It’s time for garden centers and retailers to forecast trends for the coming year. In order to discover what the customer will be looking for, stay ahead of the competition and ultimately drive sales, forecasting trends is vital for all garden center businesses.

The 2022 Garden Trends Report from Garden Media Group, “From Crisis to Innovation,” outlines the shift that has occurred in the green industry and beyond. Following “The Great Reset” of 2021, the 2022 report guides us through the customer mindset to better fit green products and services into this post-pandemic lifestyle.

“We are coming into an era of personal freedom,” says Katie Dubow, president of Garden Media Group. “In 2022, many will take a leap they might not have had the choice or courage to make otherwise. The trends show a bright future for gardening.” Here is a sampling of the eight trends that will shape the future and how you can utilize each for your business, according to Garden Media Group:

Creator Class

Next year, innovators will emerge to maintain green economic recovery. These leaders are called the Creator Class, and research shows they are leaving steady jobs for ‘passion projects.’

“This new Creator Class is shaping their future not with big corporations, but as individuals,” Dubow says. “They are drawn to create and innovate on their terms, creating successful micro-businesses in their communities.”

Micro-businesses are also driving the ‘support local shops’ message that garden retailers can capitalize on.

“Keep promoting your shop local message, charitable contributions, or how you are working to bring together community,” Dubow says. “Invite local creators in for a Local-topia event, collaborate on new products and share in their social reach.”

Shoppertainment

The sudden change to virtual demanded everyone adjust the way they do business. Every sector pivoted, including social media.

“The pandemic accelerated online shopping,” Dubow says. “The customer will be expecting your green business to offer products for sale directly from social platforms, known as Shoppertainment. In the U.S., social commerce may reach 4.2% of retail e-commerce sales in 2022 or $36.09 billion.”

Zoning board

In 2022, home improvement projects show no sign of slowing down. And the new project involves zones — creating spaces for work and play.

A key zone for retailers to consider is the front yard. Social media searches for “front yard” or “front porch” have reached a five-year high.

“Defining spaces for comfortable and safe entertainment is top of mind for homeowners,” Dubow says. “Out front, they can welcome people into their space without crossing the threshold.”

By positioning plants and products to suit this space, green businesses can react to trends by driving sales. People want container plants that look good and are low care.

Bridging the gap

This is the year of “The Great Reset.” And with any reset, you need to start fresh. For the 18.3 million new gardeners gained in the past year, this means going back to the basics. “Green businesses are challenged with turning these instant gratification customers into lifetime gardeners,” Dubow says. “Build a strong bridge of products and knowledge specific to your customers’ interests — whether edibles, gardening for wildlife, containers or the DIY generation.”

By bridging the gap in products for beginners, garden retailers will lead new customers to success. And note, the more personalization, the better. But be sure to offer quality products, and don’t overwhelm newbies with too many choices.

Living television

Many have discovered — or rediscovered — birding. Sales of feeders and feed are projected to hit $2.2 billion in sales in 2021. “Birding as a hobby is great news for retailers that sell feed and feeders,” Dubow says. “An exciting byproduct of an interest in birds is an interest in the plants to feed them.”

Make it easy for bird enthusiasts to shop the essentials by designing and merchandising collections to feed birds. Provide plant lists, merchandising, guides, lead birdwatching walks or host birding clubs to support and engage this group.

On-demand flowers

Flowers are the new hugs. In times where hugging and personal connections are limited, people show their appreciation by giving flowers. The act of both giving and receiving flowers triggers the feel-good hormones in our brains.

Whether a pandemic, personal pleasure or a signal of an elevated lifestyle, cut flower bouquet sales in the U.S. reached $6.5 billion in 2021 and are predicted to surpass that in 2022. “Over 50% of cut flowers are purchased at the grocery store,” Dubow says.

“Think about the sales we could attract if garden retailers set up cut flower stations.”

To capitalize on the cut flower trend, promote sharing gardens, teach customers the best flowers for bouquets and host flower arranging workshops.

And, Dubow adds, an added benefit of this trend is increased plant sales because consumers want to buy the plants they see in their bouquets.

Wild curation

New research shows that one in five of the world’s plants — 4,400 in the U.S. — are at risk of extinction.

Plants — and their incredible diversity — make life possible. This is why there will be a demand for a renewed focus to prevent further plant extinctions.

Gardens such as Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware have led conservation efforts with research, fundraising and the creation of extinction gardens.

“Your business can provide key education to customers as well,” Dubow says. “Teach them how certain activities can harm or help extinct plants. You’ll be surprised how some of the plant parents flexing on social media will be easy to bring into the conservation fold.”

Awareness and observation over time will help people develop a keen eye and save wild plants.

In living color

The most anticipated trend each year is the hue that’s catching the consumer’s eye. This year the color is clover, representing the first sign of spring, renewal and rebirth.

“Green is optimistic, rejuvenating, invigorating, up-beat and importantly — inspired by nature,” Dubow says. “Use this trending color in biophilic design elements in offices, work it into shades of new collections, and merchandise with pillows, containers or accessories.”

Garden Media Group has published its Garden Trends Report annually since 2001. The firm offers information about trends in various formats, including a free annual report and a YouTube series. The 2022 Garden Trends Report is available for free download at: bit.ly/GardenMediaGroupTrends2022 Read Garden Media’s GROW! blog for trend updates and industry news.

You never think it will happen to you until it does. Cybercrime is one of those things no one wants to think about, but it’s a real threat to businesses of all sizes.

Digging into the statistics can be pretty scary. According to Forbes magazine, 2020 broke the record for cyberattacks on companies. And data from computer security company Norton shows one in three consumers have fallen victim to cybercrime in the past year alone.

We’ve all gotten those phishing emails from the prince of Nigeria looking for someone to hang onto some cash for him or spam calls from someone claiming to be the IRS letting you know that there’s been an issue with your social security number. But cybercrime isn’t as obvious as it once was. It used to be something you worried about your grandmother falling for, but now it can look like an email attachment with an important invoice or an urgent request from a colleague.

And the threat is increasing. Since COVID-19 hit the U.S., the FBI has seen a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes. But it’s not just cybercrime that’s increasing. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2021 security survey, the pandemic has led to an increase in multichannel sales fraud (aka, people ordering online and picking up in-store.).

Even though a retail garden center might not seem like a big payout to cybercriminals, it’s often smaller businesses that make for more attractive targets. They lack the security infrastructure larger companies have but also offer the information that cybercriminals are searching for. And according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, 88% of small business owners feel that their business is vulnerable to a cyberattack.

A cyberattack can not only compromise your customers’ personal information, but it can also bring your business to a screeching halt. And experts don’t expect the threat to decrease anytime soon.

In this month’s cover story, we explore just a few of the ways you can take steps to protect your company’s most vital information. We hope you find a few tips to help make your garden center a little bit safer, both online and at the store. Plus, worsening port congestion and delays at LA/Long Beach are keeping Asia-U.S. prices extremely high at more than quadruple their level a year ago.

Kate Spirgen
kspirgen@gie.net

As garden centers across North America experienced record-breaking sales in 2020, much of their success can be attributed to the tireless commitment of their workers. Now more than ever, retailers are strategizing how to retain one of their most valuable assets: employees. Here’s how three IGCs are enacting winning game plans that are rewarding employees while boosting their bottom lines.

Eyes on the prize

Motivation and retail sales transparency go a long way in employee retention, according to Chris Cordrey, owner of East Coast Garden Center in Millsboro, Delaware. (No. 96 on the Top 100 Independent Garden Centers list.)

“First and foremost, we wanted people to feel as if they took ownership in their position and feel like they weren’t just another number in the company. We wanted to share information with them so that they could really have a true understanding of what was going on in the company,” he says.

One of the ways they achieved this was by tracking daily sales goals, a project they started in 2019. By compiling and gathering data from the previous year as a baseline, they set a new yearly goal increase of 10%. Now, Cordrey tracks daily sales and shares those numbers with staff on a giant dry erase board, which gets employees excited about increasing the numbers, he says.

“If we reached our goal, it would be in green, and if we didn’t, it would be in red, so they could see how we were doing. And then we’d also send out daily texts where you could see the numbers for 2021, 2020 and 2019. So if we had a bad day, then we’d try to make it up the next day. We also go over our numbers once a month to get a bigger picture view of that,” he says.

Sales numbers are shared with everyone at the company, rather than confined to management teams, because goal-setting motivates employees who otherwise might not have taken an interest, he says. Cordrey believes that if a person has a “why” behind the work, with a tangible goal in sight, they’re more likely to be motivated to help improve the company as a whole.

Employees are incentivized with different rewards for short-term and long-term goals. Rewards range from things like catered lunches to prime parking spots to clothing or even gift certificates. Within each department — landscape or the garden center — they also reward the “crew of the month” with a prime parking spot in the front of the building. The company employs 175 staff in total, with 50-60 employed in the garden center.

The company also has an employee of the month program where each winning employee’s name and photo is posted on a corkboard for all to see, as well as an employee board where the company tracks compliments from customers throughout the month.

Boost financial incentives

At Woodley’s Garden Center in Columbia, South Carolina, General Manager Robin Klein says they’ve upped employees’ hourly pay $1-$2 an hour, and they’ve also provided four to five small bonus checks throughout the year. Additionally, staff members have the option to pick up any overtime hours they want.

She says staff retention can be a struggle, considering the majority of employees are high school and college students on spring and summer breaks. Woodley’s Garden Center is especially busy in February and March, and it was challenging this year due to limited staff.

“We had some overtime hours this year until the summer staff could get out of school, but it’s so much transition, training and rehiring all year long. But I had to go with that because that was really my only option, especially with the unemployment benefits,” she says.

Klein notes that while they lost a few employees to government assistance, most people stayed. To keep business running smoothly with a limited staff, she focuses her efforts on training support staff instead of sales staff.

“You can hire salespeople who know plants, but that’s a very small pool of knowledge. So we tried to hire as many cashiers and support staff as we could so that they could get customers through the line quickly,” she says.

However, most of the employees aren’t there for the money — they’re there for their love of plants, she says.

“A lot of the time I would interview people and not know where I was going to put them. But if their résumé looked like they had some consistent employment and they weren’t jumping around in jobs, I would interview them and think about it and talk to them to get a feel of where they would feel more comfortable,” she says.

According to Klein, if employees are more comfortable in their positions, chances are they’re going to be more successful and stay longer. She matches employees with tasks that best align with their personalities. So outgoing people are placed in cashier or retail positions, while shy people are assigned to watering plants or other roles off the sales floor.

She notes while they’re still looking at different ways to attract a younger workforce, many employers have a “this is the job description and this is the pay, take it or leave it” mentality — something she cautions against.

“Those days are over. We have to look at the employees as an asset and something that we need to take care of if we’re going to grow our business,” she says.

The Great Outdoors in Austin, Texas, (No. 85 on the Top 100 Independent Garden Centers list) raised employees’ wages as well.

“We live and work in a city — it’s expensive to live comfortably here,” says General Manager Elizabeth Lane. “I would love to keep pay on an incline to reflect this and continue compensating my team for the hard work they do. Thankfully, plants are a profitable business right now. Clearly, it’s a relatively pandemic-proof industry, and raising pay always helps with morale and helps people feel appreciated and supported.”

Lane notes that retaining staff is tantamount to maintaining the flow of business, as well as their high quality of customer service. She operates in a similar manner as Klein and matches employees with roles best suited to their talents.

“There are a lot of moving parts here, and everyone has their own strengths and passions — I really focus on playing to those strengths and making sure people are in a position they are passionate and interested in,” she says.

She also stresses the importance of reliable staff and during the hiring process, she scouts for people who have a genuine passion for the role. “Plant knowledge, previous nursery work and customer service experience are a huge bonus, but my philosophy is to first look for people who truly want to be here and have a willingness to learn, as well as a team player spirit and friendly disposition,” she says.

Dependable hires

Cordrey also says hiring has been one of the biggest hurdles they’ve had to contend with. He says it’s particularly difficult to find people because they’re competing with the challenges of COVID-19 as well as unemployment assistance. He’s bolstered his hiring efforts by implementing a referral program.

“I think one of the best resources is using your staff to have them help you find people. So instead of just me looking, I could have 175 people looking. Plus, I want people that are like them, such as their family, friends or other people that they would recommend,” he says. “Once they refer somebody, they get paid. If they get hired, they get paid again, and if they stay here after 90 days, they’re paid again.”

Automated text reminders for open positions are sent to employees in the directory, and quite a few current employees were referrals.

“I think first and foremost, you have to have good staff to be successful. So as far as the referral program, I think it makes a huge difference getting good employees so that we can do all the work that we need,” he says. “It also allows us to build our management teams so that we can expand and first promote from within.”

Finding good people to take positions allows them to move up, which allows the company to grow and bring in sales, he says. Cordrey also offers a bonus program in which any profits that extend above their sales base are shared with employees, usually around the holiday season.

“So that makes a huge difference, and that makes them think about the bottom line and have skin in the game,” he says.

Moving into 2022, he says they’re going to split the bonuses so that employees are motivated not just by the winter bonus, but by a summer bonus as well, considering many employees are tired in the summer months after working a busy spring season.

Supporting your staff

When The Great Outdoors shut down in the spring of 2020, Lane says that many of the staff, opted to stay home to protect themselves and their loved ones, which left a fluctuation of 40-60% of the team. The employees who stayed handled the curbside/e-commerce model they developed in order to continue making sales without having customers in the store, she says. Employees with a large skill set — or even a willingness to learn — are trained in a few different areas so they can move around where they’re needed, depending on the needs of the day in question, Lane says.

“Since opening back up, we’ve had steady business year-round and thankfully spring 2021 was our busiest yet. If that continues into 2022, the natural ebb and flow of staffing has proved to be enough to keep things running efficiently, and everyone is great about being flexible and willing to cover where needed,” she says.

Cordrey, Klein and Lane all stress the importance of strong staff support, especially considering the stress of COVID-19 and busy days. All of them reported an increase in staff in 2021 and 2020 compared to 2019. Many IGCs are in a similar boat, and with an expanding workforce, it’s crucial to meet their needs.

Klein starts from the bottom up to make sure her staff is getting exactly what they need. She says the last two years have taken an emotional toll on employees, so they’re more consistent about giving bonuses or other tokens of appreciation to keep them going. She is deeply attuned to the needs of her employees and tries to give them the time off that they need so they aren’t burned out.

“They would tell me they were tired or grumpy, and I would check in and say, ‘Hey, you want to come in late tomorrow?’ ‘Do you need a day?’ ‘What’s going on?’ It was hard while they were gone, but they came back and they had their spirit built back up,” she says.

To boost morale, Cordrey says his IGC provides employees with gift cards to local restaurants and hosts monthly appreciations events. These include closing the office for a half day (while providing employees with a full day’s worth of pay) and hosting cookouts where management teams cook for the staff, bringing in an ice cream machine or even catering breakfast.

Throughout COVID-19, Lane has made it her mission to balance being as flexible and empathetic as possible while also running a profitable business. She notes that many of the people they’ve taken on in the last year either lost their jobs or had their lives uprooted as a result of the pandemic.

To help support staff during stressful times, she says she tried to keep the atmosphere light: “Being able to laugh things off is huge.” She also enforced mask mandates as well as limited store capacity so everyone could feel safe. This helped to boost camaraderie, but also helped the staff to feel supported and protected, she says.

“The biggest thing, though, is making sure my team feels listened to and that they know their frustrations are valid. I work very hard to take action to lessen these frustrations when I can, but the pandemic has definitely led to something of a crash course for everyone in dealing efficiently and politely with difficult people in difficult circumstances,” she says.