Features Business Marketing
Breaking Down Barriers – A Streetside Invitation to Stop and Shop

Garden centres are famous for being invisible. They often act under the misconception that the greenhouse or tables of plants out front tell customers what kind of business we are and customers will automatically come to us when they need something.

Garden centres are famous for being invisible. They often act under the misconception that the greenhouse or tables of plants out front tell customers what kind of business we are and customers will automatically come to us when they need something.

What a difference a splash of colour can make to improve the curb appeal of a garden centre. In the inset picture, the combination of this permanent white resin fence and the Supertunia Vista Bubblegum planters stops traffic. In the main photo, large hanging baskets add height to this fence planting and suggest another product to keep in stock in large quantities. Advertisement

Add to those longstanding and often misguided views the desire to present an organic or rural look – unpainted rail fences, farm equipment or trucks and worn signage – and the recipe for invisibility is complete. I suspect many stores reflect a tendency on the part of ownership to maintain a background presence, believing the act of producing and offering quality plants to a community for many generations should be enough to encourage continued patronage.

Changes in the store’s surroundings can also impact streetside visibility. Once-rural stores have experienced sprawl, with development engulfing the location. While development can be a plus, providing more drive-by traffic and more customers, that positive impact can be impeded by more rigid signage restrictions. The store may even find itself prohibited by local bylaws from making any changes in signage under the threat of not being allowed to put up anything new, no matter how attractive the improvement may be.

To compound the confusion, many stores lack adequate parking to allow passersby to confidently make the turn. If it looks as if there’s no place to park, customers may elect to avoid the hassle, promising to return. Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes the urge to garden this weekend is displaced by other activities or another retailer provides easier access at a time when customers find it convenient to shop.

In a consumer marketplace dominated by image overload, a store can simply be lost in the clutter. Many garden centres are. Even stores that consider themselves destinations  (a designation that is becoming more and more suspect) must reward the customer who makes the effort to visit with an inviting entrance and adequate, organized parking.

You need to give customers a reason to stop at your garden centre. You don’t want to hear the telltale phrase “I’ve been driving by here for years and always meant to stop in.” Streetside signage is key to encouraging customers to make time for your garden centre. Here’s where Proven Winners’ Supertunia Bubblegum becomes a marketing hero. Adding this plant to the front of the store won’t create additional parking but it will scream, “Stop here for great plants!” Several stores in the SWAS program experienced great success with various streetside installations. The only problem is keeping enough of the plant in stock to meet customer demand. The single colour planting acts not as a display garden but as a giant billboard. Once the infrastructure for the planting is in place, seasonal change-out of the pot-in-pot display is easy and quick. An eye-catching planting display such as this won’t take the place of a traditional sign that says “Garden Centre” but it will cause the customer to see that sign and turn in to the parking lot.

Judy Sharpton is a garden centre design and renovation specialist with 35 years of experience in advertising and promotion. She is the owner of Growing Places Marketing.