10 Tips to a Profitable Spring for Your Garden Center
As we enter a new growing season, garden retailers have been busy preparing their space for the hustle and bustle of springtime planting. Between the pansies, petunias, and marigolds, displays are spruced up to attract every garden lover who walks through the doors. We’ve put together ten tips to help garden retailers make the leap into spring more profitable.
#1: Spruce Up Your Front Porch
The first 20 feet of your entrance can make or break your spring profits, so it’s best to focus on creating a great first impression. The displays are what your customer sees first, outside your entrance, and immediately inside, telling the consumer what you offer. Superior curb appeal and a dazzling display of your best products should be used as your living billboard. Keep it fresh by changing storefront displays often, at least every 2-3 weeks.
#2: Add Knowledgable Signage
A thriving garden center will tailor display designs to give customers the feel of personal service even when employees can’t get to everyone immediately. Signage placed to showcase seasonal specials or to help relate cultural information and backstory about live plants will engage shoppers and increase sales. Strategically placed, attractive signs can also direct customers on their walkthrough of the garden center by pointing out companion plants and products.
#3: Remember The Hardy-Zone
Remember that some customers, especially new ones, may still be in the novice stage of gardening. Arranging nursery plants according to the hardiness zone can be helpful to those still learning. Be sure to have information about hardiness zones prominently posted throughout the store in each product category.
#4: Create Customer Loyalty Programs
Encourage repeat visits by offering coupons for use “on your next visit” at checkout. Offer price discounts or samples of popular flowers and plants during certain seasons. Institute a reward system to promote customer loyalty to your garden center and keep them returning for more.
#5: Offer Gardening Classes
Offer tantalizing tips around your retail space, such as “Want to kill compost odor? Join us each week for Gardening Class.” Offering classes can go a long way toward fostering a sense of gardening community.
#6: Grow Good Employees
Your employees should be accessible to customers and knowledgeable about all things garden related, from plant hardiness to potting soil to squirrel-proofing bird feeders. Customer service is the name of the game. It is often the little things, like offering plastic sheeting, so water and dirt don’t make a mess in the car, that make all the difference.
#7: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
There are going to be seasonal ups and downs. Reuse and repurpose whenever possible, such as after Christmas or Halloween. Let your employees impress you with their creativity and craft abilities by creating novel displays that reuse products like ribbons, candles, plastic modular pieces, and even cardboard boxes and plastic pots.
#8: Find The Perfect Height
Benching systems should be flexible, portable, and of standard height so that customers are not reaching high shelves for heavy pots or spilling dirt in their faces when getting a plant down. Utilize hanging basket displays to fill the “above head” spaces.
#9: Think Outside Lawn & Garden
Is the local yoga guru looking for a spot to hold classes? Offer up space for local clubs to host and fill it with your best, most popular plants prominently displayed, of course. Allowing artists to hold painting or pottery classes with your plants as models and inspiration is a great way to get customers engaged and into your store, even during slow times.
#10: Consider Spring and Summer Pop-ups
Take advantage of spring and summer weather with open-air produce-style stands and pop-ups outside your building. These will not only attract customers but also make an excellent center for promotional, seasonal, and holiday events, and for educating customers on gardening in general or answering specific questions.
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If you’re in the planning stage for spring, contact us for a complimentary layout and design consultation. We will help you visualize your space and provide strategies for how to maximize your display layout.
