Garden Retail Is Changing, So Make Sure You’re Ready
December 25, 2015 
Garden retail is undergoing a sea change. In another 10 years, you will be selling to a different industry, and that is something you need to think about and adapt to.
How will we change? In just about every way you can imagine.
Owners Are Retiring
Think of those local garden retailers you know personally. Chances are most of them are in their 50s and 60s. The 1970s and 1980s were garden retail’s version of a baby boom and thousands of garden centers got their start during that era.
That means we’ll be going through a turbulent decade where new ownership takes over or garden centers close while new garden stores pop up to cover the vacancy.
New owners may be younger family members, although many stores do not have a next generation showing interest. Others will be buying the store, while others still will be starting from scratch. This group of owners will be more diverse and have a different interpretation of what garden retail should be.
It will be difficult to predict what they want, but it can be done by paying close attention to the orders you’re getting from these new owners, which I’m confident you have among your client base. If you see a dip in orders, you may want to schedule a day of touring, observing their product mix and listening to their vision of what they want the store to be and what their customers are buying.
Retailers Are Mixing Things Up
Dr. Bridget Behe of Michigan State University and I visited Graf Growers in Ohio a year ago. We were checking in on the store’s progress of implementing the marketing programs developed for the 10% Project: Expanding The Customer Base.
As we listened to Karlie and Lisa Graf discuss what they had done so far, it was obvious that these two were both grounded and innovative, a potent combination for leaders of a business.
They had decided to go out into the community to recruit new customers by attending two festivals they felt fit in naturally with their own offerings: a culinary festival and a bridal fair. The festivals paid off in a big way, so much so, that they repeated the effort in 2015 at larger venues. The bridal fairs resulted in orders of living plants to serve as center pieces and bridal favors for several weddings. And food plants like herbs saw a big increase.
The thing is, the plants these new customers were interested in were not traditional garden center plants. Those coming in from the culinary festival wanted herbs. And brides wanted either mini plants or succulents.
It’s a small sample of what happens when retailers pay attention to what the community wants. If Graf Growers’ story is repeated enough times, the mix of plants you grow will need to change.
Customer Needs Are Changing
Since Americans are spending more time indoors, how they view their yards and patios is changing. As an industry, growers and retailers have responded well to selling convenience in the form of combo planters. Now we need to turn our attention to how we can remain relevant to someone who goes into their yard only to mow the grass. Even the kids prefer to be indoors.
We have a long way to go to meet that need, and how it will play out is yet to be seen. Does that mean we need to do what we can to make indoor gardening easier? Does that mean growers need to develop plant campaigns?
Our industry is in the midst of a transformation, one that we can’t foresee the outcome. Having so much information available online has transformed consumer buying behavior in ways we’re still trying to understand.
Today’s generations approach gardening differently than we did.
There are more factors in play, but these seem to be the big three. How prepared are you for these changes?
We need strong growers as much as we need strong retailers to keep our industry thriving. Spend some time visiting your clients and watch what’s happening. Begin devoting part of your budget to experimenting with new product mixes and recruit retailers to trial them. If retailers and growers work together, we will be a vibrant and profitable industry in 2025.
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