Case Study: Wholesale/Retail Garden Center

A leading garden center in the greater Boston area approached Libretto with a dilemma. Specializing in plants, flowers, high-end garden and patio furniture, ornaments, and statuary, the store was already well-known among wholesale customers and landscape professionals. Now the company was seeking to increase its visibility and interest among retail customers, while continuing to maintain the loyalty of its wholesale clientele. With limited resources to spend on marketing, the garden center asked Libretto and our design partner, Hecht Design, to conduct market research that would support the organization’s efforts to increase consumer awareness cost-effectively by emphasizing its reputation for high quality and attentive service.

Libretto designed and executed a market research initiative to help the store’s management gain a more objective sense of how the garden center was perceived by various constituencies. We reviewed existing marketing materials, conducted interviews with employees and management, and undertook site visits to competing garden centers.

Working closely with the owners and other key stakeholders, we evaluated the company’s long- and short-term strategic goals, and designed a survey that would test how those goals aligned with existing perceptions of the company both within the organization itself and among a representative cross section of the store’s target customer base.

Using our personal networks, we identified a group of approximately 40 existing and potential customers who were willing to respond to the survey. The resulting data was analyzed and synthesized in a high-level client report that included specific recommendations regarding the company’s branding and messaging.

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