Weather Proofing Your Garden Centre

Whilst politicians debate whether global warming is a serious issue, horticultural retailers are fully aware of the changes taking place and they are having to adapt their retail practises accordingly.

Whether it is spring arriving a month earlier in the UK in this century compared with the 1950's, severe droughts in the Western Cape of South Africa and Australia or more severe winter storms in parts of the USA, garden centres are realising that they are having to weatherproof their businesses if they are to survive.

In the 1970's a typical British garden centre would rely on up to 75% of it's sales coming from outdoor plants. In today's business, this is as low as 35%. This has happened for a number of reasons. One is historically, many garden centres originated out of wholesale plant nurseries and have evolved into gardening and lifestyle centres, but one of the factors has been the need for retailers to weatherproof their businesses.

Weatherproofing Categories

Retailers soon realised that bad spring weather could have a dramatic affect on core categories and upset the cash flow for the remainder of the year. Garden centres have been forced, by economic pressures, to look for weatherproofing product categories to ensure a successful future.

One of the key global weatherproofing strategies has been to introduce a coffee shop. This has had a number of benefits. Firstly, in good buying weather, customers are encouraged to linger longer and hopefully spend more. But, when those bad weather days arrive, customers will still visit the garden centre, but now the coffee shop becomes the destination.

In Australia, the average Aussie spends $13 per week to put fuel in their car and $10 per week on coffee, this is 'big business'. In the UK, some garden centres are reporting 60% of customers go to the coffee shop and the average coffee shop now brings in 11% of total revenue.

The coffee shop has evolved into licensed restaurants that remain open after the garden centre has closed, but they have become a key factor in garden centre weatherproofing.

Seasonal Changes in Trading Patterns

One of the biggest shifts in weatherproofing has been to reduce the reliance on spring trading. After a long winter, gardeners suffer from 'cabin fever' and rush into the garden centre. We should continue to promote this, but we are all aware that a wet or cold spring can dampen the spirits and bank account.

Another weatherproofing strategy has been to create alternative seasonal events to create new sales peaks. Christmas was the logical choice, being the worst season to have a traditional garden centre. Again, many garden centres are recording Christmas sales that are now 10% of total sales.

Following on from Halloween and I have one client who now finds it is more cost effective to put there efforts into Halloween rather than Christmas.

Non-Seasonal Weatherproofing

The ultimate solution would be to find product categories where the consumer comes to the garden centre whatever the weather.

Many garden centres choose the gift category as the solution. As with any category development, there are pitfalls as well as opportunities. The pitfalls with gifts or home ornaments are that there is a trend to de-clutter our homes as we go for the simple look. This means less, but often more expensive ornaments. Plus gifts and ornaments are high fashion and you need to be 'on the ball' when buying and be ruthless with your stock control. Having said that, get it right and it can be a highly profitable weatherproof category.

The Ultimate Weatherproof Insurance

The ultimate weatherproof insurance would be one where the customer comes to the garden centre every week, whatever the weather conditions and spends a considerable amount of money. This may sound like an unachievable paradise, but I do have clients who believe they have found their paradise.

Garden centres that have incorporated a farmers market, selling fresh produce, are finding this the ultimate weatherproof insurance and a highly profitable venture. With farmers markets generate a third of the business income from an eighth of the space. One client generates $40,000 from two square metres of olives a year.

A fresh produce consumer who is interested in buying produce of high quality for a known source is also likely to be a keen gardener, hence the win: win formulae.

Again there are pitfalls, you will need a dedicated team for this category who know their produce. They need to know what a celeriac is and how to cook it. Plus, you need an excellent produce buyer, the key is to provide produce range width and depth with the minimum of wastage.

But Can You Weatherproof Your Plant Category?

The Dutch and Germans would definitely argue that there is a case for putting a structure over the whole plant area and protect plants and consumers from inclement weather. To be successful you do need to increase your stock turn to ensure the plants remain healthy and hardy., but it is working for these retailers.

An alternative is to not weatherproof the plants, but to weatherproof the customers. Covered walkways are not the total solution, but they do help encourage consumers to go into the plant area when they would otherwise resist. The secret is to ensure the covered walkway fully circulates around the plant area, otherwise you'll find some locations are over shopped whilst others are under shopped.

And the Future?

I believe plants will continue to reduce there percentage of total sales as garden centres discover more weatherproofing strategies. This is not to say plants will be less important, I believe the reverse will be true. Plants are the core strategy in a garden centre and as such should remain in a prominent position in the customer's journey around the centre.

The future will introduce more weatherproofing strategies. The weather is one of those unpredictability's we have to work with an as a result we will continue to invest in weatherproofing to ensure we have profitable businesses in the future.