Working hand in hand

Fear of competition is a very present and palpable emotion that circulates within our industry. While I completely understand that independent garden center businesses can suffer or even shut down as a result of intense competition or mass merchant pressure, I also know they can thrive in the midst of it.

When you’re surrounded, like I was, by at least 170 Home Depot and Lowe’s stores within a 50-mile radius, you learn to shift your perspective on the meaning of the word “competition.” I learned that fear of perceived competition is the very emotion that can often lead to failure, a self-fulfilling prophecy if you will.

When you’re faced with massive mass merchant presence, you have to redefine what “competition” means to you and your company. Your biggest competition should be yourself, not the other businesses operating around you.
 

Find other local allies

Part of shifting your perception of competition starts with learning to see other local-based businesses as allies instead of threats. If you’ve done your market research and created a marketing plan, then you should have a very fine-tuned picture of your ideal customer. That information can help you identify other local businesses that your target customers are likely to patronize. Wouldn’t it be great if you could both access each other’s customer base? Cross-marketing can be a big win/win endeavor, especially for small businesses. It typically only costs the time it takes to initiate the relationship.

So, what kinds of local businesses are typically a good fit for garden centers? In my experience, small restaurants, food trucks, local tea producers, coffee roasters, farmers, photographers, pet services, designers, beekeepers, custom builders and artists are all great fits. For example, during our annual spring rose festival at North Haven Gardens, we’d bring in a local tea company to serve fresh brewed rose hip tea. They walked around the garden center with samples served on nice trays — fancy! They took orders for their specialty teas and our customers got a treat that tied into the theme of our event. Both companies cross-promoted the event in their enewsletters, on their websites, social media and print advertising, plus provided event incentives to their customers.
 

Use delicious events to bring in new customers

Are veggies a big deal at your store? Food contests are a great way to drive traffic. Find local restaurants willing to sponsor and provide judges for your contests. If they happen to have a well-known chef then even better! During our annual salsa contest, our restaurant sponsors provided free food plus sizeable gift certificates to the winning participants. Again, both businesses cross-promoted the event to their customers. It was a great way for both companies to be introduced to brand new customers.

Speaking of chefs, are you offering cooking or cocktail demos to your customers so they can figure out what to do with all those herbs they buy from you? If not, there’s a lot of opportunity to pair up with local foodies to teach your customers how to use what they grow. If you’re looking to attract a younger gardening crowd, find a mixologist from a popular local bar to provide demos on creating herbal cocktails. Herb-infused spirits are all the rage right now, so why aren’t you taking advantage of the trend? Host them during your monthly garden happy hour and I’ll bet you see the average age of attendees drop!

Food trucks are not a new thing anymore, but rather have become an expected part of event culture. Why not feed your customers while they shop? This can be a great solution for IGCs that are unable to put in their own café.

Food trucks aren’t only for weekends though: Working out a deal with a local food truck company for weekday service is a great way to get shoppers to your store during their lunch hour.
 

Don’t be a chicken — try this!

You may not want to get into the backyard poultry business with both feet, but how about partnering with a local breeder or farmer to provide your customers access to fowl and supplies? Backyard livestock events can be a huge customer draw. Partnering with a local farmer or breeder to provide the birds and certain supplies can be a great way for you to take advantage of a growing practice, without taking on the direct responsibility for the animals. Is there a local pet and chicken sitter in your area? If so, they’re a perfect cross-marketing fit for your pet and poultry owning customers.
 

If you can’t do it, find someone who can

Remember that as a garden center, you can’t do everything. While you might offer landscape design services, you’re most likely not offering qualified tree care services. Identify a reputable tree care company in your area and have their certified arborists provide programs or consultations for you. In turn, refer their services out to your customer and cross market. If you don’t provide design services, find a local designer that would love access to your customers. I’ll bet your customers would love to have access to design consultations or classes at your garden center. As water availability becomes a bigger issue for many of us around the country, partnering with a top-notch irrigation company that installs low-pressure and drip systems would be ideal.
 

Team up with nonprofits

Cross-marketing arrangements don’t always have to be made with other for-profit companies. Do you host animal adoptions at your IGC? Gardeners love their pets and adoption rates at these events are high. Allowing local non-profit rescue organizations host adoption events at your IGC is a great way to both support a great cause and drive lots of foot traffic. People that come in for the adoption event may have never visited your garden center before. Plus, you’ll get to take a ton of cute photos that will blow up your social media channels. Animal photos always get the most traffic online. (Check out one IGC's pet adoption story on page 16.)
 

Look to other garden centers, too

Now, I feel cross-marketing efforts should also include other local independent garden centers and nurseries. What’s good for one independent is good for the next. We all rise and fall together and a better strategy is to support one another. I’ll admit, it can be difficult to get cooperation from other local garden centers, as there still seems to be a thick cloud of distrust and fear of competition between the business owners.

But here’s the truth folks: You have at least one thing you do better than your fellow IGCs and they have at least one thing they do better than you.

Focus on what you do well, then refer your customers to other IGCs with their own specialty, or if you’re out of something your customer needs. Once you start doing this, you may be surprised how often the “competition” starts referring customers back to you. The Home Depot down the street was actually one of our biggest referral partners.

Looking for new ways to join forces with other local IGCs? How about organizing a city garden center-hop day? Go in together on strategic advertising to promote the day. You can each offer a designated special for customers as well as staggered programs throughout the day. Create incentives for customers to spend the day going from garden center to garden center. Perhaps use this event to get a jump-start on the season and keep customers coming back to you instead of the mass merchant, or extend your fall season. What a great way to introduce new shoppers to IGCs they’ve never met before!

Re-labeling the “competition” to reflect what you see in the mirror versus who is down the street can help open doors to new opportunities. Not every company you approach will see the benefits to working together, but those that do can help you expand your reach with minimal costs.

Leslie owns Halleck Horticultural, LLC, which provides horticultural content marketing & advertising, branding, social media management and business strategy consulting for green industry companies. www.lesliehalleck.com