In an interesting juxtaposition, I talked to the owners of two competing companies just a couple days apart. (Click on the headline for more…)
How to Establish Internet Marketing Priorities
When allocating web-related expenses, many companies have difficulty prioritizing the best use of their funds. Here’s my approach: (Click on the headline for more…)
See You at the Independent Garden Center Show?
The Independent Garden Center Show (Chicago, Aug. 18 – Aug. 20) is less than two weeks away. Thanks to the overwhelming popularity of this new show, it’s been expanded to include more than 900 vendors of unusual, high-quality products for the independent gardening merchant.
I’ll be there on Tuesday, August 18 and Wednesday, August 19. Please let me know if you plan to attend. I’d love to meet!
What Really Matters to Your Customers?
The recent Mailorder Gardening Association conference included an excellent presentation by Robyn Waters, former Vice President of Trend, Design and Product Development for Target, on the subject of designing with heart.
Robyn dramatically illustrated that a crucial element of success is not identifying and jumping on the latest trend, but listening to what’s truly important to your customers on an emotional level.
One of my favorite examples (Click on the headline for more…)
Building Customer Engagement: Some Novel Approaches
In my last post, I mentioned some of the ways Terrain at Styer’s, the Philadelphia nursery owned by Urban Outfitters, is expanding their market. One of the key elements in their program is events, including those that reach far beyond the traditional gardening how-to offerings. Their July calendar includes the following: (Click on the headline for more…)
Lessons From Terrain in Attracting Younger Gardeners
At the recent Mailorder Gardening Association conference, I had the pleasure of hearing a presentation by John Kinsella, Managing Director of Terrain at Styer’s, the much-ballyhooed new garden center owned by Urban Oufitters.
I have not visited Terrain, so I have no basis on which to form a personal opinion of it. I’ve heard it touted as brilliant marketing to younger, newbie gardeners, and I’ve heard it panned as overpriced and overmerchandised. Terrain has expanded the traditional garden center and landscaping services to include (Click on the headline for more…)
Tips for Creating More Useful Financial Reports
At this month’s Mailorder Gardening Association conference, Al Bessin of Lenser gave an excellent presentation entitled Managing Your Way to Higher Profits: How to Turn Financial Reporting into a Useful Tool for Managers. He made a potentially deadly dry topic both interesting and actionable.
Al suggested creating a separate management P&L, reorganized to make it more useful. Among his suggestions: (Click on the headline for more…)
Make Your Packing Slips User-Friendly
As part of the Secret Shopper Survey that Tom Beddows of THB Direct recently performed for the Mailorder Gardening Association, he focused on packing slips. Among his findings: (Click on the headline for more…)
Secret Shopper Survey Reveals Missed Opportunities
Twenty-six Mailorder Gardening Association members recently participated in a Secret Shopper Survey to evaluate and benchmark their ordering systems. Tom Beddows of THB Direct performed the survey and reported the results at last week’s Mailorder Gardening Association conference. Boy, do we as an industry have some work to do!
A number of Tom’s findings represent significant missed income opportunities. For instance, for the telephone orders placed: (Click on the headline for more…)
Some Great Gardening Databases
At last week’s Mailorder Gardening Association conference, I learned of a resource of great interest to anyone in the gardening industry. Called Plant Information Online, it’s a tremendous database compiled by the University of Minnesota Libraries. Once a subscription-only service, it’s now available free, and includes, among other things: (Click on the headline for more…)
