March 2023 - 42

MERCHANDISING
L&GR: What are some common merchandising mistakes
you see retailers make?
Leinbach: A lot of retailers don't understand the
importance of strategic merchandising, meaning
where things should and should not be in terms of
merchandising; they just fill space rather than thoughtfully
merchandise a space.
An example I always use of that is the milk example
of a grocery store. There's something called staples and
statements; when a person goes to the grocery stores
looking for their staple items such as bread and milk, they
often have to walk by thousands of other products before
they get there. Retailers need to think about the basics
of merchandising to effectively merchandise - even the
more complex strategies of it all because it really does all
tie together.
L&GR: Can you share some cross-merchandising tips?
Leinbach: Cross merchandising is really important. It's
an effective way for businesses to increase their average
units per transaction by putting like-minded products in
customers' minds that they need to purchase together -
garden products such as decor or gloves or shovels or tools.
When you cross merchandise, you help the consumer better
understand what makes sense. If they're buying one thing,
they see that it might make sense to buy something else.
It's a really savvy way for retailers to lead their customers to
more transactions.
L&GR: Explain the concepts of refresh, redo and reconsider
when merchandising.
Leinbach: Retailers need to refresh, they need to redo
entirely, and they need to sometimes reconsider. Refresh
should literally be a daily effort.
Redoing something is more of a no-less-than-weekly
effort. It doesn't mean you're redoing everything, but the
possibility of having to do something is very much there.
Reconsidering is also something to think about because
sometimes your effort of doing something isn't effective.
And if you notice that a product is not selling, then you
might need to totally reconsider it and start from scratch.
It is important for merchandising to be part of a daily
checklist, but you should definitely be allocating time for
it weekly as well. And then dedicate more time to it - at
least monthly - for some of the bigger merchandising
efforts, like seasonal displays, or if you know you have
some inventory coming in that's going to be a great
merchandising time.
On the exterior of garden centers, there are some strategic
merchandising hotspots - places where consumers might
pause and linger. So you have to ask yourself: What is the
value if we were to allocate 15 minutes every morning to
refresh that? If you start to look at the data of your sales,
taking that time is helping to lead to transactions. I really
do believe it should be a daily responsibility at minimum.
It doesn't have to be all day, every day, but your eye should
always be available to look at what merchandising is doing
within your garden center. I would also encourage people
to cross reference their merchandising with their data.
See what is selling and how that ties to the merchandising
efforts that you've done.
42 | LAWN & GARDEN RETAILER | MARCH 2023
The Garden Center Show for independent
garden center (IGC) owners and professionals
is the premier event for IGCs. The event
brings together thousands of retailers and
hundreds of exhibitors showcasing the latest
products, services, and equipment for your
IGC. For more information and to register,
visit www.gardencentershow.com. Lawn &
Garden Retailer is the exclusive media sponsor
of The Garden Center Show.
L&GR: What merchandising mistakes should garden
centers avoid?
Leinbach: Lack of signage is a problem that I've
consistently seen when I research a lot of various garden
centers. Signage should be easily understood by the
customer: What's available for sale, how much is it - any of
the details they need to know about the product. The thing
about signage is a lot of customers don't always want to talk
to you, so having signage is really important.
The other thing is having the convenience of push carts,
baskets, shopping carts - make sure the customer feels
they can easily access a shopping cart, a basket, so that they
can comfortably engage with your product and pick out the
inventory. They don't want to feel like they have to ask all the
time. I know it sounds so simple, but I really do love it when
I see places that say, " Take a basket " or " Help yourself. " Let
signage pitch to your customers about the comfort of what
they might want to enjoy in your store as well.
L&GR: How can loyalty programs tie into merchandising?
Leinbach: Loyalty programs are really important,
and a really big miss in a lot of the garden centers. Give
your customer a reason to come back. There are a lot of
different ways your signage can communicate what you
do to reward your loyal customer.
Leverage merchandising beyond the communication
and inventory part of it. Leverage merchandising to be
almost like an assistant to yourself, so if you're the store
decision maker, operator or manager - however you
define yourself - look at merchandising as an extension
of all your roles and responsibilities. If you're effective at
it, it's going to reward you with its collective experience.
L&GR: What trends in merchandising do you like?
Leinbach: One of the things I really enjoy is what I
call shoppertainment; it's really an opportunity for your
http://www.gardencentershow.com
March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2023
