Retail consultant Liam Kelly explores the benefits of a covered plant sales area and best-practice in design and location
WHAT A WINTER
From last November to mid-February – as I’m writing this article – it’s hard to remember a day without rain. Incessant, wet days that wouldn’t encourage potential customers to look outside their back doors, let alone get out and garden in any significant way.
Whatever the impact that this rain had on plant sales during winter, and the knock-on effect for all those links sales from pots to compost, a period of continued rain such as that during the busy spring and summer periods could have – and has had in previous seasons – a catastrophic effect on all garden related sales. This thought should have many garden centres thinking about their plant areas and how to weatherproof some of this space to make life a little easier on their customers and their plants. Even if you already have an area covered, it would be good to reassess the size, shape and layout of this space with a view to increasing and improving it.
Most garden centres have already taken the plunge into covering a portion of the sales area but some are still reluctant to do so. This is motivated by cost – admittedly a big factor – and also because many are still stuck in a traditional way of thinking … dreaming that they can endure in a way that garden centres did 30 years ago.
These garden centres will not survive, as without effective covered sales space and more of a ‘draw’ by diversifying into food, gifts and homeware – or by setting up shop close to these businesses – they will die out when the last of the old-fashioned gardeners pop their clogs.
But that’s a lecture for another article; for now let’s concentrate on the covered plant sales area.
THE WHY…
So for those teetering on the edge of a decision to build or expand, let’s look at the benefits of having a covered sales area. These are in no particular order and I’m probably
missing one or two!
● More comfortable for customers to shop
● Better protection for plant stock
● More enticing for the customer
● Can be lit in winter
● Better atmosphere
● Easy for staff to work in – Increased productivity
● Easier to create and maintain eye-catching displays
● Longer life for benching, staging and POS material
● Extends the season for stocking certain products and ranges
● Sides can be closed off in winter to create a climate controlled area
● Easier to hang mood-setting banners and posters
● Safer for customers and staff. (No more poor lighting, slippery surfaces.)
● More scope for link-selling of garden care, support, containers, etc. with plants.
● Compost can be incorporated undercover too, making for improved sales due to dry bags and a clean, more saleable product.
As you can see, the list is extensive and there are more than just the obvious ones. It’s hard to see how it’s not a no-brainer for every garden centre really!
THE WHAT…
SO YOU’VE DECIDED YOU NEED SOME COVER NOW, BUT WHAT KIND OF STRUCTURE SHOULD YOU GO FOR?
There are a few suppliers of bespoke covered structures in the country and each have their own designs, sizes and costs. They all have the similar basic shape of a hooped structure clad in a clear or semi-opaque material, and that appearance is important as it shouts ‘Garden Centre’ to the customer as they spot that familiar ‘look’ while out for a drive or just passing by. There are many more styles and structures available from the UK or the continent and these can look quite stylish and salubrious, albeit at a cost that will either suit your budget … or not!
The key thing is to get as much as possible of your outdoor sales area covered with whatever budget you have. Those with deep pockets and resources can go one route but those on a very tight budget might even go down a DIY route, which is possible, providing the structure is safe and its appearance and finish is in keeping with your style and existing buildings.
Height can be an issue, as you need it tall enough to be unobtrusive and airy but not so high as to be an eyesore or look out of place in its surroundings. The sides need to drop down a fair degree too, in order to prevent wind-blow rain from making some of the area unshoppable just when you need it most. Consider installing moving screens on the sides so that you can retreat into this area for the winter with a tighter, fuller looking stocking plan and design for the winter season.
Double or treble hooped structures are the best shape generally speaking, as they give more scope for customer flow and keep the rain and bad weather further away from the customer. They also give you excellent gable ends for externally visible signage, which can affect the orientation of the building and dictate where these valuable ends face.
There are many more factors of course including what material to use for the structure itself and what type of floor surface you need, but just to reiterate the important thing is to cover as much as possible of the sales area while leaving some outdoor space for the few categories of plants which don’t require cover such as trees and hedging.
THE WHERE…
The position that many garden centres choose for the covered areas, and where they place their doors, often surprises me. (Almost as much as those centres who place their restaurants at the front of the building, missing out on dragging potential customers right through the shop and past all those enticing products!)
The exit to the covered area should be as far away from the checkout and entrance/exit as possible in order to make the customer walk the whole length of the shop twice – both coming and going – exposing them to all those add-on garden care sales, as they make their way back to the checkouts. Remember that you are trying to get your customer to walk every part of your store, while stopping them every now and again to pick up items from enticing displays or to avail of great offers in strategically placed dumpers.
In my simplified ‘Ideal Garden Centre’ layout you can see the optimum position for a covered plant area, and the exit into it, that lets you best exploit your layout to maximise the customer’s exposure to product, with the bedding plants and compost in the furthest point possible from the main door in order to drag the customer past enticing flowering shrubs, perennials, pots, etc.
BUT…
Of course, a covered area alone won’t be enough, as you need more than just plants to get customers into your business to start with, as already mentioned above. A restaurant, giftware, homeware, Christmas and a few other departments need to be combined into what any viable garden centre now offers in order to bring the customers in the front door. Only then can you reap the full benefits of this artificial climate you have created, which should entice, tempt and inspire the customer to purchase, and therefore into taking those tentative steps outside their back door to do what they haven’t done in a while…
… to garden. ✽
 LIAM KELLY is one of Ireland’s top garden retail consultants and garden centre designers. He was general manager of one of the largest garden centres in the country, where he was instrumental in transforming it into a large lifestyle store. He established Retail Services & Solutions in 2007 and has since advised many garden centres, nurseries and hardware stores in Ireland. He has experienced every aspect of garden centre work from merchandising to sales and purchasing to management. This combined with his problem-solving ability, honesty and hands-on work ethic make him unique in his area. He can appreciate the nitty-gritty of the day-to-day running of a garden centre better than most, as he knows the products, mindset and ethos of the Irish garden retail sector.Liam Kelly, Retail Services & Solutions, 118 Dolmen Gardens, Pollerton, Carlow. 086-822 1494 or 059-913 0176, lksolutions@eircom.net, www.lksolutions.blogspot.com |
