This document discusses findings from focus groups conducted to understand how potential customers think about gardening. Key findings include:
1. Most have positive impressions of gardening but also see negatives like it being dirty and hard work.
2. Consumers associate gardening with stereotypical images like old ladies, and don't see it as fitting their own lifestyle.
3. Popular shopping locations are big box stores and supermarkets, though some prefer locally owned garden centers.
4. Consumers see gardening success as "luck" and a risk, lacking a sense of control.
The document suggests ways retailers can address these perceptions, such as promoting easy, low-risk gardening
2. The Research Team
Carol Miller
Editor
Today’s Garden Center
Susan Hogan
Actionable Results
Research &
Adjunct Prof. Marketing,
Emory University
Bridget Behe
Professor
Dept. of Horticulture
Michigan State University
3. Thank you to our sponsor,
AmericanHort, and to the
USDA and the Ohio
Department of Agriculture,
which partially funded this
research.
8. Our Goals
• Increase the diversity (starting with
age) of the customer base.
• Understand what they want and how
they “garden.”
• Unearth the barriers to activity and
purchase.
• Identify the likeliest of potential
customers and lure them into action!
9. Peter Drucker on Demographics
“Managers have known for a long time that
demographics matter, but they have always
believed that population statistics change
slowly. In this century, however, they don’t.
Indeed, the innovation opportunities made
possible by changes in the numbers of people
– and in their age distribution, education,
occupations, and geographic location – are
among the most rewarding and least risky of
entrepreneurial pursuits.”
Source: Peter F. Drucker, 2002, “The Discipline of Innovation,” Harvard Business Review (Aug):95-102.
10. Changes in U.S. Age Groups
40
Percent of population
35
Under 19
20-44
45-64
65-84
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2000
2010
2020
2030
2040
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2004, “U.S. Interim Projections by Age,
Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin” http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj/<
11. Age Subcultures
• GI or WWII Generation (before 1933) accounts
for 10% of the population, mostly over age 80
• Swing Generation (1934 to 1945) 12%; 68 to 79
• Baby Boomers (1946-1964) 25%; 49 to 67 yrs.
• Generation X (1965 to 1976) 17%; 37 to 48 yrs.
• Gen Y or Millennial Generation (1977 to 1995)
25%; ages 18 to 36 today
• Post-Millennials (1996 to present) 11%, 17 and
under
13. Category
Average
spending 2006:
Average
spending 2011:
Lawn Care
$190
$169
Flower Gardening
$80
$66
Indoor Houseplants
$38
$36
Vegetable Gardening
$54
$56
Flowering Bulbs
$41
$36
Tree Care
$144
$151
Landscaping
$397
$224
Container Gardening
$54
$48
Herb Gardening
$25
$27
$447 in total
$355 in total
Adjusted for inflation (all in 2011 dollars)
Sources: National Gardening Association, multiple annual surveys
14. Steps in our investigation
1. Review existing published and private literature
2. Initial discovery groups Jan. 11-13 (2013) in Atlanta
3. Submitted three research proposals to USDA SCBG
Programs in Georgia, Ohio and Michigan
4. Conducted focus groups in Ohio (Nov. 2013)
5. Translate findings into retailer activities
6. Monitor impact of activities on revenue
15. Quick Background On The
Online Focus Groups
• Used GutCheck to coordinate our online communities.
Incentive for their time ($100).
• Mothers of children ages 2-12, 18-29 year olds, 30-49 year olds.
• Respondent target was 20 per group (ended up with 112 total,
participation varied by day and group)
• Conducted over three days, they typed answers to our
questions and we could follow-up.
• Struggled to fill the 18-29 group.
17. 1. Attitudes To Gardening
The good news is that more than half (56%) of respondents enjoy
gardening! Now… How do we get them to do more of it? And shop at
the local garden center? And shop often?
1 (hate it)
2
Moms (25
respondents)
0%
20%
18-29 (20
respondents)
0%
15%
30-49 (26
respondents)
4% (1)
0%
Total (71
respondents)
1% (1)
8
3
4
5 (adore it)
20%
36%
24%
40%
30%
15%
35%
46%
15%
22
27
13
18. Gardening Positives
(73 Respondents)
Nature: Love of Nature / Sunshine / Fresh Air/ OutdoorsAttuned with …
Stress Reliever/ Time to Relax / Calm / Relaxed / Easy Going /Therapeutic
7
9
7
6
Hard Working / Dedicated / Motivated / Disciplined/ good work ethic / …
Patient / Patience/ willingness to stick with it / ability to look long term
Clean / Beautiful Yards / Pretty Landscape and Plants / House Looks …
Fresh Vegetables / Food / No pesticides
Eco-Friendly / Earth Conscience / Organic Living / caring for…
8
Health Conscious
5
Sharing / Friendly: Share with Family/friends / Family Oriented (3-4)/…
Caring / Kindness / Tenderness / Nice / Thoughtful/helpful / nice
Beauty / Growing / to look at
Family / Family oriented
0
Mom's (25 Respondents)
18-29 (20 Respondents)
5
10
15
30-49 (28 Respondents)
20
25
19. Gardening Is A Chance To Relax
• Many also enjoyed the solitary nature of
gardening (an escape).
• One respondent took her coffee each Saturday
morning at 10:30 am and worked her way
through her garden.
20. What’s fun about gardening?
• Eating the produce grown was a common answer.
– Jen W (30-49): “Making great dishes with the food you have grown.”
•
•
•
•
Designing and creating a garden
Picking out the plants to use – shopping!
Making the yard beautiful.
Other responses include: Seeing the effort pay off
(success), living off the land/being self-sustaining; being
outdoors, improving the property value, spending time with
the family.
21. Gardening Stirs Family Memories
• Most have childhood memories (mostly pleasant) of
working with parents and/or grandparents. Most often
mother or grandmother was mentioned.
• Older participants reminisced about this time with specific
activities or plant memories which created powerful
associations, family ties,
strong bonds.
22. Gardening And Generations
Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Sam M (30-49):
“I would enjoy it more if my sons realized
how much they will miss our interaction in
gardening and so appreciate it more. My
parents won’t be around much longer, so it
hits me. The time gardening, raking
leaves, turning soil, fiddling in the flower
beds… You remember what your
grandparents’ houses looked like at
different times of seasons.”
23. Gardening Offers
Family Time With Kids
• Moms want to garden with their children. Under
age 5 it is not easy over age 13 they are distracted.
• Moms mentioned family time and teachable
moments most often. Having fun was another
reason to invite kids (playing in dirt, picking out
plants). Amusingly, several cited getting free labor
as a reason to involve kids.
24. Gardening Negatives
(74 Respondents)
None
Time Consuming / Too Busy to Garden
5
4
Dirt / Getting Dirty / Mud/ dirt under one's nails
4
3
Too Obsessed with Garden/ don't want others on it / kids with …
4
Hard Work and Commitment / A lot of Work
Anti-Social/ Recluse /loners
4
Expensive
3
Forget about other / neglecting other aspects of their life /takes…
Old People / Little Old Ladies
Knowledge (need the knowledge to garden) (time to learn)
Too Much Time on Hands (perceived as) / nothing else to do / not…
0
Moms (26 Respondents)
5
18-29 (20 Respondents)
10
15
20
25
30-49 (28 Respondents)
24
25. The Dark Side Of Gardening
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lack of time (people are busy)!
You get dirty
Hard work! Gardening is hard on the back and knees.
Gardeners are perceived a recluses, unbalanced
Too many weeds, insects, disease, animals
Dealing with poor weather emerged several times
It takes a lot of space
It’s expensive
I don’t know what I’m doing – makes me feel ignorant.
26. 2. To Them, What’s
A Typical Gardener?
Some see a white-haired woman with a floppy hat
and knee pads.
Jennifer O. (Moms group): “In my mind, a
'typical' gardener is a beautiful silver-haired
woman. She dresses fun and comfortable. She
is a true artist of her own domain; her yard.
She gets up before the sun, enjoys her
morning coffee and gears up with her gloves
and tools to begin her day in her yard; her
paradise."
27. Perceived Fit with 'typical gardener'
70%
62%
60%
50%
40%
40%
40%
40%
33%
30%
20%
16%
14%
10%
7%
0%
0%
5%
7%
10%
7%
10%
4%
7%
0%
0%
Yes
No
Moms (25 Respondents)
Other
Don't Know What
Typical Gardener Is
18 - 29 year Olds (21 Respondents)
Maybe
Not Now but
maybe later
30 - 49 year olds (30 Respondents)
28. Gardening Serves Multiple Needs
Ray P. (30-49 group):
“I think a typical gardener is the person who lives in
the suburbs and has a garden for both pleasure and
raising their own vegetables. I don't think that an
income level dictates who does their own gardening. I
have friends who barely make ends meet but yet do
not attempt to grow their own flowers or vegetables. I
have other friends who live very comfortably and still
insist on growing vegetables themselves. I know equal
numbers of men and women who enjoy gardening.”
29. Old Lady Image Is Not Universal
Max M. (18-29 group):
“More of a mindset than physical attribute.
Takes commitment and a strong will, as well
as an adventurous side to try new things.
Can have any lifestyle, although it definitely
helps to have a yard even if it's small.”
30. The Good And Bad Of
Gardener Perceptions
Positive images:
Patient, nurturing, caring, hard-working, visionary (social activity
with family and friends, likes to entertain and share).
Negative images:
Older or hippie/hipster (recluse) or gardening is dirty and timeconsuming
Could Go Either Way:
• Relaxed lifestyle, time on their hands
• Perfectionist who cares about appearances
31. 3. Where are they shopping?
Purchase Locations in Past Year
85%
90%
82%
80%
70%
60%
64%
52% 50%
54%
52%
59% 57%
50%
40%
30%
18%
20%
11%
10%
4%
5%
0%
5%
4%
5%
4%
0%
Locally Owned, Free Standing Garden Center Store (e.g. Home Depot, Lowes)Walmart, Kroger)
Home Improvement or Hardware
Supermarket or Grocery Store (Target,
Internet
Moms (27 respondents)
18-29 (22 respondents)
Print Catalog
30 - 49 (28 respondents)
Someplace Else
32. Store Choice Reasons
(77 Respondents)
Convenience / Convenient Location / Closest to where I live / On my Bus
Route / Impulse Buy/ One Stop Shop
6
Prices / Value (Great, Good; Best; low; inexpensive) / Best Value/ Plants on
Sale
7
Variety / Selection/ Diversity everything I need (giant selections)
8
Quality /Healthy / BeautifulPlants
25
19
9
1
0
9
Like to Buy Locally to Support our home grown suppliers / directly affects my
community
17
13
10
People / Customer Service: Knowledgable/ Helpful / like what they Do/ Know
them
26
20
7
1
0
Read Reviews/ Research/ Look at Pictures 0
0
10
20
30
40
Locally Owned
Home Improvement / Hardware Store
Supermarket or Grocery Store
Internet
Print Catalog
Unclear which Store
Someplace Else
50
60
70
33. Why They Choose Where
They Buy Gardening Goods
• Shopping where it is convenient for them. Box stores
mentioned most often.
• Also talked a lot about getting a good deal as price was a
big concern (risk and luck).
• Selection and one-stop shopping were also mentioned
quite a bit. This played into some of why a store was
perceived as convenient. Tools, fertilizer, knowledge were
mentioned but most garden centers have them.
34. 4. Why Am I So Unlucky?
Deb B. (30-49):
“The very first rose bush that I planted all by myself that
actually survived!! Until that point, I had had extremely bad
luck with roses, and was all but ready to throw in the towel.
Then I was at Lowe's one day and I saw this gorgeous rose bush
with a single flower on it, and I thought, "No, Deb, it doesn't
deserve to die..." but then impulse won over and I bought it
anyway. I brought it home and planted it carefully, and the next
year it had buds and new growth!”
35. Why Did They Have To Die?
Renee S. (18-29):
“The thing that I like least about
gardening is that sometimes the plants
just die, and you just get so upset about
it. I could watch the plants and make
sure that they are healthy and if I have
questions about why my plants are
dying I can go to someone that has
more experience than I do about
them.”
36. Recap: The 4 Key Findings
1. The act of gardening has mostly positive
impressions, although there are
significant negatives (it’s dirty, it’s hard
work) that need to be countered.
2. Consumers have a distinct ideas of the
type of person who gardens – and it’s
often a limiting viewpoint.
37. Recap: The 4 Key Findings
3.
4.
Garden centers are the third most
popular place to buy plants, after big
boxes and grocery stores. The only
exception was for the 30 to 49 year old
group of consumers, which preferred
local garden centers more than grocery
stores.
Consumers lack a sense of control when
it comes to gardening. They repeatedly
used the terms “luck” and “risk” when
describing gardening.
39. Create Newcomer-friendly
Gardening Projects
Counter the
risky, timeconsuming, reallyhard-to-do, must-bean-expert
assumptions many
people have about
gardening with
realistic and
Rachel Ray
attractive projects.
30 minute meals
Sandra Lee
Semi-homemade
40. Other Ways To Foster Confidence
• Success is attributed to “luck,” so how do we reduce the perceived
risk? Any way you can!
• Plant guarantees (advertised). Dennis and Behe (2007) showed
that the presence of plant guarantees helped reduce perceived risk
and improve repeat purchase intentions.
• Gardening coach. eMail, telephone, or text, would you like some
free advice? Set a limit on the coach.
41. Help Them Be Comfortable With
Trying Their First Garden Design
How do we simplify the process?
42. Image makeover
Break the hard-work and gardener stereotypes with images and
models of success.
• Visually combine lifestyle and plants – grown-at-home baby food;
raised veggie garden next to the back door or garage (grab a
tomato on the way in the door).
• Create DIY or DIFM solutions to busy families: Affordable dinner
party plant decorations; unusual and easy-to-understand front
yard bed designs; kid-friendly vegetable gardening.
43. Understand how price and
value position your store
• Promote value, not price. Promote benefit, not
product feature. Show and tell product differentiation
from the box store.
• When price is the headline, we force consumer
attention to price (not value, where it should be.)
44. Encourage Repeat Visits
Once you get them in store, how do you keep ‘em coming back for
more?
• Loyalty Programs
– (10 VISITS = free plant or pot of choice (from certain selection)
• Schedule follow-up meeting before they leave
• ‘I’m here next Saturday –same time – want to come in for a
follow-up conversation? Let me know how things are going!
– Events: have them say/fill out what kind of events they would
like in an exit survey – before they leave
45. What THEY say it will take to
get them in the door
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ideas that can be copied without a lot of knowledge
Don’t assume customers understand how to garden
Freebies
Guilt-free help from knowledgeable staff
Affordable prices/coupons
Clean up the store
46. Host events with the
customers in mind
•
•
•
•
•
Consider participating or hosting events and activities tied to
the home.
Have an early spring garden show at the garden center
highlighting new plants and products. Think of a mini flower
show.
Classes for first-timers, beginners, novices. Bring a friend?
Inter-generational activities. Lisa B. (Moms) said, “Maybe {an
activity} that I could take my grandson with me and we could
do a project together.”
Organize block parties in customers’ neighborhoods for
produce or plant swapping.
48. Their suggestions for
events at a garden center
• Flower shows
• New product demonstrations
• New-gardener-oriented seminars – continuing-education format
and single classes
• Competitions
• Plant swaps
• Kid-focused events, especially those that involve both adults and
kids together
• How to make the most of your harvests
50. Next Steps
1. Gather feedback from retailers on this data
• What consumer attitudes were most important?
• What type of marketing ideas would help most –
messages, materials, actions?
2. Learn which data partner garden centers are collecting and
how they apply the information
3. Develop marketing ideas and tactics that can be adapted by
individual stores and share it with the industry
4. Train retailers on how to measure their marketing efforts
5. The research team will measure the results at Ohio stores
51. Watch For Ongoing
10% Project Reports In 2014
1. January: Online articles recapping what we’ve learned from the
research. TodaysGardenCenter.com
2. February 11. Webinar on how to implement marketing messages
designed to increase the customer base and how to measure
the results.
3. February: Article in Today’s Garden Center on what we’ve learned so far
and the marketing game plan.
4. September: Cover stories in Today’s Garden Center sharing the results
of the real-world testing of the 10% Project
5. October: eBook examining which marketing messages and tactics were
most effective in expanding the customer base for garden centers.