Why shop at your store?

So what’s your story?
More than just the economy tends to run in cycles. When people can’t think of a new approach, they tend to revert to what they did in the past. When that doesn’t work, they take an even easier route: They just copy what someone else seems to be successful doing.

Take marketing, for example. For an industry that’s supposed to be full of creative thinkers, every cool idea ends up being copied by others faster than Illinois governors can speed dial their lawyers. Once the Mac vs. PC commercial (which is just an updated version of the old Coke vs. Pepsi taste test) became such a hit, everyone began revisiting the old “us versus them” game.

When the vast majority of customer spending is divided between just a few major players, face-to-face comparisons might make sense. But in the small world of independent garden centers, the battle isn’t between whom or where, it’s more about why. In 2009, our challenge will be convincing people that what we have to sell offers a more compelling reason to shop our stores with their limited amount of time and money.

The winners will be those that do the best job at explaining why gardening and garden centers are better options than a thousand other ways to blow some bucks.

Set yourself up for growth
Companies that maintain a higher degree of consumer awareness during slower economic times are those that experience the fastest growth trajectory once things recover. Maybe that’s because they never allowed their company or product to “fall out of favor” with their customers.

If you don’t talk it up as to why gardening is a better alternative than other time and money expenditures, don’t be surprised when your customers drift away to other interests. Your customer count is down because people just aren’t spending like they used to? Maybe customer count is down because people found something else to do.

If you don’t tell a better story as to the “why,” don’t be surprised when the next issue is “where,” as in, “So where did all our customers go?” This “us vs. them” thing just got moved to a whole different level. gc

To receive the free e-newsletter, “Marketing That Matters,” e-mail your request to: robert@thegardencentergroup.com

Robert Hendrickson is managing director of The Garden Center Group, an alliance of more than 100 garden centers, vendors and service providers. He can be reached by calling (410) 313-8067, e-mail at robert@thegardencentergroup.com or online at www.thegardencentergroup.com.