The cryptic customer

All gardening customers are not created equal. And if you’re still marketing to one basic customer category, you’ve got a lot of ground to make up.

The youngest generation of consumers – at least the ones old enough to be living on their own – are the millennials. The millennial generation (ages 18-35) makes up 25 percent of the population in the United States. That’s more people than the baby boomers.

Millennials are the most educated, most racially diverse and most digitally connected generation of young adults in American history, says Suzi McCoy of Garden Media Group. And in this group, young men are spending $100 more per year on plants and garden products than the average consumer, she adds.

According to GMG’s e-book, “How to Market Gardening to Millennials,” this generation has a collective buying power of $200 billion annually. They also have an indirect influence of more than $500 billion on the brands and products their parents, friends, relatives and co-workers choose.

This generation wants to make a difference in the lives of others and they’re concerned with the environment. Most are eager to learn and conduct plenty of online research before making any purchases.

However, all that buying power doesn’t necessarily translate into product sales.

According to a Harris Interactive poll, if given $100,000, 58 percent of millennials would pay off any existing debts and loans whereas 14 percent of millennials would treat themselves to something that they would not normally spend money on. Furthermore, 43 percent of millennials would save for a rainy day fund and unexpected expenses, more than two times the amount of millennials who would go on vacation. Despite that information, there are ways to improve marketing to this generation, according to Catherine Fretter, Associate Strategist at 360i, a digital marketing agency.

First, play up function over fashion. Millennials will spend money on what they deem to be good investments, Fretter says. When researching products prior to purchase, this generation will likely take to messaging that emphasizes practicality, durability and authenticity. Second, go mobile, she suggests. Target millennials with contextually relevant messaging on their mobile in real-time. The key here is to ensure every piece of content is optimized for mobile as to maximize reach and accessibility across devices, says Fretter.

Garden center consultant John Stanley advises, what worked in the past to attract new customers to garden centers will definitely not work in the future.

“The challenge we all have is how do we communicate with this new consumer and get them to visit our business rather than them deal with our competitors,” he says. “The good news is research in the U.S. indicates that millennials would rather shop with a local independent business than a larger global ‘shed’ type business. But, those independent businesses have to relate to them if they are to attract them to their offer.”

To reach this generation, the green industry should capitalize more on the cultural phenomenon known as the sharing economy, says Jared Barnes, assistant professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in East Texas. (See his profile on page 36.)

The sharing economy consists of people renting assets – from bikes to tools and from parking spaces to homes – not only to generate a revenue stream, but to put unused items to work. (Think: Uber and Airbnb.)

While plants don’t fit precisely into that model, the idea of sharing certainly fits.

“People have been sharing and trading plants – both edibles and ornamentals -- from their gardens for thousands of years. Sharing creates that personal connections that gets people interested in gardening,” Barnes says.

Use the sharing economy principle to explain to the next-generation of consumers that they can buy a plant and take it to a friend who’s hosting a dinner party or having a bad day, he suggests.

“Plants for other people is a viable marketing model,” he says.