Every customer that visits your garden centre finally ends up at the counter. It's an excellent opportunity to get that extra sale, but you need a strategy to ensure this takes place.



Firstly, stand back and look at your counter. Does it reflect your brand? Does it look professional or is the customer faced with seeing ripped signs and hand written notes that are only relevant to your team?

The counter is your last impression and should be a lasting impression that remains positive in the customer's mind.

If you have not done so, create a checklist on the standards you would require at the checkout. In my experience, if you do not have a checklist, you will find team members will start polluting your last brand statement with irrelevant signs.

Retail Opportunities

Once you are happy with your visual standards for your garden centre, and then develop it as a profit centre.

There are some key strategies:

1.Take your average sale per customer, divide it by three and the maximum price of the products on display should be no more than a third of the average sale. The counter is a last minute sales opportunity and the price point of this product is critical.

2.Is it a Mars Bar? Mars Bars are a natural impulse product in many retail outlets. I am not suggesting you place Mars Bars at the checkout, although some garden centers do this successfully. I am suggesting you have a Mars Bar policy i.e. you have a list of natural impulse products that you can position at the checkout.

3.Your Mars Bars will be seasonal and will vary depending on the time of year or seasonal events.

4.I cannot choose from more than three products. Customers have finished their browse shopping when they have arrived at the checkout. You therefore need bold, simple displays. It's the K.I.S.S. principle, "Keep It Simple Sells". Therefore, you need to create bold counter displays and the maximum number of products a customer can cope with is three products. Ideally, one product displays work best.

Proactive Transaction Team Members

I recently toured a number of garden centers and found only one that had proactive team members at the checkout.

The majority of checkout operators just took my money and did not discuss or offer the product that was displayed next to the counter.

Checkout team members should be proactive and promote the checkout product where it is appropriate.

Encourage them to get involved with the customer. Train them in the relevant product knowledge and communication skills. This is your last chance you have to ensure your customers have all they need to complete the project and care for their plants.

Communication skills could include:

"Have you got some snail pellets?" "I would recommend you use some".

"Do you need any plant food?" "It is on special this week".

"Do you have a copy of X Gardening magazine?" "It has just come out".

Research in the USA has found that a clear, precise counter strategy can increase sales by 40% of that product.

Develop a Counter Attack and grow your average sale.