Selling composting, 21st-century style

"Green" consumers want one thing when it comes to gardening – results. They have put their money where they see a direct return on investment in one year or even one season. Eating what they grow and closing the sustainability loop by composting is a permanent lifestyle element, not a trend. According to the Garden Media Group’s 2014 Garden Trends Report, a quarter of households are composting.

For the younger gardeners who are still building that interest and enthusiasm for composting to older gardeners who have been enjoying the rotting process for years (pun intended), independent garden centers are the key to supplying those customers with helpful products, answering questions and solving their problems. This is where opportunity awaits.

Create your own green story; telling the gardening community how you and your customers are managing the process together is the key to new sales. Building a partnership that the community of gardeners is hungry to participate in and seeing those results is about keeping it local but thinking big. Your sustainability story is the most vital marketing tool you have. Compost and related products are an excellent way to start.

Our kitchens are the new frontier to begin a composting habit. The countertop compost pail and biobag liners are becoming a natural part of many of our everyday lives. The neighborhood garden center can be the place to go to get that new box of biobags every so often and when a customer is there, maybe they pick up some veggies or a shrub, too.

“One factor that cannot be underestimated is the progress that has been made in organics recycling as a behavior,” says Nora Goldstein of BioCycle.net, a magazine that covers organics, sustainability and recycling. “While one school may have one on-site composting bin, hundreds of children in that school are taught the behavior of organics recycling. Multiply that by hundreds and hundreds of schools. That measurement is downright exciting.”
 

Capitalize on the interest

What can garden centers do to be involved directly with creating great sales results from a motivated customer interested in composting? Here’s what industry experts have to say.

1. Educate and inform.
Shawna Coronado, sustainability expert, suggests this: “By teaching customers how to compost, garden centers are doing more than promoting positive environmental action. Independent garden centers that have education areas set up that offer free composting classes to their customers teach the retail consumer how to better manage soil. This benefits both the garden center and the customer because the retail consumer sees increased success with bedding plants and vegetables sold from the garden shop when they plant in strong soil. Teaching customers how to build long term success with their soil means more repeat purchases and satisfied customers.”

2. Think on a micro level.
Josh Schneider of Cultivaris North America suggests this:

“For those worried about the best way to capture the interest of budding gardening enthusiasts at an early age, I think that ‘micro’ concepts like vermicomposting have enormous appeal to younger people. I have been worm composting for a year or so and my kids (aged 17-21) and their friends are most fascinated by the little natural garbage disposal. Maybe it is because it has the feel of a science project, or maybe because it is truly very easy and beneficial for the garden, but they always want to learn more. Garden centers have to be places where interesting and innovative solutions are presented in a way that is accessible. Giant piles of compost are not achievable for most young professionals, but a small ‘worm café’ certainly is — so there is an opportunity to use composting as a sort of ‘gateway drug’ to gardening.”

3. Draw more repeat customers.
Fern Richardson of Kellogg Garden Products has two unique ideas;

a. “One thing Garden Centers might consider is selling compost starter fertilizer. It will help ensure that their customers are successful by increasing the microbial activity of their compost piles, which will in turn help the organic material in the pile to break down more quickly.

The compost starter fertilizer has the benefit of bringing customers back to the nursery to buy more, whereas gardeners will not be back multiple times a year to buy compost bins.”

b. “Why not bundle the various things one might need to get started composting into a composting success kit? Garden centers could include a smaller composting bin, compost starter fertilizer, and a compost pail (for storing food scraps until its time to add them to the compost pile).”

There are fantastic products for every level of composter that cover sales opportunities from kitchen to large landscape, from less than $20 to more than $100. Here is an idea – how about giving instructions on how to crate a worm-composting set-up from nursery flats? Instructions are at www.instructables.com/id/5-dollar-12-hour-Worm-Composting-Bins.

How will your garden center create your sustainability story in your community? This is your 21st century challenge for creating new customer relationships.

Christina Salwitz is “The Personal Garden Coach,” co-author of “Fine Foliage,” blogger and container designer based in Seattle, Wash. She writes for national magazines, books and speaks at horticulture industry and gardening related events across the country.