PHILADELPHIA — Every year the Penn Atlantic Nursery Trade Show serves as a showcase for nurseries, garden centers and their suppliers.
But one group of lawn and garden sellers with a considerable market share was conspicuously absent from the July 31-Aug. 1 gathering here.
That would be national retailers such as Lowe’s, Home Depot, Kmart and Wal-Mart, who are in many cases out-competing locally owned outlets.
All is not lost, however, said Bridget Behe, a professor of horticulture marketing at Michigan State University.
Locally owned garden centers can take back some of the ground lost to the big chains, she said at a seminar here, citing research that she’s doing with Carol Miller, the editor of Today’s Garden Center magazine.
One hurdle to clear is perception.
“‘Gardening’ had a very negative connotation” to focus group participants, Behe said.
The word evokes images of “an old woman with white hair and a floppy hat,” something younger people want to avoid, she said.
“Landscaping” produced more positive responses. Participants saw it as more masculine, vogue and project-oriented.
That simple vocabulary change could go a long way toward helping garden centers shed their stodgy image, she said.
Another obstacle is that many younger people say they lack time for gardening.
The national retailers already have solved this issue, Behe said. They create kits and compartmentalize tasks to make lawn beautification seem more manageable.
Instead of offering a comprehensive landscaping program, they pre-package individual landscaping units, such as a flower bed or water element, that can be set up in a set amount of time.
The ability to say “If you have three hours, you can do this” is critical, because customers want to avoid starting projects that could take over their lives, Behe said.
Independent stores should come up with projects of different lengths, such as whole-weekend projects or afternoon jobs. Garden centers can figure out ways to downscale projects, making ponds or beds smaller.
A third barrier that keeps a homeowner away from the locally owned garden center is a homeowner’s lack of ideas.
Garden centers should hang pictures and have Internet links to give first-time gardeners suggestions.
Those pictures can help start the conversation with the customer. Behe demonstrated, “Here’s that parklike setting, and we can help you do that.”
Younger people also steered clear of garden centers because they felt insecure about their lack of botanical knowledge.
Garden centers have a sometimes deserved reputation for catering to “experts,” Behe said.
Practices such as organizing plants by alphabetized Latin name contribute to this consumer perception.
Customers like the big chains because their salespeople have the attitude that “there are no dumb questions,” she said.
Independent garden stores should adopt this mentality by greeting customers when they arrive, giving them good eye contact and offering to help them make their selections, Behe said.
Owners need to get workers to face the aisle. Employees are good at making the plants pretty, but they need to learn to help customers, she said.
“‘Ask me.’ Put it on the back of the shirt,” Behe suggested.
Independents also can differentiate themselves from the big players by offering coaching and after-sales support.
The chain stores often have the edge with price-driven shoppers, so locally owned garden centers need to play up the added quality and benefits local stores can offer, she said.
Just as she encouraged creating projects for different time budgets, Behe suggested creating grades of plants at different prices.
For example, a retailer could offer hanging baskets of increasing quality for $19.99, $29.99 and $39.99.
Growers will not have to make as many of the highest-end baskets because they will not sell as many.
But having a top option will entice more customers to buy something nicer than the bargain baskets.
“People will buy ‘better’ if there’s a ‘best’ option,” she said.
Garden centers also can improve their visibility and accessibility in the community by getting into the social scene.
Stores can have off-site events such as classes or demonstrations at places where young potential customers congregate. Coffeehouses and farmers markets are prime locations for these programs, she said.
For more agricultural news from Lancaster Farming, go to LancasterFarming.com.
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