Why are consumers who are interested in plants not buying them? "This is just one reason why we should invest more in understanding the consumer market. The more we understand it, the better it will be for the entire industry," says Jeff O'Brien, Director of Sales at Van Belle Nursery and passionate about the ornamental industry. Therefore, he chose 'consumer purchasing behavior in the retail garden center' as a topic for his dissertation for his MBA. Some interesting findings of this 10,000-word paper will be highlighted in this article. And for O'Brien, this study is just a starting point for O'Brien as he is determined to build out content in the future. He will do this through his own brand and will share more findings and thoughts through short video messages throughout the year.
Jeff O'Brien
Filling the gap in literature
According to O'Brien, there have been great articles and studies done on active gardening consumers, however there is still a gap in literature when it comes to consumers that are interested in plants, but not buying them. "If we can solve their greatest problems, we will have more consumers, and everyone will be more successful in our industry."
Methodology
O'Brien's study conducted qualitative, semi-structured interviews with top independent garden center buyers in North America, a major accounts manager with one of the largest nurseries that ship into retail garden centers across North America, and a consumer focus group that consisted of 7 millennial consumers. According to O'Brien, the relationship between these three groups is critical to the success of the horticultural industry. "Consumer behaviors interests me, and you hear a lot from sales experts, from retail garden center buyer experts, and from consumers that you meet, and sometimes they are aligned, and sometimes they aren't. I wanted to do a study that brought all three major groups together to see if they were all speaking the same language."
Biggest takeaways - More education and inspiration needed
During the interviews, some interesting findings occurred. "The biggest takeaways from my study were that all consumer participants researched plants frequently and all participants had a desire to buy plants, but only a small portion of the participants actually made it into the garden center. Why? Because of their fear of failure, they didn't want to spend money if they were just going to kill the plant in the end. They don't even make it into a garden center because their research didn't build enough trust or inspiration to go purchase plants. One participant from the focus group said: 'I feel like I've done all the research. I'm very interested in following gardening influencers on Instagram, but I just never follow through with it. But I do all the research on Google, and it's all very interesting.' So, as an industry, we need to educate and build that trust online in order to inspire/build trust with the millennial consumer so they take the first step and visit a retail garden center."
"Another interesting finding was that buyers felt that the younger generation didn't want to walk through a large retail garden center and the future was going to be digital and smaller retail garden centers, but my study showed that the majority of consumer participants that shop at a retail garden center would travel an hour out of the city to go to a particular retail garden center and spend a full day there because it's like going for a walk in the park. So, do we need to find ways to set up our retail garden centers in a more efficient way? Absolutely! But not at the cost of the customer experience."
More interesting findings
But of course, that's not all. There were more interesting findings, some of which are listed below:
- A designated brand section in the retail garden center helped sell more plants, but only within the perennial section
- An in-store layout that draws inspiration and makes it easier for the customer will help plant purchases
- Smaller homes and gardens need smaller plants
- Conflicting data as the retail garden center buyers reported that garden centers are too big and the younger consumers don't want to spend all day walking through the garden center, while the majority of the consumer participants that shop at a retail garden center reported that they would drive an hour out of the city to go to a particular garden center because it's like going for a walk in the park and they will spend all day there.
- Consumers don't have brand loyalty when it comes to plants, and the majority of the consumer participants in the focus group did not even know one plant brand.
- The most beautiful plant is the plant that is purchased
- The majority of the consumer participants in the focus group reported that hydrangeas were the plant that they loved the most and the plant they spoke about the most
- Boxwood in a branded pot sold more than non-branded
- The best plants are now being put into branded programs, making it a big reason why consumers purchase brands because they are the prettiest looking plants in the retail garden center - Plants that stay green in the winter are a big focus for consumers
What's next?
As said, the findings of the study are just the starting point for O'Brien. "I have a few more interviews lined up, and I plan on posting a series or podcast that can be found on my LinkedIn profile that addresses more of the recommendations from my study, and I'm also booking speaking engagements to share all this information with our industry so that we can give consumers the tools and support they need to be successful."
For more information:
Jeff O'Brien
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-o-brien-685783237/