Aug 14, 2018
Farwest Show Seminars to Offer E-Commerce Best Practices for Retailers

The 2018 Farwest Show, Aug. 22–24 in Portland, Oregon, has scheduled a series of seminars that will give garden retailers informative insights on e-commerce and marketing with workshops and events. Retail experts Sid Raisch and Tina Bemis will share first-hand experiences and tips for success.

Raisch, consultant for The Garden Center Group, and president and CEO for Bower & Branch, will take an in-depth look at e-commerce for garden retail in two seminars. The first, “Look Ma, No Box: E-Commerce for the Local IGC and Their Grower,” Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2:30–3:30 p.m., Room B110, looks at e-commerce as a local experience with benefits for retailers and growers. A second talk, “When a Consumer Clicks ‘Buy,’ They Shake Up Horticulture,” Thursday, Aug. 23, 1:30–2:30 p.m., Room B113, recognizes the revolution and opportunities of e-commerce in the horticulture marketplace.

Raisch is a consultant and advocate for family owned and operated small business. For nearly 40 years, his strategies have yielded profit and success for garden centers, landscape operations and suppliers of plants and products. He is dedicated to improving and re-inventing the interdependent supply chain. In his work, writings and speeches, Raisch is a change agent, moving companies to new heights and places.

In her two seminars, Bemis, co-owner of Bemis Farms Nursery in Massachusetts, will discuss opportunities for garden centers in hosting workshops and special events. In her seminar, “Creating a Profit with Garden Center Workshops,” Wednesday, Aug. 22, 9:45–10:45 a.m., Room B113, Bemis will share workshop strategies that will instill customers with creativity and loyalty to the garden retailer. A copy of her book, Benchmarketing: 15 Ways to Create Profit from Garden Center Workshops, will be included for attendees. In her second talk, “Events vs. Promotions: Telling the Story of Your Garden Center,” Thursday, Aug. 23, 8:30–9:30 a.m., Room B110, Bemis will offer insight on the pros and cons of hosting special events and promotions and how retailers can use events to generate community goodwill, free press and profit.

Along with growing and marketing annuals and perennials, Bemis teaches more than 200 workshops a year on gardening and garden-related crafts and has written a book on the subject workshops. She is a graduate of ANLA’s Garden Center University. Her garden center annually wins profitability awards from The Garden Center Group.

Registration is required for Raisch’s and Bemis’ seminars and available online at www.farwestshow.com/register.