Good News

Good News

by Danny Summers

If you were with us last Thursday during the final GROUPtalk LIVE Series session, you heard Ken Gronbach say these words, "If you want me to tell bad news for the garden industry, I'll have to make up something, because there just isn't any." This session was a followup to his keynote presentation last August as we began our series.

Ken is a demographer and his studies analyze world populations, growth, shifts, and trends. Ken's message reinforced what our Centers have experienced the past 16 months – countless new customers, many of them young, and all wanting more gardening and plant experiences.

Ken talked quite a bit about millennials becoming attracted to and emotionally connected to gardening. He said, "millennials are like boomers on steroids" and talked about how they are very organic-focused, environmentally conscious, and their move toward home-ownership is creating a shortage of housing that will last for years. Ken also talked about how boomers are living longer and he see boomers and millennials overlapping longer than generations have before.

Another area he talked about was diversity and how minority groups are becoming more affluent and the opportunity Centers have in marketing to their community in the coming years. And all of this led Ken to recommend rethinking your staffing to make sure marketing and sales are well position to connect with your customer base in the coming years.

All of this is Good News for the our industry and his message was very encouraging for everyone watching just like his original message a year ago. And you have continued to see evidence of the Good News in your Center this spring.

But we have more Good News when you really think about it. The really Good News is what the activity of gardening and just being around flowers and plants does for the health and well-being of a person. There are very few industries that have the positive message that we do. In fact, I have mentioned before how many other industries try to use gardening and plants to promote whatever they are trying to sell. Just watch current commercials and you'll see how many are showing people in a gardening activity at some level while selling their newest widget, medical breakthrough, etc.

So let's recap... We have a huge base of past "boomer" customers who will have more time of their hands moving forward and living longer, and an even larger base of both current and potential "millennial" customers who are becoming even more avid garden and plant lovers than "boomers" have been. And, we have more opportunities with a growing minority populations. Plus, we are selling a product that is not only enjoyable as an activity but provides health and well-being benefits.

We are blessed to be the horticultural industry. Just ask almost any other industry if they agree (while they are leveraging plants to help sell their own products or services).

Keep up the great work to bring joy and health to your community!

I look forward to seeing you in Wilmington next month when Florence Williams will share her experience in writing her book "The Nature Fix."

I don't know about you... but I can't wait!
Mark your calendar... August 30 - September 2 (You will be out of town.)

Sharing is at the heart of The Group and your ideas are very important. Are you and your staff all subscribed to our eLists such as GroupEs, Retail-Grower, Retail-Landscape, Owners-Only, and a number of others? Need help subscribing? Let me know as I can show you how you can sign up.

Thanks for sharing!

Danny Summers
[email protected]
Tel: 678-909-7770
Cell: 678-761-7145

REMEMBER: Your interaction (by phone and email) with Group Service Providers such as Steve Bailey, Tim Quebedeaux, Sid Raisch, Robert Hendrickson, John Kennedy, Jean Seawright, and of course Danny Summers are included in your retainer!

 

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