Lockdowns and work-fromhome options during the pandemic gave people the opportunity to participate in new activities, including vegetable gardening, container gardening, and landscaping (Fig. 1). Many people tried gardening for the first time or completed landscaping projects from their “to do” lists. Estimates show 16 million people started gardening during the pandemic (Garden Media Group, 2021). As a result, sales of plants and gardening supplies increased an estimated 8% to 36% between 2020 and 2021 (Garden Media Group, 2021). Many of the new customers are younger than 35 years old, are interested in growing their own food, and have different needs than older generations. This e-GRO Alert focuses on two marketing strategies that can be used to engage and draw in this younger customer group to your retail establishment.
Promotions and in-store information are key promotional materials to inform customers about the benefits of plants and gardening. Many plant benefits cannot be ascertained from visually inspecting a plant which makes in-store signage and labeling more important. Plants and gardening provide aesthetic, cognitive, economic, educational, emotional, environmental, physical, and social benefits, but customers (and new customers in particular) are less aware of these benefits. In-store signage and plant tags are great ways to communicating these messages at the point-of-sale. Sharing content related to the benefits using online platforms is another way to encourage customers to view plants as having more value.
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