Over the past week or so, a pattern has been emerging... A Pattern of Five!
Seeing the first major patterns then gave me the idea for this message to share today. But before I highlight the major ones that gave me this idea, I will first step back to some basic thoughts.
If you have ever been part of our Retailers' Choice Awards or Cool Product Awards, you know it is a wonderful hybrid of both fun and productivity. Meeting peer Centers at the end of the day to share what each has found and nominating products for awards can be like opening presents at Christmas... OK, maybe not quite that exciting, but close!
All the interactions surrounding each new plant or product help define why each should be considered the best for making the winning impressions. There is laughter, intrigue, and some great surprises along the way.
As a Garden Center Owner or Manager, you are constantly in what we might call "observation mode" as you go through each week, watching in-store traffic, as plants and products move through. And all this is parallel to also studying your POS data, Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Year-to-Date against your budget and plans.
Group Owners and Managers have another important level of observation advantage, what is happening across The Group in peer Centers. The benefit of seeing peer Centers in the same region as well as regions that might be ahead of your area in the seasonal cycles, is a unique position. When are certain categories surging or falling off? When are traffic levels changing? And how does this all compare to or point to what you can watch for just a few weeks ahead in your Center?
We are excited to announce a whole new level of Awards that we will present at The Fall Event 2024. They have been developed through collaboration within The Group Team, particularly Tim Quebedeaux and Sid Raisch. In the last 3 years, the level of benchmarking through The Group's Annual P&L Study has become more detailed. For years, Group Centers were comparing themselves to Total Group Averages and then against the Best Practices Group Averages.
But, as the terms apply, these are Averages and within each of these groups, there are Centers that are higher and lower to produce the Average. But what about the best-performing Centers? Who is performing best?
The search for knowledge is as old as time itself. Mankind's earliest wonder was on things like how fire worked and how they could use it for their advantage. It is beyond comprehension how the quest for knowledge and level of learning over centuries has brought us to where we are today.
Just considering our industry and the study of Horticulture is a small example. And really, all the knowledge gained about the Plant Kingdom is no minor matter. And the search continues.
As we have wrapped up spring in most regions the last few weeks, you now have the majority of your Spring 2024 Customer Data available to study. We can see in Week 22 of the WDR, year-to-date Average Sale remains virtually flat with this same week last year. But Transaction Counts year-to-date are down about -5%.
These compare to Average Sale being flat and Transaction Counts being +2.6% as of this week last year. And then end-of-year for 2023 being virtually even with Average Sale & Transaction Counts resulting in near-even sales against 2022.
One of the earliest forms of what we might call a craft today is Paper Mache. The image of the bee above is an example. A quick search reveals Paper Mache's beginning can be traced back to the 1300's. Today, we could quickly envision a piñata to represent Paper Mache, or an elementary school project. I can remember our girls using Paper Mache to building a volcano for one of their projects (and no kitchen or dining room tables were damaged by eruptions).
I am thinking for Garden Retailing, the idea for Crafting Opportunities could be focused toward both plants and product categories as well as activities outside of the typical spring season.
Real creativity, what we may call Creative Juices, must take a special kind of focus and attention. It may require quiet space to really unplug and block out all the typical hustle and bustle you normally experience in the work setting. I decided to ask Tom Kegley what he does to be in the best position for his most creative work. Here's what Tom said:
"In my work, CREATIVITY is equal parts INSPIRATION (concept) and PERSPIRATION (execution). Given this notion of Applied Creativity, I’ll focus on the front end. How does something intangible as INSPIRATION happen?
This story begins as a little coffee shop opened in 1971 in Seattle's Pike Place Market. The story actually began when three students met a few years earlier at the University of San Francisco. The three classmates were Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker. They were all interested in the coffee business. Maybe it had something to do with long hours studying and coffee helping to keep their eyes open. Following their common interest, they visited a little coffee shop across the bay in Berkley which had opened a few years before.
The Berkley shop the three students visited was owned by Alfred Peet, born in the Netherlands, who "cut his teeth" in the coffee industry in his homeland, caring for the roasting and grinding machinery at the small coffee company his father owned, the B. Koorn & Company, located in Alkmaar, Holland.
During your busiest times, I understand how difficult it is to step back to make observations to develop important perspectives. But for Owners and Managers, stepping back during these fast-paced days can be critical and provide the best insights for making important changes.
This is like a major league baseball manager viewing from the dugout, he is reading every move the opposing pitcher is making and directing adjustments for his team.
Sometimes, great ideas begin... Organically.
And by "organically" I don't mean our first reaction of thinking about your favorite compost or plant nutrient. Instead, I am thinking about an idea that arrives "naturally" or without great effort to create a wonderful new idea.
Do you know The Fall Event 2024 is heading to Dallas, Texas this September? If you don't know, either I have not been doing my job, or maybe you have not been reading GROUPtalk, or seeing any of my mountain of emails with my signature line to shout the event dates, or perhaps you have been distracted by other things. In any case, you know now!
I will begin by revealing the initial details below and will be sharing more of the entire program in the coming weeks. There are a few important things you should know now before you start considering your travel plans.
If you have been receiving GROUPtalk for some time now, the image above and the title of this message may seem vaguely familiar, and you are correct. I first used this in August of 2021 with a slightly different title, "The Train of Garden Retailing." At the time, we had already been through the spring seasons of 2020 and 2021. I know you remember what that was like. It was a time of great change for all Garden Centers, adapting to new ways to do many things, in order to serve your growing customer audience.
In the August 2021 message, I began by saying, "At first glance this might appear as a strange combination...Train verses Garden Retailing? But bear with me as I share some thoughts I have had in recent months. This idea came to me as I was talking with prospective Centers who asked about what we do in The Group and why they should consider joining. Basically, "Why The Group?"
If you have been in the BWI (Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport) and in the A/B Terminal Food Court area, most likely you have seen the round coffee stand in the center of the area. It is Mayorga Coffee, a local coffee roaster in Rockville, MD (about 6 miles northwest of the Washington, DC beltway).
Having enjoyed my first cup of what I call Mayorga's flagship dark-roast, Cafe Cubano, I was determined to find where we could get more for our everyday java-fix.
Being "in the industry" we know what this title refers to... In our world, a plant being termed an "Invasive Plant" says it is aggressive, multiplies at will and overtakes space from other plants, and disrupts the careful balance of the native landscape.
But the idea of this message is a positive one and an observation of seeing numerous images of plants making big impressions for products and people outside our industry.
Sometimes things just don't work out the way you first thought they might. That is most often the case When the Press Calls. About 2 weeks ago I was contacted by email by a writer with Associated Press (AP). The conversation began with...
"Hi, I cover small business for the AP, is there someone at The Garden Center Group that could speak to me about what challenges the industry is facing these days, i.e. high labor costs, volatile weather, etc. and what are some bright spots?"
THIS THURSDAY... our next GROUPtalk LIVE session, will feature Tim Quebedeaux presenting the results of The Group's Annual P&L Study for 2023!
It's a BIG DEAL!
If you have been with us in The Group for some time I'm sure you think I am heading into either The Nature Fix or Emotional Marketing areas, shared in recent years.
The idea actually came from a totally outside source, but our two major programs have left their marks on my thinking. I guess you could call this a hybrid message. Or simply... an outside message with internal influence or flavor!
If there is one thing I am certain of, it is there is real Power in Collaboration. I see it nearly every day and certainly multiple times a week watching all of the sharing within The Group. It happens Peer-to-Peer (our Garden Centers) as well as with our Service Providers. It also happens with our Partners for Success and Fall Event Sponsors.
The Power in Collaboration comes in different levels. At the base level, it is sharing details that can help save time and direction. Time is saved by just not having to create or learn something from scratch. Direction comes through being capable of making the right decision the first time.
Just the idea of a simmering hot cup of Tea... in The Garden creates an ideal vision for how to begin the day. Maybe we should pause here for 15-20 minutes, grab a cup of Tea (or coffee), and step out to the Garden (or the most peaceful area of the Garden Center will do). Use the time to relax, breathe deeply, perhaps pray, and think about all the wonderful natural world around us. Then, return to this message when finished...