Notes from the New Vision Forum

Horticulture industry consultants John Stanley and Sid Raisch joined forces in January for the two-day New Vision Forum in Nashville, Tenn., hosted by OFA, The Association of Horticulture Professionals. The purpose of the event  was to give independent garden center owners from the U.S. and Canada advice and ideas to help them respond to future changes in the retail industry.

“The future of many independent retail garden centers is an economic improbability,” Raisch said in a news release from OFA about the event. “This is a challenge and an opportunity. We can do better as an industry, and New Vision Forum provided in-depth exploration of our business model, which in reality is not one business model but a mixture of many.”

Through OFA, Raisch and Stanley provided this opportunity for North American retailers to further develop their business and set a new direction for the industry.

Delegates were challenged to not only understand the consumer, but also the developing hyper-competitive “bricks to clicks” nature of worldwide retail in which a company integrates both an offline and online presence, according to the news release. Participants were provided the opportunity to apply the challenges to their individual business models to focus plans on not just survival as the last man standing in the garden center business, but on mastering the possibilities presented in a new economy.

OFA intends to offer to retailers a New Vision Forum experience later this year. Retailers that want to participate in the future should visit the event website at www.YourNextLevel.org/NVF. For questions about the conference and to receive an invitation to future offerings, contact Sid Raisch at Sid@AdvantageDevelopmentSystem or call at 888-339-7456.