Sharing Spring 2017 Results

Danny Summers... with lots of help from my friends!

On July 17th Steve Bailey released our Mid-Year Weekly Department Review (WDR) to those participating. While not all 102 centers participating in the 2017 program were able to report, it still provides a good view of how Spring from each region. Steve featured some of the graphs on the cover page and there were some real differences (ups and downs).

Overall, The Group is showing a modest increase in sales and average sale year to date with a slight negative on transaction counts. But there are a number of very strong positives. There's lots of great things to share around each center's successes and we hope the comments offered below by these Group members will help to give you ideas. We started this process looking at figures reported in the MidYear WDR, however many centers have continued to add to their positive numbers in July so the following figures shared are from Week 29 of the WDR.

Retailers' Choice Awards™ at Cultivate'17

by Danny Summers

How Did They Do That? - Details from the 2016 P&L Study

by Danny Summers

As all of the Group Clients who participated in the Annual P&L Study for 2016 have received their own reports, Steve Bailey has shared some details for total Group results. One thing that stood out was Transaction Counts with the Best Practices/High Achievers (+4% when the Total Group was -1%).

So, under the heading of..."How Did They Do That?"... we have asked the question. You will be very interested in some of the answers they have shared.

Building Your Social Audience - Part 2

A How-To Series, by Danny Summers

Several weeks ago we began this series with several examples for building your social audience. This week, Botanical Interests' Brandon Coppin, Director of Social Media and Video Production, is sharing an infographic that outlines our social media strategy for gardeners along with two white papers shared here.

We received information in the last week about a fun new book of children's poems themed around garden called "The Gnome in My Garden." It was some creative we asked its author, Michael McCormick, to tell us their story. Here's the details…

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We started Goofy Garden with the hopes of creating a fun, engaging book that kids and adults could enjoy together. Our goal is to create a series of books, and eventually a series of products, that ignites a sense of creativity and wonder when it comes to gardening and getting outdoors.

When The Group was in Orlando for The Fall Event, some of us stayed over to see The Landscape Show. While we were there, Dr. Tom Yeager of The University of Florida's Horticulture Department, introduced us to Dr. Charlie Guy, Professor of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry at UF and showed us details of a new study underway between the UF's Hort Department and the UF Medical School. Here's some details:

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A group of Florida researchers has found a link between gardening and good mental health.  Scientists at the University of Florida studied 23 healthy women and preliminary findings show the women who participated in group gardening activities twice a week reported profoundly reduced stress, anxiety, anger, confusion and fatigue.  The women also reported significantly more vigor and friendliness than the women in the control group.