Statuary in style

It’s easy to try to sell everything, but when you spread your attention too thin, certain areas will suffer. You will struggle trying to juggle many departments of a garden center if you bite off more than you can chew. Selling statuary is a little bit different though, and it’s a must-have department. You almost have to sell garden statues. Where else are people going to buy them besides at your store? Even big box stores have resisted carrying statuary — see that weak spot and monopolize!

As with anything that you’re going to participate in, it’s worthwhile to learn your topic inside and out and become the expert. We talked to statuary guru Tony Z. of Z Enterprises to get his take on selling the garden art. Tony Z. has been working with independent garden centers across the country for more than 20 years setting them up with the materials and products they need to successfully sell high quality statuary at the lowest price possible.
 

Study your statuary selection

The world of statuary sales isn’t cut and dry. You can’t just pick out some concrete items and display them in your garden center. Statuary is created with various materials, and innovation in statuary manufacturing is incredible. The heavy concrete fountains that we’re all used to are being replaced with lighter weight resin, and the sweet little dog statues that we’ve been selling forever are now made out of just about every material available. You have to know your product and what it’s capable of. Tony says to check with your supplier about a few things:

1. The PSI (pounds per square inch) of the material. The higher the density (PSI) of the cast stone/concrete, the less porous it is, thus less susceptible to water penetration and the freeze/thaw problems that can arise from such. 

2. Does the company have its own in house artist/design team constantly coming out with new items?

3. What type of molds do they use? I.e. latex, metal, etc. The former allows for a more refined, detailed look.

4. When/how often do they make a new mold in order to maintain quality of the design piece? 

5. Attention to detail, craftsmanship in the produced/cast pieces. Look at the definition (or lack thereof) in the pieces, i.e. air holes in finish, excessive mold seams, definition of facial features, etc.    
 

Sell it all, restock, and sell it again

Does this situation sound familiar? “I’ve been stepping over the same concrete statue of a fluffy dog nuzzling a kitten for seven years now. I didn’t buy it, but for some reason I feel like I need to sell it just to get it out of the way. It’s cute, it’s very well made, why is it still here? What am I doing wrong?” Tony says the answer to this problem is simple. “Certain pieces dispersed throughout the garden center help in the decoration vignettes of the garden center as well as tie in sales and showing/giving the potential customer an idea of its use. This also holds true for the use of cast stone planters. In this case, best to use an inserted pot with a mixed planting. This will allow for the planter or pot to be sold separately if the customer does not like one or the other.”

Just like any other new endeavor, you have to explore different merchandising options and test what works best. To get in the groove of selling statuary, thinking of the acronym TRY:
 

T – Tuck it in
Statuary on its own can give a very formal, cold appearance. Even en masse, the figurines can become very undesirable when piled on top of one another. It has the tendency of looking cluttered and the detail of each piece is lost.

This mentality isn’t the kind you want to project as a boutique, specialty store. Shoppers go to garden centers over big box stores because they offer something special, something unique, and a personalized experience. The lined up, orderly statue area is going to purvey a more big box like environment. Tucking in your statuary around your store will help the customer visualize what the statue would look like in their gardens. Having that same dog with a basket tucked into a display with flowers surrounding it will make it look more desirable, because it will look like it belongs somewhere. It will give the statue more character besides just being a dog in a row.

Once you’ve tucked in your carefully selected statuary, keep a few key things in mind while creating a display around it:

• Make sure the statue is in a location so it can be viewed from at least three sides. Having an intricate statue shoved up in some bushes will lessen its appearance and the greenery will mask the details.
• The statue should be the main event no matter what’s around it. When placing flowers, shrubs, treatments and more around a statue, make sure the piece is still the focal point and everything else accessorizes it.
• Using hang tags that are printed on weather-resistant labels is crucial in keeping your inventory moving. Statuary without tags will become nothing but expensive junk around your shop if people don’t know how much it costs. Rarely will a customer seek somebody out to find a price on something that they’re lukewarm about, however if the price is right in front of them, they can make an instant decision as to whether it’s worth the price or not.
  
   

R – Rearrange
Most garden centers will see a majority of their income in the first couple of months and then experience a slowdown in the summer time. This is an excellent opportunity to play a friendly trick on your shoppers and rearrange your statuary, placing things in new places in order to give them a fresh look.

If a customer shops for annuals in May and sees a statue of a dog nestled among zinnias, in the fall when they come back to that same location and see something else, the insinuation is that the dog had been sold and this object is “new.” You know it’s been there for a while, but of course it was just in a different location. This little rearrange trick works wonders for objects that haven’t sold in a while or seem to be forgotten.

Depending on how you run your store, you can assign a different person every week to move three statues, this way you’ll have new eyes on the situation at all times. This will also help you target specific demographic groups. For instance, your younger employees might bring an owl statue front and center and the next week one of your veteran employees might find a particular Hebe statue fetching. Get more eyes on the project than just your own.
 

Y - Yippee!
Beyond tucking in and rearranging your statuary, you have to make sure you have the ability to see it go out the door. Keeping this in mind, some statuary is very, very heavy. Make sure you have enough manpower at all times to be able to move product. Employees can hurt themselves very seriously trying to move a piece by themselves. Customers may try to move the products and either break it or break themselves. Remind your customers with signage that you have “Loaders On Call” to help them move their items from the lot to their car. Having the signage will not only remind them that you care about their back, but it will also keep them from trying to do it themselves.
 

Trendy, not just for clothes anymore

Believe it or not, statues don’t just sit still and age gracefully. The trends, just like in fashion or home décor, change as the quickly as the seasons do. Without staying on top of the newest trends and fads with consumers, you’ll be left with all the rage from last year and no sales for this year. To try to avoid having to mark down your statuary just to move it, Tony strongly recommends going to trade shows to check out the latest trends in products, design and materials. 

“With the main growth in lawn and garden being in the outdoor room/living, they need to take it in, digest it, adapt and capitalize on the fact that they are the outdoor expert; not only on their green material but as a complete outdoor living provider,” he says. “Great examples of this are Hyams Garden & Accent Store in Charleston, S.C., which has an excellent display of fountains, all running, as you enter the outdoor display area.

“This is followed by the statuary done by category, i.e. animals, oriental. Also, White House Garden in Cornelius, N.C., almost exclusively carries cast stone with mixes of brass and containers of mixed materials. Almost all fountains are running. Both have large dedications of product, and because of that, sell large quantities with multiple turnovers.”

Follow the trends, and TRY. What can be easier?

Nikki is a horticulturist and professional adventurer who uses her experiences and knowledge to manage a successful garden center in Greenville, S.C. pepitaweed@gmail.com