Vegetable shop

#vegetal #nurseries #garden centers #rayonjardin #saleonline #plants #flowers

The vegetable shop offers us vegetables… That’s good! You can find them in garden centres, nurseries… But also in hypermarkets, DIY stores… And now, almost everywhere! Vegetables are open bar!

Until now, and since its appearance, the sale of plants has been confined to specialists, the real ones. You had to go to local producers to hope to find the tree of your dreams. Then, garden centers were born, in the last century… They democratized this “plants” section which was then found in hypermarkets and GSBs. So far, so good… But then, Ikea started selling indoor plants in stride, the relay was taken over by online sales sites. You no longer need to be a plant pro to sell plants or small flowers. The plant that we thought was a noble product, sold by experts, is in the process of leaving its borders to go to shelves here and there, not necessarily specialized in the garden…

This is the case, for example, of By Charlot, created in 2017. Two lovers of plants… I did say lovers and not “professionals”. They started with green plants to open up to decoration, candles… They now integrate Herbarium and Green Factory with herbaria and handmade terrariums. And in addition to trade, the company gives meaning to its objectives and ensures the well-being of its employees.

Another ?

Still in the series “I’m starting and we’ll see”, here is My Bleen. During confinement, Quentin, the future boss, went to the garden center and did not capture everything on offer. After a background research, the latter created with his friends, Millennials, an online sales site with subscriptions to bring the lawn back to life. They now have a wide range of plants and are preparing new releases of garden products to expand the range. And there too, these are not garden professionals.Just like By Charlot, these are enthusiasts who know how to talk to other enthusiasts. Little by little, the garden is no longer reserved for experts. The plant, the decoration and the fertilizers are products, and the garden center no longer has a monopoly on this know-how.The technicality is elsewhere, in the communication, in the marketing, in the design… Isn’t the plant, in the end, like packets of noodles, batteries or televisions? Isn’t it just a story of animation, valuation, price, delivery?If this is the case, do we still need specialist salespeople to talk to us technically?

Provocative… Yes but!

Admittedly, I’m playing devil’s advocate a bit. If the answer to this last question is “No, we no longer need experts for plants”, that means that we will be satisfied with product sheets produced by Chat GPT. The dialogue with an expert in store would then only be an old memory…”Impossible” will say the elders who knew the good old days, when salespeople spent time on the shelves. Today, they are a little less numerous and often multi-tasking! Not easy to find a pro to inform you in the spring.So the place is free for our friends from “Plante pour tous”, who have come to the market with the same plants, also from the Netherlands, but with more modern communication and eye-catching price marketing!Yet another speaker! And what about the plants offered in the H and M Home or Zara Home stores? There, we also leave the usual paths. The plant becomes a decoration product sold by decoration shops. We know that the garden center must reinvent itself, but there is an emergency… If the plant changes hands, what are we going to sell? Christmas accessories, local products, dog food, organic food? No? Well if! And it’s already off to a good start!

And after

We can slowly feel the arrival of a new garden distribution market. Is the name “Garden Center” still suitable for our “multi-specialists”. If hypermarkets continue to sell plants, and if garden centers continue to develop the food section, we will meet at some point. Of course, we are told up there that it’s not the same, it’s not the same quality, all that all that… No doubt! The customer will remain the sole judge.Plants, on the other hand, continue to be found here and there, with new distributors who have understood the principle. Amazon offers a full range of indoor plants, and for advice, we will go to inquire with garden influencers, on social networks.All of this could lead to a reduction in the margin on plants, and a simplification of the range. These new plant sellers will probably not be looking to sell collections!New

Landscape…

Our landscaper friends, with a service adapted to each garden, could do well… For those, of course, who have not abandoned plants…We should have answers soon…

Roland Motte… Gardener!