Squire’s Garden Centres has introduced a new customer friendly plant guide throughout eight* of their centres. Designed to help their customers select the plants that are right for them and their garden environment, the easy-to-use guide matches up Squire’s extensive range of over 3000 plants with clear guidelines on the type of environment they thrive in and level of care they need to receive.
The new plant guide has been introduced following recent industry articles** that found that garden centres are not doing enough to help new gardeners and those with limited gardening knowledge. The industry research found that customers feel excited at the prospect of going to garden centres, but once they are there they can often feel baffled, not knowing what plants to buy, how to care for them or what should be planted at what time of year.
The new Squire’s plant guide, which has been created with the help of customer feedback, advises on the type of plants, their frost resistance plus water and light requirements to help customers make more informed decisions on which plants to purchase. The guide is a straightforward easily interpreted set of symbols, that are highly visible throughout the centres with corresponding symbols added to the in-store POS of over 3000 plants. The addition of this customer friendly signage within the centres aims to help those customers who are not overly familiar with the thousands of varieties of plants available at Squire’s.
Sarah Squire, Deputy Chairman of Squire’s garden centres said “We want to make our garden centres an easier and more accessible environment for all. With our expert horticultural staff on hand to explain the new guide and continue to offer more in depth advice, we’re hoping it will be the perfect starting point for those who aren’t experts at horticulture and need a little more guidance on our extensive ranges.”
The guide, which was tested in the Badshot Lea centre with a survey of 50 customers found that 80% of those surveyed believed the new system will prove to be a great help in making purchasing decisions and improve their shopping experience in store.
With a three year guarantee on all of Squire’s range of hardy plants -provided they have been looked after correctly – this new guide will assist customers further in understanding how to care for their plants to guarantee longevity; giving peace of mind with their purchasing decisions.
*Centres with the new labelling system: Badshot Lea, Hersham, Long Ditton, Shepperton, Stanmore, Twickenham, Washington and W Horsley
** Source HTA 2011