Pets And Plants The Unlikely Partnership

Lifestyle retailing is booming, the consumer is cocooning and spending more time at home. One retail sector that should be rejoicing is the independent garden centre, but for many of them this is not the case.

To stay in-tune with today's consumer means being aware of fashion trends and to reinvent your business every four years to provide new concepts and ideas for the consumer.

Alas, many traditional, independent garden centres have failed to invest in modern retail technology and from a consumers perspective look like they are stuck in a 1980's time zone and as a result are failing to reap the rewards offered in a new, exciting, market place.

Gone are the days when a garden centre was a place to go simply to buy plants. In today's merging retail markets, a garden centre has become a lifestyle centre providing the for the Leisure needs of its consumer.

One of the reasons for this combining or retail activities is that the consumers are changing their shopping habits quicker than retailers can react.

Independent garden centres had they hay day" in the 1980's and 1990's. We had a population who were keen gardeners and had enough disposable income to spend on adding value to their properties by improving their gardens.

It's now a new century, the baby boomers who build the garden centre industry are moving on and the industry now has to attract a new consumer segments often called the Jones Generation (35 50 yr olds). These new consumers often classify themselves as outdoor decorators, not gardeners and are buying fewer plants than their predecessors. The result of this is that garden centres are having to look at diversification. This may include coffee shops, Christmas shops and the pet industry.

Whilst in most countries people are spending less on their gardens, they are spending more on their pets, for example the UK pet industry is growing at 5% a year and is now worth 3.9 billion. Ref: AMA Research reported in Business Life Feb 2006.

Whilst the gardening industry according to Mintel Research is declining by 7% a year, as far as the garden centre is concerned the majority of garden owners are pet lovers, this is a natural marriage.

At the same time garden centres are at the front end of the hourglass economy. The hourglass economy is an indicator that the consumer is either a commodity buyer, buying on price or a luxury buyer, purchasing their wants and are now expecting the retailer to present products based on their desires.

The result of this is we have seen the needs" outlets emerge, such as the pet chain stores and category killers eg Petco and at the other end, the luxury pet stores. It's the retailers stuck in the middle that are losing market share. Garden centres have to position themselves at the luxury end and the garden pet store of the future will be a luxury garden and pet outlet offering ideas and solutions.

Garden Centres will Compete with Harrods

The astute garden centre retailers have realized that the consumer is leisure spending and if they get the ambiance right, consumers will luxury spend on their pets. The consumer, who will go to Harrods Department store in London to spend 70 on a romper suit for a dog, may also spend freely on their pets in a garden centre.

According to research carried out by K9 in the UK, consumers will spend 20,000 on their dog during its lifetime, this is about the same money they will spend in the same period on their garden , which is why garden centres find this sector so attractive.

Traditionally, garden centres have also relied on peak sales in spring. To achieve that they have had to invest heavily in capital structures that they need to operate twelve months a year to pay back the capital investment. A pet department brings in a regular customer. One in five pet owners buy their pets Christmas presents, plus purchase pet products on a regular basis, this is excellent traffic flow for a garden centre, plus while buying pet products pet products they may be tempted to buy a plant.

Garden Centres are now Fashion Stores, Pets are now a fashion statement

The entrepreneurial garden centre owner now realizes that their consumer is an outdoor decorator and that as a retailer they are now dealing with fashion products.
They also realize that their fashion led consumer will likely be a pet owner and that the biggest growth sector in pets retailing is in fashion accessories. This fashion pet sector is being led by the USA 19.7 billion industry with Gucci's dog collars, Givenchy canine fragrance (Oh My Dog) and Cath Kidston doggy dinnerware. These are products that fit perfectly into the upmarket garden centre mix and have a major impact on the average sale per customer.

At this stage, I'd estimate, less than 10% of garden centres have a credible pet offer: but this is increasing dramatically as more and more garden centres see this as an opportunity.

Pet Challenge?

Is this a challenge to the pet industry? It is exposing more consumers to the range of pet products on offer, which must be good for suppliers.

As a pet retailer, there are a number of opportunities. Many garden centre operators are looking for help and are prepared to work in a partnership with a local pet retailer to grow that pet retailer's market share.

This may mean the pet retailer opening a store within the garden centre. As always, the store to lose out will be the small independent pet store that is not recognized as a destination by consumers. Such stores have to become famous for something. With pet stores opening at airports (LAX for example) in garden centres and as mega category killers, the market is in time of flux.

The Garden Centre Pet Boutique

For the garden centre it's more than dog and cat food.

A dog delicatessen fits in perfectly with the trend towards catering for humans in garden centres.
Fashion plant containers are growing the plant industry, fashion statements for pets is a natural add on.
Consumers have confidence in garden centres to manage live" products already. They are prepared to trust them when it comes to pets and pet products.
Consumers are already in a luxury spending mode, treating their pets when they go to a garden centre is a natural reaction.