Study, then sell

When it comes to improving the bottom line in the IGC retail market, many look for ways to shake up the off-season slump in foot traffic. The spring season keeps us afloat, but business would be much better if we could boost customer traffic the rest of the year. Extending and expanding your peak seasons are a must when it comes to improving the bottom line. The question is, are we missing out on opportunities to jump start, extend and maximize seasonal transitions?
 

Define your key selling seasons

First, you really need to identify each of your key selling seasons. Hint: There are more than two! We tend to myopically focus on spring, and perhaps a bit of fall, as our two main seasons. Yet we all have at least several additional key selling seasons that we’re neglecting.

For example, here in the North Texas area, I can identify seven distinct key selling seasons. (See sidebar.)

Each distinct selling season has its own characteristics, be they weather, events, holidays or traditional customer behavior. Once you’ve defined all of your key selling seasons, you can better plan your buying, promotions and profits for each time frame.

Extending your seasons comes down to good buying and inventory management.

Remember that we not only need to pre-sell and extend each season, but also expand the profit within the existing peak seasons.
 

Customer profiles

How well do you know your customer? In my experience, a different type of customer will shop the early and/or late end of major seasons. More experienced gardeners are willing to “pre-shop” spring and “post-shop” fall and purchase dormant plants. In warmer climates, vegetable gardeners will plant all winter long. When it comes to extending your key seasons, you’ll need to cater to particular types of customers. Doing some serious customer profiling and creating specific customer avatars can help you fine tune your buying calendar.

Crafting a customer avatar entails creating a fictional customer based on one of your typical customer profiles. What is her name; how many kids does she have; where does she live; what are her hobbies; where else does she shop; how does she spend her free time or money? What are her gardening hot buttons? Create a narrative for her. By getting to know each of your customer profiles in such a way, you can better cater to their specific needs.

Once you’ve created your customer avatars, you can create a customized buying calendar for each one. When do they want what they want and will you have it? Cross reference these customer buying calendars to your own independent garden center buying calendar. Where are the gaps?
 

Pre-sell the season

Give customers time to buy from you. We sell luxury items: That means we compete with any and all other seasonal purchases and events, be they back-to-school, state fairs, football, summer vacations, spring break, holidays, etc. You need to give customers advance notice so they can plan for purchases when they have expendable time and money. Now that you’ve defined your key selling seasons and your customer avatars, you can better pre-promote key products. The best time to talk about fall in your store? That would be spring; when you have the most customers in your store.
 

You can’t pre-sell what you don’t have

It’s hard to pre-sell the season if you don’t pre-buy the season; at least partially. Maximizing your seasonal opportunities means applying well-honed buying skills and forecasting to purchasing. That requires taking fear out of the buying equation. You’re scared of getting stuck with unsold inventory; I get it. But again, you can’t sell what you don’t have. You must have a marketing plan that works ahead of the seasons in order to properly support advance bookings once they hit the store.

Use your analysis of your customer avatars and niche key season opportunities to help guide pre-bookings and advance buys. Work closely with your growers to keep tabs on bookings and crop progress to keep up to date on production schedules and delivery dates. Start “pre-selling” that inventory via marketing and advertising well before it hits your benches to turn inventory faster. It’s your job to create a sense of urgency and excitement about what you have to sell. Dangle the carrot before the product arrives to drive demand, but make sure you have enough of those carrots in stock to meet the demand.
 

The boomerang effect

Trying to improve late summer, fall or winter traffic? Try providing customer incentives to return off-season. Be strategic about how and when you offer reward incentives as part of a loyal-to-your-customer program. Use your biggest selling seasons to hand out incentives. Use your slower selling seasons to redeem them. Getting customers back in the store during traditionally slower times is the goal. Still want to offer spring-time benefits to regular customers? Perhaps rather than giving out discounts or spring-redeemable rewards on purchases, focus on providing extra benefits and convenience for your “club” members. (See sidebar.)

Niche shoulder crops

What niche season needs and crops exist that you aren’t providing? Growing shoulder crops is traditionally a means for gardeners to extend their harvest season with edibles. By filling the relatively short gaps of time at the start or finish of traditional seasons with quick-turn crops, gardeners can maximize their space and increase their yields. Types and timing of shoulder crops vary by climate. Cold climates: Traditional “shoulder seasons” are early spring and fall. Warm climates: Early spring starts much earlier and planting can continue year-round; there are several transition periods with more frequent color changes. Talk to your growers about early and late crops. (For more about this topic, check out Leslie’s article “Shouldering consumer wants” in the July 2014 issue of Greenhouse Management magazine.)
 

Be social experts

Events and education can be good drivers for both PR and foot traffic. Events like happy hours, pet adoptions, CSA’s, food trucks, fundraisers, and produce or food contests are great for getting customers through the door during off-peak times. Knowing your customer avatars will help you plan events targeted to their hot buttons.

Providing good education is a great way to stretch the season when conditions are not ideal for outdoor gardening. An educated customer is a more successful customer, happy customer and repeat customer.

Remember that education should also be social. It gives you the chance to get to know your customers and it gives you the opportunity to “Be the Experts.” Education is a relationship building exercise.

Part of building a good relationship involves valuing your customers’ time. Longer workshops are great for off-season, when you have plenty of open spaces in the parking lot. During peak seasons, when space is limited and customers are in a hurry, consider doing short info sessions directly on the sales floor. “Pop-up” programing provides customers with quick tips about the items they’re buying, and you don’t lose valuable sales people for extended periods just when you need them most.
 

Go off the grid

To extend your seasons significantly, you may have to make a departure from traditional garden center products. Urban farming products such as poultry supplies keep customers coming back through your doors 12 months out of the year. (For more about catering to these customers, see Leslie’s article “The new super customers” in the August issue of Garden Center magazine.) Produce sales make sense for certain retailers. There’s nothing new about pet products or women’s accessories, but many IGCs are still doing very well with these categories off season. I’d highly suggest digging in to the hydroponics market. There’s a burgeoning of new customers for hydroponics, and new hydroponic retailers are popping up. Plus, indoor growing is a 12-month opportunity. Just make sure you match non-traditional product lines to your customer avatars or potential new customers.

Leslie owns Halleck Horticultural, LLC, through which she provides horticultural content marketing, social media management and strategy consulting for green industry businesses. www.lesliehalleck.com