The Art of Seeing the Invisible – Part 1

by Sid Raisch

Serving You

by Danny Summers

At first glance, this title could represent all of our Group Service Providers and our Staff and our role in serving you, our Garden Center Clients. We are certainly here to serve you. But for this conversation I want it to represent the role you have in serving your Garden Center customers. Your Garden Center serves a very important role in your community. In fact, in the past year I have described you (our Garden Center Clients) as servants to your communities. This was never more evident than what you provided in 2020.

In order to really serve your customers in the very best way possible, you must know your customers. This is definitely a challenge... Just how well do you know your customers? Is it simply by studying their purchase history, what sells and who bought it? It is more than just having their mailing address and email addresses? It is certainly more complex than the data you can access from your POS system.

Annual P&L Study 2020: Best of the Best Awards

by Tim Quebedeaux

Raising the bar… In the 2019 P&L study the top line comparison was changed from the High Achievers and Best Practices Group to only the Best Practices Group.  We wanted to show a standard above what had been presented in the past.  Not only did this give everyone a higher standard to aim for, it gave those who were profitable, but wanted more, a chance to raise their own standards.

Well, 2020 blew that out of the water!  We had more than half of the reporting centers achieve Best Practices and a whopping 82% report above High Achievers status. Once again, the need to keep raising the bar arose thus, The Best of the Best Group was born.  In looking into this group, we will find out what it takes to capitalize on the opportunity in 2020.  What did the KPI’s tell us about how they realized the highest level of profitability (18% to 25%)?  As we crunch those numbers, we will compile a new report that allows those who reported to compare their performance to this group.  This will be available during The Fall Event 2021 in Wilmington, DE.

Annual P&L Study 2020 - Best Practices

by Tim Quebedeaux

Inventory turns, GMROII and the Best Practices Group all go together like rice and Gumbo!  You hit your goals for those first two, you are almost always in the last one.  The largest Best Practices group in the P&L Study history with 44 Garden Centers increased their Inventory Turns and GMROII, but was it what we thought it would be? We will visit this topic during The Fall Event 2021 in Wilmington!

Back to School?

by Danny Summers

Did you ever think we all would be going Back to School? I'm actually referring to Business School... That's what all Garden Centers in The Group have the opportunity to do. With the major Group financial programs and interacting with The Group Service Providers and peer Centers, we all have the benefit of advanced learning. It's really advanced business school for how to be most successful at Garden Retailing!

Annual P&L Study 2020 - High Achievers

by Tim Quebedeaux

Today we will reveal who is in the High Achievers Group defined as attaining between 5% & 10% Adjusted Profit in 2020. A slightly smaller group this year, going from 18 to 16. They were able to navigate through all the challenges of last year to achieve an average of 8.3% profitability.

How High?

by Danny Summers

This question may be in many Garden Center Owners' and Managers' minds today relative to sales and business in general for 2021. While we may have thought the growth seen in 2020 to be an anomaly, indications so far for 2021 point to continued growth. With more Group Centers now open and reporting in the Weekly Department Review (WDR) we are beginning to see a clearer view of what the season and year may be like for everyone.

In studying our 2020 results, we saw the increases came through a combination of growth in both Average Sale (about 1/3) and Transaction Counts (about 2/3). In the back of our minds has been the question, "Can our Centers reconnect and attract all the new customers from 2020?"

Annual P&L Study 2020 - Best of the Best

by Tim Quebedeaux

The Best of the Best group from this year’s P&L Study really stood out.  Who are they… you will find out, but first what defines Best of the Best?  They are the top ten in profitability from those who filled out all 5 parts of the P&L Study.  They performed to the tune of 18-25% Profitability… WOW!

Setting New Levels of Benchmarks

by Danny Summers

The results are in from The Group's Annual P&L Study for 2020. And we all agree... the bar has certainly been raised!

I must admit when we first created the "Raising the Bar" theme for what was then to be our 2020 Fall Event, we had no idea how relative this theme would be in representing the year's total results.

Annual P&L Study 2020 - It was a WOW Year!

by Tim Quebedeaux

For the P&L Study 2020, one word is being used to describe it… WOW! Even with our expectations of a great year, we were still amazed at what was reported.

Let’s start with how revenues increased year over year. The previous year revenues increased 2019 over 2018 at 2.2% compared to 25.1% increase for 2019 over 2020. Amazing! This graphic below illustrates how the 5 year trend of a typical Center with $1 million in sales has grown over the period and the dramatic affects of the 2020 year results.

The Year of Alignment - Part Two

by John Kennedy

As we move into the marketing magic of the year, driving focus and attention to our garden centers, which in turn drives foot traffic and the return of new found “fan-demics” (I just made that up) as well as our existing client-base, I thought it might be nice to take a good long look in the marketing mirror.

Each morning before coffee, I take seven steps to the WC to throw some water on my face, brush my teeth, and take a good long look at the drain and damage 56 years of being me has brought to my face--wrinkles from smiles and sun damage, baggy eyes from the six hours of sleep, and a blank stare into the possibilities the day will bring as I slowly kick the cobwebs to the curb, and embrace a deep and spiritual sense of gratitude that I am on the right side of the grass today.

Measuring Up

by Danny Summers

Will your Center measure up? We know your Center most likely had one of its best years ever in 2020, despite the operational challenges of the pandemic. I bet you served more customers and helped many new ones discover the joy of gardening and plants. But back to the original question...

How does your Center's performance in 2020 compare to all the others in The Group? We are about to find out as we see the results of The Group's Annual P&L Study for 2020. Steve Bailey and Tim Quebedeaux have been crunching all the numbers from reporting centers over the last 2 weeks and this Thursday will be the unveiling of the results from one of the most unusual years ever.

What's Your Score?

by Danny Summers

What's Your Score?
From your customer's perspective... that is a very important question.

In a matter of days or weeks, your Center will see the normal surge of customers with that "Spring Fever" look in their eyes and this important question will begin to be answered by the only people that really matter... your customers. Many of you may already been seeing them. We all know it takes a lot of preparation and training to meet and exceed the customer's expectations and therefore receive their highest scores. High scores relate to repeat visits, and connected and loyal customers. If asked, how will they answer this question?

Finger on the Pulse!

by Danny Summers

This is a very important function of managing your Garden Center today. One of the major benefits of Group participation was most evident in the spring of last year. I remember it very well, just like it was yesterday.

It was Monday, March 23rd, the beginning of Week 13 and that was when we saw the first of our centers being forced to close due to state mandates. Fortunately that Center was in the middle part of the country where spring had not really began yet. Over the next few weeks, most all centers began to deal with new issues, whether business restrictions, new safety protocols and of course staffing issues.  Many Centers had to quickly assess their position with large portions of in-bound orders scheduled for delivery and how they would be able to serve their customers in the coming weeks. In addition, they were wondering what the reaction to stay-at-home orders would be in the minds of the customer. One very important Group connection point was the ability for Centers in the middle to northern portions of the country to watch what was happening down south. Let's look at a few figures from the Weekly Department Review (WDR) from a few of those weeks.

What is a Garden?

by Danny Summers

What is a Garden?
To really understand and appreciate both the question and the many possible answers let's do some exploring together...

Your Message

by Danny Summers

This is a very important subject. Of course it begins with the question... What is your message? There are several levels to the answer. The over-arching purpose for your center is just a start. Then you may develop a theme for the coming season or year. Then it can be broken down to weeks, special holidays, recognized events and or intra-seasonal activities. There's a lot of things to consider and as Tom Kegley has said, developing a message that is uniquely yours is very important and takes time. After all, it's your BRAND! (This would be a great place for me to remind you to revisit Tom Kegley's "Let Your Brand Rock" blog article.)

How Will You Know?

by Danny Summers

It was November 22, 1985 and a young Whitney Houston offered her debut album. On it was a soon-to-be hit... How Will I Know. The lyrics of Whitney's song was crafted around a boy-relationship (of course), but the title also fits my message to you this week. One of the prominent lines is "How will I know... if he really loves me?" Now let's pivot to your Center and the spring ahead of us.

Garden Center vs. a JOY Center?

by Danny Summers

As Garden Retailers, you have so much to share to everyone, even to those who are not aware of it. Have you ever considered your Center being a JOY Center? Here's a few thoughts of alternate names for describing your Center:

Are YOU the Next Young Retailer?

We announced last week a new joint effort to co-sponsor and promote Green Profit magazine Young Retailer of the Year Award for 2021. The Garden Center Group, with support from our Partners for Success, will be official sponsors of the 16th annual award, along with AmericanHort.

2021: The Year of Alignment

by John Kennedy

Happy New Year and Happy New You. The previous year (formally known as 2020) has left an impact on all of us, and to not have been affected, changed or transformed would be both unrealistic as well as unfortunate.