Deck the Endless Aisle: How Garden Centers Can Win Black Friday Online
Black Friday is November 27, and the holiday shopping rush is about to begin. For independent garden centers, it's one of the biggest chances all year to grow online sales, and not just with plants. If you need proof that online selling works, look at October. Five garden centers in the E-Commerce Connect™ network brought in nearly $40,000 in combined dropship sales in a single month, in the off-season.
Congratulations to October's Top 5 - A big shout-out to the five members who led the network last month:
Sauder's Nursery
Pandy's Garden Center
Rohr & Sons Nursery
Bast Brothers Garden Center
White Oak Gardens
These stores showed what's possible when garden centers grow together to compete against big box stores! Now imagine what the same approach can do during the busiest shopping weeks of the year.
Holiday Shoppers Want More Than Plants...
Holiday shoppers are looking for gifts, and that opens the door to hardgoods. Think planters, garden tools, décor, bird feeders and gift-ready items your customers would happily buy from a garden center they already trust. The E-Commerce Connect™ program gives you access to over 16,000 SKUs of plants and hardgoods from our 13 suppliers. You can list them in your online store without buying inventory, finding shelf space or adding staff.
Best of all, your garden center is the face of every sale. Your customer orders on your website. (There are no links sending them off to a supplier's page, where the supplier makes the sale and you get only a set commission.) Your customer stays on your site, sees only your brand from checkout to doorstep, and every box ships with your garden center's name on it. Our suppliers work quietly behind the scenes, and that's by design. Your customer interacts only with you and knows only your local garden center brand.
We want to thank the supplier brands in our program for standing behind independent retailers. Big box stores aren't slowing down online, and our suppliers have chosen to help garden centers compete, stay relevant and win in e-commerce. That's what real support looks like from a supplier brand, and it's how our program puts independent garden centers first.
There are still a few weeks left before Black Friday, and our growing community is about to reach 150 members. Here's how to get your store ready:
Add gift-ready hardgoods now. Get them live in your online store before shoppers start searching. With thousands of SKUs to choose from, your customers get an endless selection.
Feature holiday picks on your homepage. Move products around your online store to spotlight gift ideas, so customers see them the moment they arrive.
Promote your online store. Share it on social media and with your email list, and remind customers they can shop your garden center from home. Members can use our Post Office, a library of ready-to-post Canva templates from our suppliers.
(Take a moment and see what our retailers are dropshipping in their online stores today... )
Retailers, Make This Your Biggest Holiday Season Yet!
Congratulations again to Sauder's Nursery, Pandy's Garden Center, Rohr & Sons Nursery, Bast Brothers Garden Center and White Oak Gardens.
Members be sure to log in to the Member Portal and start adding holiday hardgoods today! Not a member yet? Book a call with our team to see how E-Commerce Connect™ can help your garden center sell more online this season and beyond...
Side note: A few wonderful google reviews from our E-Commerce Connect Retailer, Sauders Nursery customers.... Who doesn't like 5 star reviews!
