Four Garden Retailers Share Their Secrets To Selling Sustainable Products

Natureworks sign on the benefits of organicsSome garden retailers have the magic touch when it comes to selling organic and other natural products. We reached out to four such retailers to find out why the category sells so well for them.

Take a look at what they say is the secret to selling sustainable products.

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Educating Customers Is A Must-Do

It’s vital to educate customers about the ingredients in organic products, as well as how to apply them and setting expectations about efficacy and the amount of time they take to work, experienced retailers say. Doing so ensures success on the part of the customer and continued profitability of the product line.

“We do a weekly eMail and a weekly Saturday morning garden walk, as well as a daily blog,” notes Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, owner of Natureworks in Northford, Conn. “We update our Facebook page all of the time and we have more than 50 handouts on our website that we also have available for all classes, walks and retail customers.

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“We write all our own handouts and marketing materials, and they are full of very important, very timely content. We make our own signs and are working really hard to have good, accurate signs on everything.”

Diane Olivares, grower at Rainbow Garden Nursery in Glendora, Calif., seconds the idea having handouts available for customers.

“Most customers are not very knowledgeable about organic products, so we walk them through the use of everything we sell,” Olivares says. “We also provide handouts, which I create for the customer to take home, because they often forget what we tell them verbally. Many times it is difficult to find the information you actually need with so much other stuff in the instructions.”

The 6 Most Commonly Asked Questions

Lisa Ballantyne has noticed that customers at her garden center, Ballantyne Gardens in Liverpool, N.Y., ask the following questions repeatedly. Like her fellow organic retailers, Ballantyne answers these questions with handouts, online content, classes and a well-trained staff.

  1. What product should I use?
  2. How do I use it?
  3. How well does it work?
  4. How much do I need?
  5. When should I apply it?
  6. How often should I apply it?

Use Products Personally

Ruth Kinler, Redenta's

Ruth Kinler, Redenta’s

It doesn’t hurt to have first-hand knowledge of the products by using it in your personal garden. “We all use and believe in these products and are convinced our gardeners (our customers) need them to have a successful gardening experience,” says Ruth Kinler, founder of Redenta’s Garden in Dallas, Texas. “These are basic products that we have been selling for the past 20 years as a completely organic garden shop.”

Let Customers Shape Your Buying

If you decide to get into organics, you already know which problems your customers try to solve in their yards. These solutions are what should drive your sustainable product selections.

“It is very important to us to have as many products as possible to solve our clients’ problems,” says Lisa Ballantyne, Ballantyne Gardens, Liverpool, N.Y. “Since we do not sell synthetic products, these products are 100 percent of our pesticide and fertilizer sales. We are always looking for new products that are proven to work, not just pretty packaging. But the package can mean success or failure of the product in a retail store. An effective product with a really nice and informative label is a winner.

Aim For Healthy Margins

Some organic products cost more and can scare off retailers trying to maintain their margins. That’s one concern green retailers say can be ignored.

“We are able to get good margins on these products,” says Ballantyne. “Consumers who have decided to make organics a priority understand they may cost more initially.”

You need to sell customers on why it’s worth going organic, the retailers say.

“We explain that when used properly and consistently, organic products can reduce the need for controls over time,” Ballantyne says. “With lawn care products, using organics over a two to three year period will improve the

lawn to the point that only one or two feedings a year will be necessary. When consumers weigh the benefit of knowing that they are treating their problem without harming the environment and that they may also be improving soil and plant health overall, they buy into organics whole-heartedly. We do keep our prices as fair as possible. We want as few impediments to using organic methods as possible.”

Top 5 Products

So what do the experts recommend every garden center carry when it comes to organics and all-natural products?

Rainbow28615_117143664985383_6276813_nDiane Olivares, Rainbow Garden Nursery, Glendora, Calif.
1 Dr. Earth Fertilizer – We have converted most of our customers to organic methods of fertilization, and this complete line of fertilizers is our staff’s favorite. We use them in our own home gardens and are very impressed with the results. They contain probiotics and mycorrhizae, which makes the customer so much more successful in the garden, especially when we encounter stressful conditions, like high heat. In my opinion, these fertilizers are a must-have in any organic garden system.

2 Dr. Earth Bagged Soils – We recently trialed the new Dr. Earth line of potting and planting soils, and they are the highest quality soil mixes we have ever come across, so we are now carrying the Rose Planting Mix, Fruit Tree Planting Mix, and Vegetable Garden Planting Mix in our store. The products contain probiotic components, including live mycorrhizae. Dr. Earth creator Milo Shammas has developed a technique using Aloe vera mixed in the soil that keeps the product from drying out, which means the probiotic components stay alive. A customer is way ahead of the game if they start with a top-quality planting mix.

3 Bonide Bon-Neem Spray – Acts as a fungicide, miticide and an insecticide. It contains Pyrethrins in addition to Neem Oil Extract, which comes from a South American tree. This is a highly effective treatment, but must be sprayed repeatedly. It is very reasonable to buy, and is wonderful for that customer who doesn’t want to purchase a bunch of different bottles of product. It can be used up to the day of harvest in vegetable gardens.

4 Safer Caterpillar Killer – Bt product for killing larvae. Very safe to use. I routinely spray my tomatoes (for hornworms) and basil plants as a preventative as soon as the weather gets warm. This works well, because Bt is only effective on the early stages of development, which is often before damage is noted.

5 Monterey Sluggo – Iron phosphate for killing slugs and snails in the yard without harming pets or wildlife (or children). Customers who water a lot often have bad infestations of snails and slugs. This product works well and is a great improvement over the highly toxic metaldehyde products.

Ruth Kinler, Redenta’s Garden, Dallas, Texas
1 Compost – Our soils here in North Texas are either very heavy clay or quite sandy. Either way, they need organic matter added to help plants grow; the compost provides that.

2 Redenta’s Organic Fertilizer – A poultry-based fertilizer that adds organic matter to the soil. This basic fertilizer applied to lawns and all plantings represents the bulk of our fertilizer sales.

3 Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed – Promotes root and plant growth and increases plant hardiness.

4 Potting Soil – Our main potting soil is coir-based and contains organic compost, coconut fiber, expanded shale, lava sand, greensand, wormcastings, dry molasses, humate and a natural wetting agent.

5 Shredded Hardwood Mulch – A three-inch layer of mulch retains moisture, reduces water needs, helps with weed control and breaks down to provide organic matter to the soil.

Nancy DuBrule Clemente, Natureworks

Nancy DuBrule Clemente, Natureworks

Nancy DuBrule-Clemente, Natureworks Horticultural Services, Northford, Conn.
1 Coast of Maine Compost – No organic garden is complete without compost and this brand is simply the best. We sell both Quoddy and Penobscot.

2 Organic Fertilizers – We carry products from North Country Organics, Dr. Earth and many more. We have the knowledge to explain why various products are good for specific crops and our customers love that.

3 Organic Vegetable Seedlings – We contract to have them grown for us and our customers are thrilled that they are organic, locally grown and really cool varieties.

4 Organic Pest Control – Because all we sell are organic pest controls, the list is huge. Top sellers are neem, spinosad, Sluggo, Actinovate, Actinoiron, and Organic Plant Magic.

5 Certified Organic Seeds, Non-GMO Seeds and Heirloom/Open Pollinated Seed – People are super concerned about the food that they eat. This is a really basic place to start. We carry many brands and hand-select our seed varieties rather than buying premade racks.

Lisa Ballantyne, Ballantyne Gardens, Liverpool, N.Y.
1 Neptune’s Harvest Fish and Seaweed emulsion – It is completely organic and a by-product of the North Atlantic fishing industry. It is all purpose and even works well for ailing and stressed plants. For consumers it seems to make sense, as using fish parts is an old method of fertilizing that most people can relate to. It is an easy sell.

2 Espoma products – They are mostly granular and easy to use. Again the formulation seems easy for consumers to understand. The label is self-explainatory and colorful. There are simple ingredients and microbes which make it an effective product.

3 Safer products – Again, the labels are colorful and have good instructions. They have designed specific product labels to make it easy for consumers. There is a product for almost any need – weeds, insects, fungi. Having a ready-to-use, no-mix product is also a benefit to most consumers.

4 Corn Gluten – The newest weapon in our arsenal that will help with weed control. This has taken off in the last couple of years. We have used it in our own yard and store lawn with good success. It is not for 100% weed kill, but with several uses it gets better and better. It also is a source of nitrogen and feeds the lawn naturally in the early spring.

5 Mosquito dunks – We have a pretty good water garden business and sell a lot of mosquito dunks in the spring and summer. They are floating donuts that disperse a bacterium that kills only mosquito larvae. They are harmless to fish, plants, people, wildlife, etc. They last for 30 days, and do a great job at keeping mosquitoes at bay.

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