fuchsia society. These plants have really come back into fashion with the arrival of new varieties that are much more floriferous, and the move back to planting in pots and containers. We had a hot summer in 2006 and the trend for container planting was badly hit by water shortage, (nothing like the water conservation needs in certain Australian states) but a knock on effect was the down turn in anything not planted in the perennial border planting.

The future is to find plant groups or ways of growing plants and make them “aspirational” or “on trend” and then get the nursery producers to build on this process with new or improved varieties. Over the last two years we have seen a significant increase in varieties of begonias, grasses, geraniums and hostas and we are hoping to highlight these next year. Improved means of displaying short life bedding plants have also shown significant inventiveness as the wall display in the image demonstrates (Anthony article 001).

For 2010 we are looking forward to showing our customers planting combinations and colour themed displays to impress and inspire. Hopefully we will also see the upturn elsewhere in the economy, while retaining customers we have gained at the plant centre through these austere times. We as an industry make peoples lives better, we improve their environment and on the whole we keep people aware of the seasons that no other industry manages to do so well. The few things I have mentioned here are opportunities that we should all embrace and encourage, as a means of building a sustainable future for independent garden centres world wide.

Anthony’s Response
While much of what Nige presents here has gearing towards the UK market, it is how you interpret and disseminate these ideas to provide you with opportunities for growth. Planning the year ahead is particularly important as it gives you sufficient time for promotion of events, which is ultimately essential for success.
A few things I wish to highlight are the importance of planning and promotion of such events in garden centres. Appropriate planning will allow for smooth implementation, a professional approach to marketing and also allow you to tap into potential networks in the community (such as specialist plant interest groups). These ties with affiliated associations and community groups is key to an event with credibility. Finally, making the event measurable, and not just by counting the amount of people attending allows for appropriate decision making for future events to ensure maximum return on investment is achieved.

Capitalise on Christmas

anthonycurnow.com
It’s the season of the gift fairs and it’s also the time to be thinking about Christmas. I believe there is huge opportunity for retail garden centres to capitalise on the Christmas trading period. Garden Centres in the UK and throughout Europe have developed a synonymous thought within the consumers psyche that Christmas and Garden Centres go hand in hand. This has focused around the sales generated by the tradition of many consumers having a fresh cut Christmas tree in their home. With this tree comes a wide variety of associated gift lines, decorations and summer living stock lines with opportunity to boost your sales over this highly competitive trading period.

Buying Christmas Stock

In a recent article in Greenworld Magazine, Debra Templar looks at a number of simple key approaches to buying stock. Debras guidelines to buying are fantastic, and revolve around purchasing stock that suits your existing customer base.

Taking risks when buying Christmas stock (i.e. – something which may appeal to you, but not necessarily the consumer) is not a good idea unless you have the sales staff and business skills to shift this stock. Keeping it simple and thematical is the key. Be aware of what ‘themes’ the big box stores are focusing on, but do not try to compete with them. Chose two themes with a focus on providing Christmas solutions, and sell these ideas hard to the consumer. Your goal as a retailer is to provide one stop solutions for the consumers’ needs and desires.

Christmas Stock Control Christmas is a condensed selling season, with stock lines that become defunct as of the 26th of December. With this in mind, discounting stock should be avoided, but is often inevitable as the last thing you want is capital tied up in stock which can not be moved until the next September when people start to think about Christmas again. Be aware that sales generated from discounting after 25th December may actually return less margin than discounting the last week prior to Christmas. This is due to the ability to take opportunity of those consumers who have a greater need to buy something (desperation) as opposed to those out looking for a bargain (money scroungers). There is a significant difference between needing and wanting, and this can work to your advantage in moving stock at the last minute. Additionally, do remember that you will reap the greatest margin throughout October and November, than you will in December when you begin discounting as are starting to worry about having stock leftover - this will invariably eat into your overall return.

In my opinion, you shouldn’t even consider storing the ‘leftover’ stock. Christmas is primarily a trend driven event, designed to make people spend money on consumerables none of us really need. Therefore, what is in season this year is unlikely to be the trend of next. This makes choosing stock challenging, but remember Christmas is all about tradition, and the green and red theme is a failsafe option. So with this in mind, having money tied up in gift lines which really don’t produce a huge return without serious turnover, in addition to the cost of space for storage, and the labour required to package the stock lines into boxes for storage – each of these points results in a negative effect by chewing into your overall return on investment.

Merchandising Stock

Merchandising Christmas stock is similar to any other retail line. It must be cleanly displayed, shopable and provide inspiration and impulse. Try to tie as much existing stock lines in with your Christmas displays and themes, as this may allow for a portion of your Christmas lines to be sold even after Christmas as the thoughts to ‘Summer and Outdoor Living’ kick into the consumers minds.
Impulse lines in my mind have the greatest opportunity for serious return, if you market yourselves accordingly. The Christmas period is the time for giving with teachers, colleagues, friends and families all in the running for something nice. You have the opportunity to supply the gift givers with something unique. Personalise every plant that leaves your store – gift wrapping is overall inexpensive and one of the best ways to sell yourselves throughout this period. Every gift wrapped item may contain a fancy sticker holding the ribbon up, and letting the consumer know who you are – ‘Gift Wrapped with love by AC Garden Centre – Phone Us On…’

The image here with the black and pink theme is titled ‘Midnight in Manhattan’, and was featured at Wyevale Garden Centres across Britain. The stage set shows the consumer what they can achieve in their own home, linking decorations and table settings to provide the complete package.
Point of sale is clean and concise and supports the product which through the way it is merchandised will ultimately sell itself. Display units are non-descript and minimal, allowing again for the product to show itself off.
Another key point to note in this image is the use of down lighting on the walls of the stage set. Lighting is incredibly important in highlighting gift lines, while providing an ambience that makes the consumer feel important, and that the product is important.
The way you merchandise stock should ultimately make the consumer feel that the pink bauble they are reaching for is ‘made of gold and filled with diamonds’ – it must appear to hold an extraordinary value, even if it doesn’t.

Cut Christmas Trees are Opportunity

Cut Christmas trees, albeit a sin amongst the thoughts of many of us, are undoubtedly a source of income during the Christmas period. We see on the roadsides in the lead up to Christmas, the local charities selling the freshly cut pines to the punters. There may be opportunity to align yourself with these charities by offering them ‘space’ in your garden centre with the trade off being that you will market the product and availability for them. This will generate footfall throughout December providing opportunity to capitalise on the new found custom.

Freshly cut trees are a traditional theme of Christmas, and we must curb our negativity as the green industry in providing these to the consumer. Your decision to offer this desirable stock line will be no doubt influenced by whether you fall into the category of a retailing horticulturalist or a horticultural retailer. If you feel that it goes against your principles there are still plenty of options for making the cut Christmas tree market ‘environmentally sustainable’ for you. Have a ‘used on return’ policy whereby old tress post Christmas may be returned to your for chipping – this may then be used on your display beds or donate this to a local school. The provision of cut trees offers a wide variety of opportunity for you to market your nursery in linking in with local communities.
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Customer Service

With the new found custom of another breed of buyers, be aware that their first trip to the garden centre during this time will need to be suitably impressive. Make sure staff are smiling, they are trained in product knowledge (very important) and ensure patience is practiced. Patience truly will be a virtue, and being able to manage indecisive customers and guide buying decisions is important, but these are all customer service 101 skills which you have all heard before.

I remember how exciting Christmas was as a child, the thought of receiving gifts from Santa, decorating the house and bickering (with love) with my siblings. I feel a similar excitement these days in the lead up to Christmas, except now it revolves around the opportunities for retailers during this period. Opportunity for retailers to capitalise on this period is phenomenal, so give it a go and get festively excited!

Pricing Perceptions and Increasing Plant Value

anthonycurnow.com
Pricing Perceptions and Increasing Plant Value

The cost price to the consumer of plants is often unmatched with industry expectations given the cost of production, and most importantly the actual ‘value’ of the plant. Few consumers understand that plants grow at varying speeds and the requirements for cultivation may vary significantly. This lack of understanding, combined with varying retail experiences has the expected and natural effect of consumers buying based upon price alone. This makes for a volatile retail situation.

Back in the 1620/30s, Tulipa bulbs held more monetary value than any other commodity in the world. The record sale was in 1636 for a single bulb of 'Semper Augustus', a striped carmine and white variety, for between 5000 and 6000 florins (depending on the account you read), which equates to between $1.67 and $2 million. The actual price for this small bulb, thought to not even be of flowering size, was 4600 florins plus a coach and 2 dapple-grey horses.

Similarly today, there is a huge element of pride and awe that comes with a British person being able to grow a single lemon per year in their frost proof conservatory – there is significant value placed upon particular groups of plants. These two examples demonstrate that plants in other parts of the world are in fact valued. I can only envisage that it is our lack of history and the loss of information passed between generations, which accounts for the minimal value which we place on green life. This is changing with the ‘grow your own’ revolution, where functional (as opposed to sole ornamental) value is proving to be a driving force for this boom.

Retail Culture

The consumer’s perception of our industry is ultimately founded upon their experiences with all sorts of garden retailers. This might include premium independent garden centres, boutique nurseries, big box chain stores or plant discounters. In each of these groups, the methods of retailing will vary – ‘pile it high and sell it low’ or ‘quality over quantity’. Depending on the methods of retailing, a customer’s price expectation is often skewed by their individual experiences. We (the industry) provide customers with a choice of experiences; but is this to the overall detriment of this industries future? I don’t believe so. The consumer’s perception of price will forever be justified by your ability to market your business. That may mean the professional advice that you offer, the locally grown product, or the ‘environmentally friendly’ attributes to name just a few.

Mr David Daly (Conifer Gardens Nursery) stated to me recently that ‘it’s not the pot the customer is buying – it’s the plant’, and this rings true to my ears, as I am sure it does yours. The issue the industry has here is again with the ability to shift the customer’s paradigm – bringing ‘value’ back to the actual plant in the container being sold. I detailed in last months article the trend in Tasmania’s retail nurseries of containerising bare root stock (specifically roses) – this demonstrates a shift away from the value placed previously on a ‘bare twig’, but the proactive approach to maintain plant value and increase margins through containerisation.

One way to overcome this issue of plant value is by profiling plants and growers. A garden centre I once visited in the UK profiled the producer, placing a ‘locally grown by Mr Griggs’ sign next to stock with a full colour profile (photo included) of Mr Griggs’. This has benefits on multiple levels. It is a means of not only showing the consumer it is locally grown – but its about building positive relationships between you and other members of industry. Another step with this might be to profile the breeder (of a particular cultivar) – By educating the customer we will develop their knowledge, and barriers of price are broken down when the chain of production is understood. With this in mind, I encourage as many retailers to visit production nurseries as well.

Price Points on the Shop Floor

When it comes to the labelling of plants, keep it simple. Having too many price points can be confusing for the consumer, and as such continuity is essential. Without going into price points in too fine a detail, first look at the margins of each of your stock category groups. It is ok to make sacrifices in some category groups, while reaping healthy margins in others. Judgement is important when determining the price of a stock line, and having the right people in the roles is critical. Understanding stock quality by cultivar is also a rare talent. For example, being able to identify the difference between a Dianella tasmanica and other Dianella cultivars (that may or may not hold a PBR) that look the same, and are presented in the same pot size - again, it’s the plant that is being bought not the pot. There are many variables to understand, applying a general mark up does not work in our industry. These issues become even more prevalent when a barcode EPOS system is utilised on site.

When it comes to merchandising the plant, creating a setting which will present the plant at its best is also important in improving perceived value of the product.
You will have heard it before, ‘retail is detail’. It sounds corny, but there is a lot of value in what this statement is suggesting. Presentation and quality standards are everything in retail, from signage through to fixture – the staging of your stock will make a difference in how your plants are sold.

When it comes to signage, the smallest of signs (plant price labels) are just as important as the sign on at the front of the nursery that sells the name of your business. In my travels I see many variations from the poorly displayed price points (hand written on the side of pots with a chalk marker) to the premium (glossy printed labels with your nurseries logo and a clear price point). Hand written labels suggest cheap, while a printed label suggests a premium product. While there may be a cost involved here in improving the perception of value, you must invest in the outcomes you are aiming to achieve – a healthy margin (for the producer and retailer) from a quality plant.

Stock Quality and Accreditation

Maintaining stock quality in the retail setting is crucial. The Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme Australia (NIASA) is the industries Best Management Practice programme, building the professional quality standards of producers. With 57 NIASA businesses across Victoria and growing, you are more than likely buying plants from these nurseries already. As stock quality from these nurseries is expectedly high, there is also an expectation from industry for you to maintain that quality while it sits in your sales area. The easiest way to keep on top of quality is paying close attention to your stock turns and margins.

Many retailers have a holding area for stock past its use by, however the accumulation of stock to the point that you have a ‘nursery’ in a nursery should be avoided. These holding areas are money pits (labour, time, water, fertiliser, space and money) as you are investing further inputs to reclaim that stock. More often than not, making the judgement call, cutting your losses and recording these for the future is a positive step forward.

Addressing and maintaining quality standards within your business will be the biggest step you can take in shifting the customer’s perception of the price which you have placed on the product. The Australian Garden Centre Accreditation Scheme (AGCAS) is an excellent development tool that may be utilised to improve your business operations as a means of improving overall stock quality and customer experience.