Van Wilgen's Success of PW Store-in-a-Store
by Jessica DeGraaf and Meghan Owens, Proven Winners®
Group Client Van Wilgen’s Garden Center, based in North Branford, CT, has been home to a Proven Winners® Destination for several years and has seen growth of the program season after season. Sales of Proven Winners® Color Choice® have increased 70% since Van Wilgen’s implemented their Destination in 2015.
As is the case with many of our Destination retailers, Van Wilgen’s Garden Center had an area that was being overlooked and under-shopped. Van Wilgen’s consolidated their Proven Winners® Color Choice® material into a dedicated section, worked with the Proven Winners team to create effective custom signage and designed and built new benches* and arbors to showcase the material and draw in the customer. The result? Van Wilgen’s saw an over 30% sales increase in the first year! Actual year-over-year results are:
2015 +33%
2016 +17%
2017 +10%
2018 +11%
As sales grow, so has the Destination, expanded to include annuals and perennials. Their arbors have reached icon status among our customers, with many of them using the specifications graciously shared by the Van Wilgen’s team to create similar displays in their garden centers.
Proven Winners strives to offer our customers the most effective marketing support in promoting and selling the Proven Winners brand. Working with independent garden centers to create a Proven Winners Destination in their stores continues to be one of the most impactful ways to do just that. We have worked with several independent retailers across North America to create custom Proven Winners Destinations in their stores and we continue to be delighted with the increase in sales and profits our Destination retailers experience.
How It Works
Jessica DeGraaf or Meghan Owens, regional account managers for Proven Winners, are ready to meet with you to discuss your goals for your store. They’ll work one-on-one with you to find the most effective place to add a Destination within your existing layout, which is often a low traffic area that needs a boost. Together, you will brainstorm ideas on how to display the product there, and they will help you produce custom signage that matches the look and feel of your store.
Jessica or Meghan will help connect you with wholesalers who can work with you to stock your new display. Once you are all set up and ready to go, they will join you in kicking your rejuvenated space off with a Proven Winners Day. They’ll work with your staff and customers to get everyone excited about the plants you’re offering. Their passion is growing your success.
Click the video above see the Destination display and hear about the experience from Ryan Van Wilgen. Interested in creating a Destination at your garden center? Contact Jessica DeGraaf or Meghan Owens for more information.
Jessica DeGraaf
Tel: 616-706-7970
[email protected]
Meghan Owens
Tel: 207-572-0465
[email protected]
A special THANK YOU to Proven Winners® for their support of The Group as a Partner for Success and Sponsor of The Fall Event!
*[Note from Danny: Ryan started with the bench plans created by Robert Hayter and available to The Group here in the Clients-Only Menu/POWERtools. Ryan even made some improvements upon the Hayter plans.]
