Making their own mark

Photo courtesy of Malmborg’s Garden Center and Greenhouse

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Malmborg’s Garden Center and Greenhouse’s customers have grown to expect quality plant material over the years, especially because 98 percent of its products are grown in Malmborg’s own greenhouse.

However, it may be impossible to address every plant care question a consumer might have right in the retail store. To respond to this, the grower/retailer uses MasterTag plant labels to both inform and engage their patrons. Malmborg’s President Troy Lucht says his goal is to be creative and informative on their labels by providing key information and interesting details that will entice the consumer to purchase the product.

“One way that we use the labels is to help explain critical information that the customer may be too intimidated to ask,” Lucht says. “For example, we not only state if a plant requires sun or shade, but we also explain what sun or shade is.”

Malmborg’s tags also highlight locally grown vegetables by adding a “State of Minnesota” label on all of the pots. Lucht shares that one of their favorite designs is one that they created for their ghost pepper plant. This label features a ghost carrying a pepper to the state with the message, “Bringing the heat to Minnesota.”

With more customers looking to grow their own produce, the amount of variety can also be overwhelming, so Malmborg’s relies on labels as an effective technique to streamline product choices.

“Customers come in looking for an heirloom tomato, for example, but [can be] overwhelmed when they see there are 18 choices,” Lucht says. So Malmborg’s narrowed down their own choices to a three-pack of tomatoes with the label “Heirloom Favorites.”

Photo courtesy of Malmborg’s Garden Center and Greenhouse

Lucht says the right label not only informs the customer but can also help reduce time at the register. “All of our products have individual bar codes, so it is essential that the checkout time goes quickly,” Lucht says. Malmborg’s has added the bar code to the front of its containers so that they can be scanned quickly.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to working with MasterTag is not their vast selection of products, but the collaboration on the best way to use them. “My representative from MasterTag and I have spent a lot of time analyzing our customers to see how we can use labels to best connect with them,” Lucht says. The key is packaging the right product with the right label.

“The label needs to make sense to the customer, so that they understand why they want to buy the product,” Lucht says.

Over the years, Lucht shares that MasterTag has truly evolved as a company, from a label company to an information resource company that provides labels. It is this collaboration and discussion that has truly provided value to Malmborg’s. “We work together to find the ideas that will best work for the customer,” Lucht says. — Anne-Marie Hardie