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Industry Talk: Bruce Butterfield
Garden-market researcher offers ways retailers can sell more
outdoor products.
 The
National Gardening Association (NGA) has tracked consumer
gardening practices, trends and product sales for 35 years
through its annual National Gardening Survey. Bruce Butterfield,
the NGA’s market research director for more than 25 years, spoke
with Super Floral Retailing Editor in Chief Cynthia L. McGowan
about the 2006 survey results and how retailers can apply them
to their business. Here are excerpts from their conversation.
Q. The survey shows 83 percent of
American households participated in gardening in 2005, a record
number. To what do you attribute this growth?
The main driver of increased lawn and garden participation was
the strength of the housing market. Once you move into a home,
you’ve got to do something to make the outdoors more livable and
attractive, and so we’re seeing the end result of five years of
a strong housing market.
Q. The housing market appears to be
slowing. Do you see that as a challenge for the garden market?
I do. I think another challenge is that many people are what I
would call casual gardeners or reluctant gardeners. Many of the
people buying new homes today are younger folks, 18- to
34-year-olds, and their participation and spending on gardening
is the lowest of any group demographically in the country. They
want to have instant gardens and not spend a lot of time and,
perhaps, money on them.
Q. What can retailers do to get
those 18- to 34-years-olds more interested in gardening and
buying outdoor products?
They can sell them ready-made gardens. One trend I have seen in
a number of markets on the West Coast and in more urban areas is
you don’t have to buy the plants and the pot and the soil and
put them together. You buy an already-planted container garden,
put it in your cart, take it home, set it on the deck, and
you’re done.
When merchandising plants, display is key; freshness is key.
People relate to color emotionally, so you really need to take a
lesson from merchandising the floral department and the produce
department and apply many of those same principles to selling
plants and container gardens outdoors.
Another thing that’s clear to me is that many people are buying
plants on impulse. That’s the reason the big-box stores put them
right by the checkout counters, and so you also need to ask,
“What can we do to motivate people to make that impulse buy?”
Q. What other trends are you
seeing?
There have been increased sales of larger plant material in
4-inch pots. What that says to me is that people want the mature
look. They don’t want to take a product home, plant it and wait
a month to see it flower. It’s almost like we need to create
living bouquets for people.
Q. The survey showed that although
more households participated in gardening, sales were down by 4
percent from 2004. Why was there a decline?
I don’t see it as a terrible decline. I see sales as basically
being fairly flat. What it says to me is we need to sell
gardening to people each year, and that in the 21st century or
the electronic age, people are distracted. One thing that is
interesting to me in this new study is that, on average, people
will spend two hours per week during the growing season taking
care of their yards, and they spend only about $400 each on
their yards. I would bet you most people spend more than two
hours in an evening in front of the TV. We need to reintroduce
people to the pleasures of doing things for themselves rather
than just being entertained.
Q. What role do retailers have in
that?
There are some places where people see good examples of
gardening when they go shopping, whether it’s the median strip
or whether it’s the planting around the store. It’s almost as if
the retailers, to be good citizens, need to put their best face
forward when it comes to showing plants and color, and have
their establishments look like what they want their customers to
emulate.
You can reach Cynthia L. McGowan by e-mail at
cmcgowan@superfloralretailing.com or by phone at (800)
355-8086.
To enjoy the rest of this
issue, please go to the
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copy of Super Floral Retailing today!!!
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