August 2025

Planning for spring 2026: Lessons from ’25 By Stan Pohmer

By now, you’ve gotten all the “new stuff” — the hot new merchandise that’s going to change your business model for the better — and are well-versed in all the promising new social and consumer trends that will have new and existing customers knocking down your doors.

But without some context, these are just ideas that may or may not apply to your business. There’s more to planning for 2026 without blindly buying into the hype, and the most powerful insights for future success are lying right in front of us — if we’re willing to do the work to uncover and use them now. Analyzing spring 2025, identifying what worked/didn’t work and the reasons they did or didn’t will help provide that context and perspective that will help shape your 2026 planning.

If you managed through this spring season without a journal, clipboard or spreadsheet close at hand, I get it — it’s tough to reflect while you’re knee deep in carts, customers and chaos. But before you shift gears into your fall and holiday mode, you owe it to yourself, your team and your business to take a hard look at what really happened this spring — because that’s where your roadmap to 2026 begins.

What Story Did Spring 2025 Tell?

This season likely delivered a full spectrum of experiences: wild weather swings, shifting customer preferences, surprising category wins — and maybe a few painful inventory missteps. The point now isn’t the time to assign blame, but rather to extract value for future decisionmaking based on reality.

Start by getting reacquainted with your sales and financial data. Go deeper than top-line revenue and really analyze your KPIs (key performance indicators — all those financial ratios that help provide performance snapshots throughout the season).

For example:

• What categories drove gross margin?
• Which SKUs moved fast — and which collected dust?
• Did your staffing levels support or hinder your best weekends?
• How did promotions actually perform, not just in traffic, but in profitability?

Sales reports are only one lens; inventory performance tells a whole other story. How many times did you reorder that 6-inch combo planter, and were you ever out of stock when you could’ve sold another hundred? What never moved, even at 30% off? What did you send back to vendors or write off altogether? Don’t just count units — look at turns, sell-through and shrink.

Most importantly, don’t evaluate your season in a vacuum. What external influences shaped your outcomes —things that we can’t control despite our best efforts in planning for them? These include the weather, government policies and world affairs that impact consumer purchasing behaviors.

Consider, for example:

• Was your opening delayed by a cold snap resulting in fewer selling days?
• Did local events spike your traffic — or divert it?
• Did a big box store nearby run early-season discounts that impacted your footfall?

If you (or someone on your team) kept a daily store diary, now’s the time to mine it. If you didn’t, now’s the time to build that discipline for next year. Even a few notes scribbled during the season — weather, staffing gaps, vendor delivery issues, standout weekends — can bring invaluable context when you’re reviewing your numbers months later.

Ask the People Who Know Best

There’s one source of truth we too often overlook: our seasonal staff. These folks are in the trenches — loading carts, ringing registers, stocking, watering, answering plant care questions and overhearing what customers say when they think no one’s listening. Remember, these people spend lots more time interacting and gaining insights and developing relationships with your customers than you ever do (or will do in the future). But we’ll never gain the benefit of this treasure trove of actionable information if we don’t actively ask for it and give your team the opportunity to share it with us.

At the end of the season, don’t let these insights walk out the door unspoken. Do quick debriefs, casual interviews or anonymous surveys. Ask, for example:

• What did customers keep asking for that we didn’t have?
• What confused or frustrated shoppers the most?
• Which displays actually helped them sell more?
• What information or signage can we provide to better guide the consumers’ purchase decisions?
• What slowed us down operationally during rush periods?

You’ll be amazed at what they noticed — including things you didn’t. Your team sees your operation from a different angle; use that lens. They can help you see opportunities and fix problems before they become next year’s headache.

Rethink the S.W.O.T.

We all learned and, I hope, used the S.W.O.T. analysis — Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats — as a big-picture strategic tool. But there’s no reason it can’t be adapted for post-season performance review.

Think of it as a way to organize your thoughts, insights and action steps.

Strengths (Internal, Positive):

• What did we do better in spring 2025 than ever before?
• Did a new category overperform? Did a new team member shine?
• Was our marketing sharper, our displays stronger?
• What new programs did we implement that helped exceed our customers’ expectations, provided a better experience at all levels and built loyalty and relationships?

Weaknesses (Internal, Negative):

• Where did we fall short?
• Were we understaffed or disorganized at key times?
• Did we struggle with product knowledge, pricing accuracy or customer service?
• Were there any operational processes that inhibited efficiency (back office, tech, sales floor, product flow, product maintenance and display, etc.)?

Opportunities (External, Positive):

• Are new trends emerging — like native plants or sustainable products — that we can own in 2026?
• Are there untapped customer segments (younger buyers, DIYers, houseplant hobbyists) we can better reach?
• Are competitors missing the boat on something we could dominate?

Threats (External, Negative):

• Is the local market getting more competitive?
• Are weather patterns becoming harder to predict?
• Are supplier or logistics issues threatening reliability?

A modified S.W.O.T. gives you a framework to not just diagnose what happened — but to plan what you’ll do differently for next season.

Don’t Ignore the Competition

It’s easy to stay inward-focused after a season. But spring 2026 success will also be shaped by what your competition does — and what they don’t do.

Spend a few hours debriefing your local market:

• What new products or promotions did competitors introduce?
• Did they go to market earlier? Did they beat you on price, experience or convenience?
• Were customers talking about them — or about you?

This isn’t about copying them; it’s about finding your competitive advantage or edge. If a competitor is dominating a category, you need to decide: Will you fight for share, or will you double down elsewhere to differentiate?

From Insight to Action

Once you’ve gathered the data and insights, the next step is the most important: use them.

Build or revise your spring 2026 plans now:

• Adjust buying plans based on actual sell-through, not vendor hype.
• Design labor plans with a better understanding of when you truly need staff — and who you need in key roles.
• Create a marketing calendar that reflects what worked this year, including promotions that genuinely moved the needle. Consider social media, newspaper, radio, billboards and collaborations.
• Plan for operational improvements — layout changes, signage upgrades or training modules that address weaknesses spotted this spring. Also focus on inventory flow and control processes, product displays/maintenance, tech/systems, back office, sales floor and operations.

These aren’t huge initiatives. They’re small, specific steps that stack up to make spring 2026 smoother, smarter and more profitable.

Document. Debrief. Decide.

You’re already a capable operator — you’ve proven that season after season. But next year’s success won’t come from just working harder; it’ll come from planning smarter. It’s been proven time and again that without understanding what drove your past performance and results, you are at a distinct disadvantage (some may say are doomed!) in your ability to effectively and intelligently plan the future!

The good news? You already have everything you need — the data, the insight, the team. You just have to lead the process.