7/30/2014
Keep it Weird
Amanda Thomsen
I completely understand the bread and butter of the independent garden center are the standard, normal and, I’ll go so far as to say, sometimes boring stuff. The “usual stuff”—Knockouts and Stellas, arborvitae and geraniums—still bring people through the gate and probably always will. So why would you attempt to bring in weird stuff that no one has ever heard of and no one has ever asked for, right?
Let me lay this out for you.
1. Give ’Em Something To Talk About
Garden centers need to be inspirational and stocking weird plants is an easy-peasy way to do that. No one is ever going to lean over the garden gate, in conversation with a neighbor, and state that Garden Center X has the most adequate selection of adequate plants known to man. Even the boring custies (aka customers) enjoy looking at the weird stuff. It’s a conversation starter. “Hey, I was at Ted’s Greenhouse last week and they had these variegated tomato plants and I’ve NEVER SEEN variegated tomato plants, so I bought them and I can’t wait to go back there to find something else STRANGE!*”
*That’s the transcription of an actual conversation I had last week. I show photos of that variegated tomato plant like I show photos of my daughter. Can’t buy advertising like that! (And thank you Ted’s Greenhouse in Tinley Park, Illinois, for having bizarre stuff, consistently.)
2. Don’t You Forget About Me
I’m no plant snob; if I want an average selection of average plants, I’ll take my aster to The Big Box. I can get the staples there and I’m in and out in a flash! But it’s the weird stuff that keeps me coming in the gate of my independent garden center. As someone who cares obsessively about plants (and I know there are not enough people like me to encourage foolish decisions, but ...) when I see a weird plant, I’m filled with a sense of urgency to have it—to buy it before it’s gone. And once I have one weirdo in my cart, it’s just that much easier to add a second and third. And I’ll pay whatever you want for them, like the plant freak that I am.
3. Don’t Go Away Mad, Just Go Away
There’s stuff on my wish list that I can’t get around here, not because it’s a terrible idea (that’s still up for debate, I suppose) but because it’s weird and underused. So I turn to the Internet and order up a box ’o plants in my pajamas, late at night. Add a cocktail or two into the mix and all of a sudden it’s two boxes of plants. Hey, I’d rather buy those plants locally, but when that becomes increasingly difficult …
4. Push It. Push It Real Good.
If you stock weird plants but don’t sell them and they just rot away on the bench, whose fault is that? I dare any plant salesperson to say that they have no influence whatsoever on what goes out the door. How about a contest? Whoever sells the most
Asclepias viridis today gets a chocolate Drumstick. THAT WORKS!
If oddball plants are part of a decent display, and maybe let them star in some workshops, they will sell. There IS a huge part of the population that wants something different than the Joneses, they just need a little information first.
You use email blasts? What better to blast about then the weird stuff you have but the others do not? Tap into the garden bloggers in your community and let them know you have weird stuff coming out the ying-yang and see what happens. Garden bloggers are always looking for something unusual to write about.
5. I Can’t Get No Satisfaction
Your staff consists of the biggest plant junkies known to man. Sell them your weird stuff and then they, in turn, will sell that weird stuff before you know it.
GP
Amanda Thomsen is Kiss My Aster! a funky, punky gardening blog planted at KissMyAster.co. You can follow her on Twitter at @KissMyAster or check out the party at the Kiss My Aster! Facebook page. Her book, appropriately titled “Kiss My Aster,” is available now.