Talking Shop: Know who you are

Corey Bordine is an industry leader and one of the co-owners of Bordine’s, a garden center with locations in Michigan. Corey is a frequent speaker at green industry events. This month, he shares his perspective on brand identity, and what garden centers can take away from the success of their favorite non-green industry retailers.

Garden Center: When it comes to brand identity, what makes retailers successful?

Corey Bordine: I think number one, they know who they are. Number two, they relentless deliver on who they are. And number three, they understand who their customer is.

GC: Do you have any specific examples? What makes them stand out?

CB: Nordstrom is exceptional at connecting with their customer and being relevant. They know ‘who’ this person is and they don’t use shotgun marketing tactics. They also believe in brick-and-motor locations because they know they continue to be relevant. It takes confidence to build for the future, yet it is easy to do when you have a clear, definite and customer-focused plans.

Lululemon literally created a yoga phenomenon out of nothing. They saw the potential of yoga, and said, “We’re going to create activewear for people that want to really experience this growing trend,” and they have truly capitalized on it. Every ounce of their business goes into their branding and connecting with customers.

Costco knows who they are. It does not have more than 4,000 SKUs in their store at any time. One of the reasons why Costco can compete on price and does a great job of it is they are relentless in their reduction of SKUs and managing terms. But that’s at their core. Costco also reuses all the boxes that they get from suppliers. You know that you’re going to be packing up your own stuff when you’re at Costco. All of those things are part of that experience that people are okay with because they’re getting a low price.

I only know of two independent garden centers in the entire country, out of all the thousands of independent garden centers, that truly can compete on price and are similar to a Costco model, yet there are hundreds that try to compete on price and fail.

GC: What makes it so that they’re able to compete on price?

CB: They have very clear vision. They know who they are. They truly offer no frills. They have no warranties. They’re very honest with their customers on the level of customer service or lack thereof that they’re going to get. And again, they relentlessly follow who they are. But there are only two. I’m not naïve enough to say that I know every garden center in the entire country, but I’ve seen a lot of garden centers. Costco is extremely successful with who they are, but the learning for garden centers is, they know who they are, but you’re not Costco, so don’t try to be.

Most garden centers to me are more of the Nordstrom, Lululemon, Whole Foods, higher service, uniqueness in product line, delivering on customer service [type]. But the missing piece is that many times garden centers aren’t confident in charging the price to be able to afford all of those heightened levels of customer service that they want to be able to deliver to customers. So that’s the disconnect.

GC: Is brand identity just about marketing, or is there more to it than that?

CB: Branding is more than marketing. Branding has to start with a vision, and then it has to permeate through the entire organization. All three of the companies that I mentioned – Nordstrom, Lulu and Costco – have that. They have a very strong vision that does that, and they consistently deliver on that expectation. Branding is not just switching a sign, uniform or policy – it’s an all-encompassing philosophy and value system, or vision, for the company.

GC: How do you go about developing this philosophy or vision?

CB: It’s hard. I would say from an IGC perspective, you need to look to a professional - either that knows the industry or someone who knows branding in general to really help you take a comprehensive, 30,000 feet view of your business. Branding is a part of strategy and you have to remove yourself from the day-to-day to be able to put your emphasis on the more holistic approach of it. I think most independent garden centers need a professional to help them do that.

GC: Is there anything else you’d like to add about brand identity?

CB: I already said it’s hard. I’d add in that it is a long-term process and a long-term commitment by ownership to make brand identity or branding actually work. Most people fail at it because the vigilance isn’t there to really keep to the path. Because you really do need a strong leader that continually points to the brand and references it and is the champion. You really need that champion of the brand for it to be successful within your organization.

GC: What would you say to a garden center owner who says, “I just don’t have the time or financial resources to devote to this?”

CB: I would say you’d better watch out, because unfortunately many garden centers are going out of business today, and the biggest thing is they try to compete on price because they don’t have the time to look at the big picture.

We are a seasonal business, so our business does have down times, and in those down times I would encourage business owners to take the time and spend the money to get professional assistance in looking at your business from 30,000 feet, and saying, “Where am I going to be a year from now, three years from now, five years from now?” Either take the time or your business isn’t going to be there.