JIT: But in time for the growers?

Wrapping up this spring, you can see the post-spring weather report and the results of the Industry Pulse survey at Today's Garden Center magazine. Sounds like it was a wet spring for the northeast, but really great in other regions of the country. Our survey showed that foot traffic was up, but the average ticket was down this year.

The most interesting thing to come out of this spring has to be the retailers' growing reliance on a just-in-time live goods policy. Retailers went back to growers to replenish supply during the spring, making fewer inventory purchases before the season started. What will this mean for next year?

It sounds like a good idea, but what if we do find a way to get young people into the garden center, and the shelves are bare? A ridiculous oversupply is no good, but running out of product isn't good either. Is the JIT balance easier to manage than I'm thinking, or are we up for several years of tinkering with this system to make it work?

And how with this affect the grower side? Will growers keep growing enough on spec to keep up with these last-minute orders? I guess they'll have to if they want to sell all they can through the independents and not miss any opportunities.

Raising prices or cutting back on poinsettia production?

A few interesting points in this article on increased pricing or less supply of points because of increased heating prices:

Casertano will cut back from 60,000 poinsettias to zero this year. "The energy costs being what they are, we felt it was a wise move," John Casertano is quoted as saying.

If supply is down, won't demand be up? Is there another crop, maybe other than roses on Valentine's Day, that is more a must for a holiday?

Articles like this will reinforce in the consumer's mind why prices must be raised.

Asiatic lilies galore

It’s looking like Holland at Sarah and Michael’s Farm. The operation’s niche crop is lilies. The bulbs (from Holland) are forced in crates, in a media of 100 percent coir from Sri Lanka. Coir has a great structure for lilies – strong fibers that keep air in the mix, helping to avoid pythium. The media is all reused after a steam sterilization.

The operation uses no pesticides or fungicides, but relies on good soil and a controlled environment. And it helps that flowers are harvested before buds open.

But more than all this, I like the attitude of the operation’s leadership. Co-owner Michael Turner shared two rules for those companies he deals with: you’ve gotta pay your bills and you’ve gotta be nice.

Puppies and pumps: Bad PR vs. Great PR

The media -- free publicity, good or bad -- can be make or break for businesses. The rise of the Internet makes viral marketing even more vital. If you upset one customer, it's not just that one customer who's upset anymore.

I'll start with the good PR. On the one hand, blogger Zaz LaMarr wrote here about how online shoe retailer Zappos helped her out in a time of need. Great publicity. People are falling all over each other commenting in her blog on how they'll shop at Zappos from now on.

On the bad side of PR, this Mutts and Moms organization is bending over backwards to put itself out of business. If you haven't heard the whole story, click here. In a nutshell, an animal shelter has "repossesed" a dog because it doesn't like its new living arrangement. And the company has made it clear the customer is wrong. Not such great PR. And now everyone knows about it because of the Internet. There is an online petition to send the dog back home.

The Internet has made word of mouth way more powerful than it ever was. Seth Godin, who I think is great, blogged on the topic recently.

Would You Be My Buddy/Friend/In My Network?

Talk about using the Web. Barak Obama is using social networking site LinkedIn to reach voters. That I've seen (other than the YouTube debates, which I don't think really counted), this is the first time a candidate is using Web 2.0, and using it the same way everybody else does. It's grassroots digital style. I'm sure some kind of strategist is behind this, but it's good.

You can reach customers the same way. I like the answers tab on LinkedIn. It's a great way to get answers to questions from all over the country...the world, really.

The Contract In Contract Growing

I got an email today from an Extension agent looking for contract tips for contract growers.

When I wrote our Under Contract series on contract growing last year, I was surprised at the informality of the agreements being used. There's a ton of trust between big growers and the operations they contract.

How would you feel about forming a business agreement like this on a handshake? What kinds of agreements are you using? What should be included in a contract/agreement? Would you be willing to share a template?