Consumers spendmore for the winterholidays — Christ-mas, Hannukah andKwanzaa — than any

other holiday. In fact, with con-sumers spending roughly $435 bil-lion, holiday sales crush the nearestcompetition (back-to-school sales atapproximately $48 billion), accord-ing to the National RetailFederation. The numbers are highenough to incite a feeding frenzyamong retailers, as each tries to graba share of the sizable holiday market.

A way for garden centers to com-pete is by devising and implement-ing effective holiday promotions. Butwhat makes a good promotion?There are a number of aspects —such as when to start promoting andwhat products to carry — that needto be considered before beginning.

Start EarlyLong gone is the time of unveil-

ing Christmas merchandise afterThanksgiving; increasingly, retailersare putting holiday decorations andgoods on shelves even beforeHalloween. This means planning forthe season — from designing andscheduling promotions to selectingthe types of products to carry —needs to start early in the year.

Green View Nursery, Dunlap, Ill., isone of many garden centers that startsChristmas preparations in mid-October: “It used to be that peopledidn’t start promoting until the dayafter Thanksgiving. It’s so differentnow. In our showroom, we have ourpermanent trees starting to be set upas early as the end of September, and

in October our permanent themetrees are set up and decorated, so bythe time it’s November, everything isdone and ready to go,” explained LisaHoerr-Grandstaff, vice president ofmarketing at Green View.

In addition to setup, publicizingfor the holiday season begins in latefall for many garden centers. “Wesend a direct-mail piece to our [loy-alty program] club members inOctober to let them know abouteverything we have to offer for theholidays,” said Hoerr-Grandstaff.The direct-mail piece informs cus-tomers about the assortment ofproducts and events at Green Viewduring the holiday season.

Before scheduling and advertisingpromotions, an important aspect toconsider is the customer: Spend sometime thinking about the target audi-ence and how to attract it. “You haveto think of the audience, who you aretrying to appeal and whether it’s anevent or sale,” said Hoerr-Grandstaff.For instance, if you would like to see alot of families, schedule events thatappeal to both adults and children.Or for a predominantly adult crowd,cater events to their tastes: informa-tional seminars, live music, wine andcheese parties, etc. Also, be aware thatpeople become increasingly busy asthe holidays approach, which makesspace at events scheduled too close toChristmas difficult to fill. The timingof a promotion can be integral to asuccessful event.

Some planning, such as choosingwhich products to carry, occurs wellbefore the following Christmas. Buyersat Waterloo Gardens, Devon andExton, Pa., choose which products to

place in the store months before thenext holiday season. Tim Schauer,director of marketing for WaterlooGardens, said their buyers travel exten-sively throughout the year in search ofproducts: “They’ll be in Germany inabout a month [after Christmas] tobuy for the next season,” he said. Justlike when shopping for friends andfamily, shopping early and not rushingleaves more time to be choosey.

Stand OutThe Christmas retail season is dif-

ferent from any other time of year.One reason is there are many prod-ucts to sell in a small window of time.Hoerr-Grandstaff noted: “You haveNovember and December, basically,to sell a store full of merchandiseand also offer your holiday services.”

Competition is also fierce aroundthe holidays, with all types of retailersvying for consumer attention. Schauerrates Waterloo Gardens’ level of com-petition during the spring at a four(out of 10) and during Christmas at an

eight or nine. “We feel like we com-pete with every store, every movie the-ater and restaurant. There’s a limitedamount of money, so we promote a lotstronger, we discount more heavilyand we have multiple promotions atany given time,” he explained.

Advertising sales and promotionscan help garden centers stand outand get a share of the consumerfunds spent for the holidays. TimHamilton, marketing director ofHomestead Gardens, Davidsonville,Md., describes Homestead as a pub-lic relations machine aroundChristmastime. “We have all of theevents that are going on plus theadvertising that’s going full tilt at thesame time. We do more advertisingthat time of year simultaneously thanany other time,” said Hamilton.

Homestead Gardens advertisesinternally with posters, flyers, hand-outs, and garden club E-mail blastsand externally with television, radio,magazine and newspaper ads. Whileradio, print and television ads can

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CHRISTMAS RETAILER

From when to start to what to sell — don’t forget to consider the many aspects of an effective holiday promotion before entering the Christmas selling season.

By Meghan Boyer

This bear tree at Homestead Gardens was a unique attraction for consumers. (Photo courtesy ofHomestead Gardens)

WALKING THROUGH A

PROMOTIONAL WONDERLAND

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work to attract new shoppers, inform-ing garden club members or themost frequent shoppers about holi-day events and products throughdirect mailings or E-mail blasts is agood way to remind an already-loyalgroup of shoppers that your gardencenter is a shopping destination dur-ing the holidays, too.

Further distinguish your gardencenter from the pack of holidayretailers by carrying uncommonChristmas products. Schauer feelsthe most important aspect of aneffective holiday promotion is havingthe right products: “We really try andchoose high-end, unique items thatare special and you can’t find in anybig box.” Similarly, HomesteadGardens’ Christmas buyer tries tofind imports and exclusives withwhich to stock the shelves. The prod-ucts can be a differentiator, workingto attract customers and separate agarden center from the retail crowd.

Welcome The SeasonA kickoff event at the beginning of

the holiday season lets customersknow your garden center is ready forthe holidays: Hosting an open house,preview party or illumination bringscustomers to the store where theycan get into the holiday spirit and seethe products at the same time.

For many garden centers, thekickoff event is the largest promo-tion of the season. “Open houseweekend is our big one,” Hamilton

confirmed. He describes the eventas being “elbow to elbow.”

The basic schedule for the event issimilar among garden centers: TheFriday evening before the openhouse weekend, preferred customersare invited to an exclusive previewparty, which is a nice way to thankthem for their patronage. “We havewine and dessert…and light music,so it’s a very nice evening. [The pre-view party] is our unveiling of theholiday season to our best cus-tomers,” Hoerr-Grandstaff said. Anopen house for the general publicthen follows over the next two days.

Another way to welcome the seasonis by having an illumination. Basically,this is lighting the garden center andits surrounding area. Schauer explains:“We do an illumination on BlackFriday. Both our locations have tens ofthousands of lights, and Santa comesin a fire truck.” Schauer estimates thateach store has 1,000-1,200 peopleattending their respective illumina-tions. While beautiful to behold whenfinished, an illumination is a time-intensive event to prepare. Becausethere are so many lights to put up,Hamilton mentioned that HomesteadGardens’ landscape team starts prepar-ing for it in September.

Schauer noted that people makea tradition out of coming toWaterloo Gardens’ illumination. Nomatter how the season is welcomed,make a tradition out of it. Soon cus-tomers will start to expect and look

forward to initiating the season thesame way each year.

Add The Right Ingredients

Free glasses of cider and Christmasmusic are nice touches during the sea-son, but alone they aren’t likely to

attract consumers away from othershopping locals. Create a must-seelocation and a unique holiday experi-ence for shoppers by layering interest-ing attractions among traditionaltouches. “We try to create an experi-ence: You don’t just come here toshop,” said Hamilton. For example, �

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CHRISTMAS RETAILER

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CHRISTMAS RETAILER

A Satellite LocationGordon Elsbury, owner of Elsbury’s Greenhouse, Hope, Ind., start-

ed reaching out to holiday customers in a unique way 4-5 years ago.His greenhouse is located in the country,roughly 10 miles from Columbus, Ind.,which means many people aren’t able tostop by the store during the holiday sea-son. To remedy this, each Christmas sea-son Elsbury’s takes over a vacant locationat a mall in a neighboring city.

At the mall location Elsbury’s sells gift-ware, poinsettias and some houseplants.The retail mall sales end up about equalingthose at the greenhouse, but Gordon feelsthe name recognition and exposure thatcomes from the satellite location is morevaluable than the sales. “We all really feellike the bigger benefit of the whole deal isthat so many people don’t make it out hereat Christmastime,” he explained, “and wethink it’s worth a lot for just the advertisingbenefit and keeping our name in front ofthe public.” Employees at the satellite storehelp to ensure this by distributing Elsbury’sGreenhouse newsletters and directions tomall patrons so can they visit Elsbury’sGreenhouse throughout the rest of the year.

Elsbury’s temporary mall locationhelps promote the greenhouse andboost Chr is tmas sa les . (Photoscourtesy of Elsbury’s Greenhouses)

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P R O M O T I O N A L S T R AT E G I E S

during a past holiday season employ-ees at Homestead Gardens set up ateddy-bear tree that was almost 20feet tall. This element was in conjunc-tion with other Christmas touchessuch as Santa, holiday music and atrain set — elements HomesteadGardens brings in each year.

Employees at Green View Nurseryincorporate seasonal goodwill intotheir holiday promotions. They invitenot-for-profit organizations to beinvolved with some of their events in avariety of ways — everything from anadopt-a-pet event and welcomingcharity volunteers at garden centerpromotions to holding silent auctionsand having donation boxes. Thefundraising is both a way to spread thespirit of the season and give back tothe community. Hoerr-Grandstaffexpressed her thoughts: “We stronglybelieve in finding ways to give back tothe community. There are all sorts ofways to give back: monetarily, in kindor doing these events for charitablecauses. Little things help, and it showsthat you support your community.”Green View even incorporated Santainto the fundraising: Families wereasked to make a suggested donationto the American Red Cross for eachphotograph they took with Santa.

But no matter what additional,interesting holiday ingredients areadded, don’t mess with the basics.“[There’s] a fine line between offeringconsistency of expectations and offer-ing something new so it doesn’t getstale,” explained Hamilton. There’s alot of nostalgia associated withChristmas, and people have certainexpectations they want met. Hamiltonknows that customers don’t show upsolely because of the music or lights at

Homestead, but removing one ormore of the traditional holiday ele-ments will make them upset. “I thinkyou’re trying to create the wholeatmospheric package of Christmas.You’re trying to offer people a littlepiece of their childhood. Everyoneromanticizes what their Christmas wasgrowing up. There is a magical ele-ment to Christmas. We’re trying to cre-ate that,” explained Hamilton.“Christmas seems to evoke the mostemotional reaction from people, andthat’s something we’re not at liberty tochange.” In the end, the traditionaltouches are the foundation of holidaypromotions; everything else — theunique attractions, fundraising, semi-nars and advertising — is built upon it.

Watch The Bottom Line

Garden centers big and small needto keep in mind that great Christmaspromotional ideas don’t necessarilymake great Christmas promotions.Ultimately, promotional events needto be profitable: A great idea that isexpensive and only attracts a few buy-ing customers isn’t sustainable. Thinkpromotions through, weigh theoptions and don’t feel like you have tospend a lot to make a lot.

Meghan Boyer is associate editor of Lawn& Garden Retailer. She can be reached byphone at (847) 391-1013 or E-mail atmboyer@sgcmail.com.

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LearnMore!For more information related to this article, go to www.lgrmag.com/lm.cfm/lg 080506

Layer interesting displays and attractions among traditional touches can create a must-see holidaylocation. (Photo courtesy of Homestead Gardens)

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