January 2024 - 46

MERCHANDISING
This can even be done in the off-season in markets with
cold winters by having " Put Your Tools to Bed " events,
where customers come and service their tools together.
Becker: The huge advantage that IGCs have is that
they are filled with creative employees and owners! The
sky's the limit when creating an eye-catching display
with our tools or incorporating our products to draw
buyers. They can hang a Rain Wand horizontally over
the cash register and have signage hanging below; they
can create a gift basket with a small plant, a handheld
watering tool, fertilizer, colorful gloves and a cutting
tool as gift suggestions, or even have a number of these
pre-made for easy gift buying.
Our colors are so eye-catching that it draws people
to choose a fun color that represents their particular
personality for their flower care. IGCs also have the
advantage of actually using our products in their own
greenhouse, so they can recommend the appropriate
Rainwand or handheld nozzle variety or garden
accessory for the customer's needs.
IGCs can also have their own signage promoting the fact
that we have an in-person customer service team if needed.
Niewold: We have some IGCs that will do demos,
and some IGCs that actually rent our products out for a
weekend. Jenny and Jerry Simpson at Creekside Nursery
[in Dallas, North Carolina] just had a Power Planter
workshop last weekend. They did a whole workshop on
how to use Power Planner in their nasty North Carolina
clay. I think that kind of stuff is awesome - and
sometimes, that's what it takes to get somebody to try
something new.
Felco products displayed in a garden center.
Photo courtesy of Felco.
I have some garden centers that will run our augers
as a " Buy X and you get the auger at half off or nearly
free " because the garden center realizes the customer
will use it and have success. And then the customer is
going to come back and buy more plants, right? Because
the customer might have two hours on Saturday to put
plants in the ground. Well, if they've allotted two hours
and they get done in 30 or 40 minutes, maybe they'll
go have a glass of tea or maybe they'll realize they have
time to put in two extra hydrangeas, and so they go back
to the garden center and get the two hydrangeas that
they weren't otherwise going to buy this year and stick
them in the ground.
When the question is, " Is this product available at
Amazon, Home Depot, Lowe's, whatever, " I would say
you always have to be aware of what your competition
is doing, but it's two different conversations. Sure, the
big guys are competition, but people don't go there
every time. I go to the same IGC every year with my wife
four or five times, and they're a super successful garden
center because their customers trust them.
A great mentor of mine, Nelson Darden, national
Power Planter bulb augers displayed with spring bulbs.
Photo courtesy of Power Planter.
46 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | JANUARY 2024
sales manager for Abbott-Ipco/Classic Caladiums, told
me the first time we met in 2017: " There's one thing you
always have to remember: What you are too afraid to
do, your competition will do for you. " That goes for both
merchandising and how things are done ... the IGC can't
be too afraid to try something new or different. They have
to realize, while they might be a small mom-and-pop IGC,
there are major corporations out there with lots more
staff that, if they see an opening, will jump through it. So
be willing to take the risk to do something different.
January 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2024
