Consumers Count

<table width="200" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right" style="margin:10px"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img width="200" height="156" src="/FileUploads/image/GM0713-18.jpg" alt="" /><br /> <span style="float: left; clear: left; font-size: 9px; color: Gray; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 2px;">THINKSTOCKPHOTOS.COM</span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>The National Gardening Association has released the 2013 National Gardening Survey, and the data about consumer spending and behavior with regard to home gardening practices is certainly of interest to growers.</p> <p>While the vast majority of data for the 2013 survey (based on 2012 numbers) shows no dramatic changes compared with the previous two years&rsquo; surveys, the numbers do show a shift in consumer behavior. Specifically, a small but steady reduction in average household spending continues, with a drop of four dollars to $347 compared to the 2011 data.</p> <p>A rise in participation in gardening is seen in this 2013 survey, with 5 million more households indicating that they were gardening in 2012, compared with 2010 data. &ldquo;While there is little sign of consumers spending the way they did before 2009, the lawn and garden industry does now seem to be on the up curve, albeit with a flat household spending trend,&rdquo; says Business Advisor Ian Baldwin in the Executive Summary portion of the 2013 survey.</p> <p>According to Baldwin, the good news is that the total do-it-yourself lawn and garden market is regaining some lost ground. The 2013 survey data shows a 1 percent, or $354 million, increase for 2012. However, the industry has lost almost $100 in the average spend per household in just four years. &ldquo;All companies in the supply chain should assume a new reality that calls for fundamental changes to their business model,&rdquo; Baldwin says. &ldquo;This reflects more than a weak economy and cold weather.&rdquo;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><br /> Big numbers</strong></span><br /> THE 2013 NATIONAL GARDENING SURVEY included a question about market share by retail channel for the $29.451 billion consumer lawn and garden market. Although no long-term trend is yet identifiable, results from the 2013 survey indicate that &ldquo;Big Box&rdquo; stores in the home center, mass merchant, and supermarket/drug channels dominate the market, according to the survey&rsquo;s Executive Summary.<br /> &nbsp;</p> <table width="475" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center" style="margin:10px"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img width="475" height="493" src="/FileUploads/image/GM0713-20a.jpg" alt="" /></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Consumers&rsquo; perception</strong></span> <br /> What does the reduction in consumer spending per household mean? Perhaps it involves the perception of gardening consumers have. &ldquo;Last year&rsquo;s excellent &lsquo;What Gardeners Think&rsquo; survey from the National Gardening Association showed that most consumers fear failure, feel ignorant, lack confidence, and need more information,&rdquo; Baldwin says. &ldquo;As a consequence, many of them buy in a &lsquo;What is it going to cost?&rsquo; or value mind set rather than a &lsquo;Whatever it takes&rsquo; indulgent mind set.&rdquo;</p> <table width="200" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right" style="margin:10px"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img width="200" height="263" src="/FileUploads/image/GM0713-21a.jpg" alt="" /><br /> <span style="float: left; clear: left; font-size: 9px; color: Gray; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 2px;">Apps for phones and tablets can enable consumers to learn as they go. ISTOCKPHOTO.COM</span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>The 2012 What Gardeners Think (WGT) survey includes myriad reasons why consumers do not spend more in the lawn and garden industry. Consumers indicate that the top three challenges they face are weeds, insects and soil, according to the survey. &ldquo;Insects are a bane to even the most experienced gardeners and a strong perceived barrier to beginners,&rdquo; Baldwin says. &ldquo;Where are the insect identification and remedy apps for smart phones and tablets for consumers to use as they sip their coffee walking their garden on a Saturday morning?</p> <p>&ldquo;If soil conditions are a major pushback to consumers&rsquo; garden spending, the lawn and garden industry can answer that with a &lsquo;soil department&rsquo; complete with how-to clinics, on-site soil experts, even complete soil replacement,&rdquo; Baldwin continues. &ldquo;Householders who see the value of replacing their carpet, tile or roof would not question replacing soil if the value proposition was made correctly.</p> <p>&ldquo;The value proposition can and has been made for individual lawn and garden products and services, but the industry needs to think much bigger and make it compelling for the whole activity of gardening,&rdquo; Baldwin says.</p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><strong>What it means for growers </strong></span><br /> Of course, many of the initiatives that would enhance the value and meaning of gardening to consumers would take place at the point of contact &mdash; namely, in independent garden centers and those &ldquo;Big Box&rdquo; stores that carry lawn and garden products and services.</p> <p>But what can growers do to improve the perception of gardening? Surely an improved perception on the part of consumers will ultimately impact growers&rsquo; bottom line as well as the bottom lines of retailers.</p> <table width="200" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right" style="margin:10px"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img width="200" height="205" src="/FileUploads/image/GM0713-21b.jpg" alt="" /></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>According to the 2013 National Gardening Association survey, growers (and manufacturers) can (and should) consider these important issues when it comes to addressing fears or barriers to spending:</p> <ul> <li>Why is packaging so difficult to understand for a new or casual gardener?</li> <li>What could be done to garden tools, products and processes to make them seem younger and &ldquo;cool?&rdquo;</li> <li>Where are the apps for phones and tablets that enable consumers to learn as they go?</li> <li>Where is the data to support the value of home-grown varieties, a beautiful lawn or an established shade tree?</li> <li>Where is the cross-marketing by non-competing companies manufacturing products like irrigation timers, hoses, vermin guards and plant food with vegetable plants or fruit trees, i.e. one-stop food gardening?</li> <li>Why are there few, if any, joint promotions with sales incentives or rebates for pottery, potting soil, plant food, irrigation and flowering annuals to give one-stop shopping for container gardening?</li> <li>If so much of the country is in drought, where are the water-wise resources, bundled products and how-to videos for one-stop &ldquo;gardening in a drought?&rdquo;</li> <li>Why are products not bundled into value-compelling success kits such as &ldquo;Feed your flowers for 99 cents a month?&rdquo; or &ldquo;The 1-2-3 of organic blueberries,&rdquo; and so on?</li> <li>Why are there not joint ventures across category lines with websites and a how-to video library on a whole series of weekend projects such as replacing old plants in containers, growing basil on a balcony, or preserving home-grown tomatoes?</li> <li>How do you calculate the social value of gardening as a family outdoor activity compared with 7.5 hours per day indoors watching an electronic screen?</li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><br /> Counting (on) customers</strong></span><br /> A majority of retailers that sell lawn and garden products (71 percent) saw the number of households that purchased lawn and garden products at their establishment increase or stay the same from 2011 to 2012. As the following table indicates, six of seven types of retail outlets selling lawn and garden products had the same number or more customers in 2012 than in 2011:</p> <table width="475" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center" style="margin:10px"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img width="475" height="247" src="/FileUploads/image/GM0713-23a.jpg" alt="" /></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><br /> Keeping it simple</strong></span> <br /> Continuing along the lines of consumers&rsquo; perception with regard to gardening, &ldquo;It seems increasingly clear that many of today&rsquo;s younger householders don&rsquo;t know what they don&rsquo;t know about lawn and garden and are anxious to learn,&rdquo; Baldwin states in his Executive Summary. &ldquo;But they want to shop and participate as they do in other aspects of their lives and discretionary budgets.&rdquo;</p> <p>More explicitly, consumers want simplicity when they shop and emotional value when they buy. They also want first-time success when they go home and try the new lawn and garden products they&rsquo;ve purchased.</p> <table width="195" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="right" style="margin:10px"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img width="195" height="224" src="/FileUploads/image/GM0713-23b.jpg" alt="" /><br /> <span style="float: left; clear: left; font-size: 9px; color: Gray; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 2px;">The industry needs to bundle products into value-compelling success kits for consumers, Baldwin says.&copy; Lightpoet | Dreamstime.com</span></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>According to Baldwin, the best way to answer these needs and provide a compelling value proposition is for the entire lawn and garden industry (including growers) to</p> <ul> <li>reduce choice and speed shopping time to make decision-making easier;</li> <li>connect the consumers&rsquo; emotional dots to focus on the end result; and</li> <li>build in or ensure an early win or success (only hobbyists enjoy waiting).</li> </ul> <p>&ldquo;More than anything else, the lawn and garden business has to change consumers&rsquo; perception of gardening from work and risk to fun and success,&rdquo; Baldwin says. &ldquo;The lawn and garden business has taken itself far too seriously for a long time &hellip; The industry must also play to consumer desires, not fears; solutions, not problems; end results, not processes. Eighty-five million households are trying to garden, despite set-backs and with little new or innovative help from suppliers or retailers.&rdquo;</p> <p>Growers can participate in fulfilling this need by working with retailers, both to improve packaging for greater simplicity and more emotional impact and to keep their finger on the pulse of consumer desires when it comes to new (or tried-and-true) varieties that are sure to sell when they&rsquo;re on the market.</p> <p>In short, the entire industry needs to come together to address consumers&rsquo; needs and wants and thus improve their perception of (and success with) home gardening. After all, consumers are the key drivers to everyone&rsquo;s ultimate achievement &mdash; the achievement of retailers, suppliers, breeders, distributors, merchandisers and growers alike.</p> <p><br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Highlighting household participation</strong></span><br /> Household participation in lawn and garden shows a large increase in the age groups 18 to 34 and over 55, both of which reached a six-year high, according to 2013 survey results. &ldquo;Obviously, the statistic from just one year over another is not enough from which to draw firm conclusions, but it would appear that the polarization of garden activity shown in the last two years of (the National Gardening Survey) continues, possibly pointing to a lack of interest or a lack of disposable income in the middle two demographic age groups from 35 to 54,&rdquo; Baldwin states.<br /> &nbsp;</p> <table width="475" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" align="center" style="margin:10px"> <tbody> <tr> <td><img width="475" height="557" src="/FileUploads/image/GM0713-24a.jpg" alt="" /></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>&nbsp;</p>