Cart considerations
While many garden centers have beer boxes, 1020 trays or pull-behind wagons, these shopping tools can limit their sales potential — when customers run out of space, they stop shopping. Let’s look at how we can increase garden center sales when customers have the right cart for the job.
Cart Concerns
When choosing carts for your store, there are quite a few things to take into consideration.
The sizes of the plants sold — as well as the retail goods you offer — greatly impact your decision on choosing the cart sizes offered. Is your garden center selling bedding plants in various sizes? Or bedding plants, perennials, shrubs, trees, soil and pottery? If you have larger and heavier items for sale, it is wise to have larger carts to carry these items; customers need the right equipment to transport the products they are buying.
As business owners, we must provide our consumers with the tools to source everything they need for their plantings. Profitable garden centers have both larger and smaller shopping carts to service all consumer shopping styles. Remember, increased space equals increased purchase potential. Some gardeners make large purchases at the beginning of the season and then might occasionally return for fill-ins. Another purchasing style involves instant gratification. Millennials, Gen X and Gen Y have grown up in the culture of instant gratification, and we are seeing their gardening purchases reflect that. And finally are the budget-friendly gardeners who come in once a year for a few items.
Push carts for shopping make gardening accessible to the elderly, disabled and even young families when carts have the child seat option. The amount of space between your benching both indoors and outdoors is an important factor when choosing carts for your garden center. Smaller aisles or spaces may require a cart with sharper turn radius. Making sure your shopping carts have good maneuverability and the ability to ride smoothly over gravel or rough terrain is equally important. The larger the wheel size, the easier the cart glides over gravel and the occasional hose.
Corralling Your Carts
The front entrance to your garden center not only invites your customer inside, but it is where shopping carts should be. When customers are forced to spend time searching for a shopping cart, they become instantly distracted from the buying experience they came for.
In addition, placement of additional carts around the garden center also impacts sales. For example, you can stage shopping carts in additional areas through the journey of your store, like in the pottery, soils or shrub departments. If a cart is readily available, customers are apt to start a cart instead of walking away from the purchase.
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