Tagging tips

Whether you’re selling product yourself or to an independent retailer or to a large chain, your focus when packaging that product should be on the end consumer. Developing innovative tagging initiatives with the end user in mind will not only add value to your product — it will also ensure that yours stands out among the many.

“Focus on that gardening customer, because that’s where your innovation, your creativity, your opportunity to differentiate is going to be,” says Gerry Giorgio, creative director for MasterTag, a producer of horticultural care tags and merchandising solutions. “A well-designed tag with needed information and sufficient inspiration will help sell more plants. That helps retailers, which in turn will help growers.”

Connecting with consumers
A successful labeling initiative takes into account three key elements: content, design and the connection with the consumer. The average consumer isn’t a gardening expert, which is why they need detailed information in an easy-to-digest format.

“Studies have resoundingly indicated that (consumers) want more information at the point of sale and at home,” Giorgio says. “They admit that the garden center can be an intimidating place. Information and inspiration at the point of sale is an opportunity to add value for gardeners.”

To fit in as much information as possible, Giorgio recommends buying the biggest tag you can afford. Information should be positioned on the tag in order of importance, with the most important information at the top and the rest of the tag designed around that. Key points to include are how to grow the plant and how the plant is going to perform after purchasing.

To keep details concise, Dan & Jerry’s Greenhouses, Monticello, Minn., uses a how-to coding approach with perennial tags. A No. 1, 2 or 3 indicates what time of year a plant blooms, and A, B or C signifies border, filler or tall plant. Point-of-purchase materials within the garden centers keep consumers informed on how to read the coding systems. Additional signage directs consumers to various sections within the centers.

“I think (these measures) make a difference in the fact of how our garden centers look to the customer, it’s easy for the consumer to find what they’re looking for in the garden centers, and so we think those have an impact overall on our sales,” says Roger Litchy, sales and marketing manager for Dan & Jerry’s Greenhouses.

Keep it simple
Dave Linder, manager of operations for the Naturally Urban division of Linder’s Garden Center, headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., prioritizes simplicity with his operations’ labeling initiatives.

“We wanted to get away from using a lot of intimidating horticultural lingo, even going so far as to go around using ‘annual’ and ‘perennial’ because so few people know that,” Linder says. “But at the same time, we want to give them access to that more detailed information if they want it, so we provide it through a link on the tag, QR code on a sign or via our website.”

If you’re unsure how much information is too little or too much, ask your consumers. “We’re always looking at what the consumer wants as far as information and asking them what’s important to them,” Linder says. “I think that’s something a lot of companies could do better on. Just talk to your consumer when they’re out on the floor and ask them what they think of the tagging situation.”

Big and bold
Tags at Linder’s Garden Center rely on images more than text to pop plant labels, and Linder ensures they’re putting the best visuals possible out there.

“A lot of times, you get a picture of the plant when it’s not flowering,” he says. “Well, that’s not very helpful. Or you get a picture of just the flower and you can’t see the foliage. We’re trying to capture both, with the plant in its best habit.”

But don’t let the tag visually overwhelm the presentation, he warns.

“You look on a horticulture bench sometimes and you just see rows and rows of tags,” Linder says. “The right size tag for the right pot is very important, and that gets overlooked a lot. You see huge tags on small pots, and it really takes away from the product.”

Use the biggest size that makes sense to accommodate as much information as possible, says Litchy. Dan & Jerry’s Greenhouses also changes up color schemes to make tags more interesting and inviting to consumers. The company also uses a unique scheme for its self-branded line, Farm Fresh Selects.

“The tags have a very unique look that matches all of the point-of-purchase materials that goes with that product,” Litchy says. “Within the retailers that we work with, the consumer has identified with that Farm Fresh Selects brand.”

Lifestyle considerations
Differentiate tags based on consumer lifestyle applications, and use related images to foster a connection with consumers. Dan & Jerry’s Greenhouses has revamped its herb tag program by creating four separate categories: aromatic herb, culinary herb, mixer herbs and teas.

“It’s broken down into categories so that people have an idea of what sort of things they can do with the different types of herbs,” Litchy says. “It’s also going in a direction that we feel will attract the younger sort of generation. They’re into drinking different sorts of teas as well as the mixers, mojito mint or Kentucky colonel mint, that they can use in their drinking water to give it a minty flavor or (in) a mixed drink.”

Instead of a stock plant photo, use lifestyle images that inspire consumers as to how and where products can be used, such as a consumer drinking the featured tea in their kitchen. Linder’s Naturally Urban department focuses on tag images featuring cityscapes, small spaces, apartments and condos.

“We use images relative to those things so that when those customers come in and see it, they can feel a connection and that makes them all the more likely to buy the products,” he says.

“Or, if it’s like a combo plant or something, we’d have an image of that plant fully bloomed out … (the consumer) can get a better idea on how they can use it at home or where they can take it,” he adds. “It gets their imaginations going.”

If you’re interested in implementing innovative tagging at your own operation but don’t know where to start, Giorgio recommends perusing consumer gardening magazines and websites for inspiration on consumer trends.

“When it comes to tagging or packaging or any element of a product that you’re going to deliver to that retailer, we’re all going to be best served if we focus on the gardening consumer,” he says. “If you enhance the package, if you use the tag and use the pot to inspire and educate customers at the point of sale, you’ve actually added value to the product.”

Jessica Hanna is a Cleveland-based freelance writer and frequent contributor to Greenhouse Management magazine.