Garden Centers of America

Moving and Shaking

By: Shanan Molnar

Management Clinic was everything that was promised and then some. The welcome mat included lots of industry folks (and aren't they always friendly!) added to some speakers with lots to share plus some great food and drinks! Eating and drinking are always one of the most acceptable forms of socializing and bonding. This event blended the tried and true method of breaking bread together with lots of discussion about the newer forms of socializing. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to be more specific. (Send me an e-mail and you can follow me on Twitter and become a friend to Garden Centers of America's® Group page! Direct links to come.)

One of my favorite portions of the clinic was the Retail Swap Shop hosted by Corey Bordine (pictured below). Lots of lively ideas were shared around the room and I will share with you:

Words of caution were shared regarding a garden centers marketing regarding sustainability. Getting the right message, correctly conveyed with supporting documentation. In other words do your homework.
Coupons on-line seemed to be a growing opportunity. Several stores are adding another layer with a 'secret word' of the day. They post the word on Facebook and/or Twitter so that their customers that are friends or followers will come into the store and receive a discount when they share the secret word. Could be used to drive traffic to the website too.
Tackling the lack of traffic in January and February? Maybe July and August are bigger issues for you? How about tagging Christmas trees with discounts good only during January or February. Maybe your Mother's Day pots have a tag announcing "Mom's Planting Monday" during July or August.
Employee was given creative license to build a waterfall feature out of an old VW bus. Talk about starting a conversation! The employee has actually become a local "rock star" because of just such creativity. Management encourages their celebrity. Community involvement led to some of the notority.
One store took some items they had moved and dusted several times and posted them on e-bay. Some of the pieces had been discounted several times. At the end of the day the sales prices were higher than what they would have made with their last discount. Their e-bay sales were $1,000 or more.

I also made time to talk to people about this year's Summer Tour in Orlando and the Holiday Tour in Minnesota. People are excited about the magical learning opportunity being offered this summer. Registrations are definitely up from last year. You are welcome to register at Summer Tour Magic and Learning. A new avenue for this year's tour is the opportunity for table top displays at one of the venues. (E-mail me for more information.) Dave shared Summer Tour info during Swap Shop too!

Our tours are great for both the garden center owners as well as the vendors they serve. We all need to share what works or doesn't work to create efficiency that results in happier end-users which are the customers we all serve.

The Holiday Tour also received some attention from the tour committee - Gino Pitero at Gertens (his staff too!) and Jonathan Bailey at Bailey's. I also asked ANLA's Kellee Maggee since it is her backyard. Great collaboration is building a super tour for your plans AFTER Summer Tour!

If you have questions just send me a message at smolnar@asginfo.net ! I enjoy hearing what you are doing to be special too!

Shanan Molnar

p.s. There is limited space at Disney's Contemporary Resort. You can book 3 days prior to our event and 3 days after if you are interested in adding on family time. The room rate is $199 per night rather than $400 or more if you booked outside the event! Call to utilize the 3 day window - 407-824-3869. Otherwise click Disney rooms/tickets and other info!

p.p.s. I also just had to share a picture of the 2010 GCA Board of Directors that were able to make the meeting in January!