Shopper research in the garden center

The true garden lover chooses only the best for the flower field and lawn. And if you're looking for the best, you should choose DCM fertilizers! Fun fact: out of 3 million gardens, about 10% are fertilized'. That means there's still a big market to win! But how do you tackle such a challenge? Through a proven category plan.

Challenge

Understanding the triptych of purchase, use and attitude

In order to influence buying behavior, it is important to understand how behavior comes about. This is something we at Blauw have done a lot of research and read about over the years. In a nutshell: we have found that it is not always the best product that is bought, but the product that is the measurement easy to buy. Easy to buy you become by:

Removing barriers
Extend benefits
Become part of established routines
To be the subject of conversation

By exploring the triptych of purchase, use and attitude, we provided DCM with insights into these influencing factors. We put these insights in context of who the consumer is, what the offer and presentation is, and what is going on in society. Based on these insights, DCM was able to get to work on the category plan.

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Vision

Interviewing shoppers in the garden center

It is important that research be supported by the stakeholders who will ultimately work with the results. Therefore, we started with an inside-out session, where we playfully arrived at hypotheses.

Solution

After a brief exploration of the drivers and barriers regarding the category in our multiclient community, it was time to go into the field. The context in which we find ourselves strongly influences our behavior. Imagine your product being sold in a garden center. A place filled with stimulating cues: smell, color, music, POS materials galore. To properly interpret the role of these signals, we observed and interviewed users and non-users of DCM in their natural habitat. In this way, we gained insight into:

How products and brands relate to each other
How consumers navigate within the store shelf
The findability of DCM on the store shelf.
The appeal and clarity of DCM packaging
The needs with regard to the construction of the DCM product range
The impact of POS materials

We presented the results to the stakeholders who were closely involved in the study from the kick-off.

Result

The impact of the results for DCM

Based on the results of the study, DCM has greatly improved its lawn concept. This concept exudes tranquility. When the shopper enters the department, from 7-8 meters he already sees where he should be for lime, grass seed and fertilizer, everything for the lawn in one. At 4-5 meters it is clear to the shopper which product does what, so the shopper can make his choice very easily, and at 1-2 meters it is also clear when he should use it. The adjustment to this new form of the lawn concept has since led to many positive reactions from retailers and more sales of the products in this concept.

In addition to the lawn concept, DCM has also tackled and simplified the ornamental garden shelf. The research showed great selection stress due to the many types of fertilizers. DCM has made the choice much less complex by providing a 3-meter shelf plan with explanations and the choice between fertilizers for flowering plants and fertilizers for green plants. By reducing the number of product variations and increasing the facings to whole blocks of 2 shelves, there is much less choice stress and sales of our fertilizers increase among these customers. Our retailers are also very happy with this clear concept. Even Intratuin placed this as a pilot within four branches with positive results.

The results following the packaging are also taken into account in the development of new packaging. For example, the new packaging of liquid fertilizer (introduced in 2019) is much clearer on the shelf and contains much less unnecessary text and logos. New products planned for late 2020 are also now being developed on a template where clarity for consumers is paramount.

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