Boosting perennial sales beyond the spring season
One of the recurring themes I heard at California Spring Trials (CAST) was promoting perennials at retail as an investment, not an intimidating commitment.
Garden Center Group managing director Danny Summers recently echoed this statement, hosting a virtual roundtable with three of the organization’s top-performing garden centers in the perennials category — Earth Works Garden Center in Jacksonville, Florida; Fairview Garden Center in Raleigh, North Carolina; and Gateway Garden Center in Hockessin, Delaware; as well as representatives from Ball Seed and Walters Gardens/Proven Winners Perennials. The goal was to explore how perennials can be promoted at retail as “stars of the second season,” drawing customers back after the spring season.
The top-performing retailers shared how they position perennials (and woodies) for sales after the Mother’s Day rush has died down. Earth Works strategically places top-sellers further in so that customers pass things they might not have otherwise noticed — à la placing the milk, bread and eggs in the back of the supermarket — while Fairview arranges specialty areas for perennials that serve a purpose, such as hummingbird sections and natives, as well as constantly rotating their stock so that a returning customer might see something they missed during their last visit.
The retailers also urged other garden centers to take advantage of the P.O.P. and other materials that many breeding companies offer.
Retailers can also encourage perennial sales by showing off what they look like past their peak. Unlike annuals that are pulled and disposed of when temperatures cool, many perennials maintain their color and interest in the garden until the first snowflakes fly. Here, “Plants That Look Good Dead” explores how retailers can help customers select perennials and shrubs that provide not only beauty in the spring and summer months, but off-season interest as well. Especially for gardeners in the northern U.S. or Canada, where early frosts wipe out favorite blooms, retailers can suggest perennials and woodies that add interest to the garden during the off-season.
Looking for more marketing ideas? Angela Cooley, president of Garden Center Solutions, shares strategies designed for independent garden centers here. She emphasizes that “marketing isn’t a faucet you turn on only in the spring season. It requires a year-round strategy” to stay relevant so that you are the first place customers think of. From social media strategy to signage to leaning into community connections, she shares her insights on how garden centers can grow their business and be successful.
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