MARKETING TIPS 



MERCHANDISING 

 Specialty Plant Groups for 1993 



Tina Sa<wtelle 



TIME TO THINK ABOUT 1993 

 ALREADY? Yes! Let's take notes 

 on making 1993 bigger and better! 

 Niche marketing and target mar- 

 keting are the focus of two articles 

 this issue. Don't worry about the 

 terms — the concept is simple. De- 

 termine a group of people that 

 have a specific need and fill that 

 need. Sound simple? It is! Are we 

 doing it? Yes! Can we do it better? 

 Yes, we can always improve with 

 new marketing skills as we conquer 

 the old ones! Let's work on identi- 

 fying some new niche markets for 

 1993 that exist right in our current 

 customer pool and merchandise our 

 lots to help fill their needs. Provid- 

 ing the types of plants that the 

 older population is looking for (see 

 article on page 13) and merchan- 

 dising shade plants to customers 

 that have this criteria in their gar- 

 den design (see article on page 23) 

 are both excellent examples of fine 

 tuning our marketing. The wonder- 

 ful thing is that these suggestions 

 and the ones that follow don't re- 

 quire a diversification of your busi- 

 ness. It simply involves pinpointing 

 a need of a large group of people 

 and creating your merchandising 

 with this need in mind. 



Garden Centers are doing an ex- 

 cellent job of labeling sections, 

 "Annuals," "Perennials," "Herbs," 

 "Shrubs," "Roses", etc. 



Now that we have this down, 

 let's do more. The following are 

 some suggestions of new sections or 

 groups to develop in your garden 

 center. You have the power to ex- 

 cite your customers about creating 

 in their gardens. Use your power to 

 Its fullest advantage. Something 

 "seen" makes a strong impression. 



AROMATIC GARDEN PLANTS 

 Provide flowers and herbs in this 

 section that have an outstanding 

 aroma and would create a lovely 

 aromatic setting for a screen porch 



area. These may be a mixture of 

 annuals and perennials. The plants 

 may also be available in their re- 

 spective annual and perennial area 

 to avoid confusion. 



CUT FLOWER GARDENS 

 Homeowner cut flower gardens are 

 booming. Provide a section of both 

 annual and perennial cut flower 

 plants. You have the power 

 through your merchandising to in- 

 spire your customer to plant some 

 additional plants this year to pro- 

 vide fresh cut flowers all summer 

 long. You may also want to include 

 appropriate seeds for direct sowing 

 as well. 



EVERLASTING ROWERS 

 Dried flowers are also very popular. 

 Provide your customers with the 

 annual and perennials varieties in 

 paks as well a§ seeds. Dried ex- 

 amples of these plants would be a 

 great merchandising technique. 



BALCONY GARDENING 

 There is still a brge condominium 

 and apartment market to be filled. 

 Provide vegetables as well as flow- 

 ers in large containers for the bal- 

 cony. Set up this section with ex- 

 amples of what to grow and how to 

 arrange it properly for true produc- 

 tion. Provide tomato varieties that 

 appropriately grow "up", as well as 

 cucumbers. 



CONTAINER GARDENING 

 Home owners still need ideas on 



how to create a beautiful pot. In 

 this section, provide ready-made 

 examples of arranged designs as 

 well as ingredients with which 

 people can create their own. There 

 should be something for those 

 people who want an instant con- 

 tainer and are willing to pay for it 

 and something as well for people 

 who need ideas, but want to make 

 it themselves. Don't underestimate 

 the power of suggestion in con- 

 tainer gardening. Work on develop- 

 ing new designs for 1993 that will 

 be irresistible to your customers. 

 Come up with new container ideas 

 that will set you apart from the 

 rest. 



GARDEN DESIGNS 

 Design your front show gardens and 

 display all the plants for sale imme- 

 diately next to it (especially the 

 ones in bloom!). This is nothing 

 new or original, but use your gar- 

 dens as a design piece. There is a 

 portion of your market looking for 

 a garden design and all the pictures 

 and posters in the world won't 

 make an impression like the real 

 thing! Plan a new design for your 

 1993 gardens. 



Choose a couple new sections to 

 start and see how they do! Be sure 

 to signage clearly both plant char- 

 acteristics and prices since this type 

 of grouping is different than your 

 standard bedding plant grouping 

 and pricing. Be clear. All these 

 markets and more (what new 

 groups can you think of?) have 

 potential. »•- 



Tina Sawtelk, principal of 

 Sawtelle Marketing Assoaaies, 

 consults with agricultural retail 

 businesses on marketing and 

 merchandising. In addition, she 

 teaches agricultural business 

 management techniques at the 

 UNH Thompson School. For further 

 information, call (603) 659-8/06. 



October/November 1992 31 



