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Tim Lamprey has owned Harbor Garden Center in Salisbury, Mass., since 1982 -- long enough to have wrestled with the issue of plant marketing plenty. His conclusion: Consumers will buy what you tell them to, if you're a savvy marketer.
"Look at the fashion industry," he said. "Do fashion designers ask women what types of clothes they want? No, they create the demand by fashion shows, product placement in TV and movies, celebrity endorsement."
Lamprey uses a strategy at his store that emphasizes inspirational merchandising that shows just what plants are "hot" -- in essence, he does what the fashion designers do -- and his customers naturally respond to his prompting.
And how is that response measured? That's right: In "Cha-ching!"
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