connect-2-consumer's podcast

Bridget and Dr. Melinda Knuth (North Carolina State University) finish their three-episode conversation about the American Floral Endowment-funded study on houseplant purchasers. This week, they discuss how many people believe houseplants make them happy (great news!) and some interesting results on people who have not recently purchased houseplants (a good opportunity to get them back as customers).

Bridget and Melinda Knuth continue their conversation about Mel and her team's research into houseplant purchasers. This week. Bridget and Mel discuss pricing perceptions, rooms where most/many people do (or don't) display houseplants, and where they buy their plants. The in-store versus online customers provide an interesting point of conversation.

Bridget and Dr. Mel Knuth (new assistant professor at North Carolina State University) discuss Mel's research on houseplant/foliage plant purchasers. Funded by the American Floral Endowment, it is packed with information about who is buying foliage plants.

Ever have sticker or tee-shirt envy? Now you know the power of swag marketing. Swag (stickers, tee-shirts, water bottles, etc.) is a great way to boost your word-of-mouth marketing by having the champions of your businesses promote it for you. This week, Bridget talks about the Net Promoter Score and how giving or selling some sway this spring may help you connect with your customers.

Bridget and Katie Dubow continue their conversation this week on Plant Trends for 2022. The last four trends are Living Television, On-Demand Flowers, Wild Curation, and In Living Color. The Garden Media Group identifies up and coming plant trends for the following year to help retailers, wholesalers, and growers better connect with their customers. Which trends will resonate with your customers?

The Garden Media Group has been forecasting trends for over 20 years. This week, Bridget’s guest is the President of the Garden Media Group, Katie Dubow. They’ve dubbed 2022 as the year of Innovation (after the Great Reset of 2021). They discuss the first four of eight trends from The Creator Class to Bridging the Gap. Growers, wholesalers, and retailers can readily employ many of these trends for successful communications with their customers.

Bridget has Ag Economist Dr. Charlie Hall return to the podcast this week to talk about inflation and price increases. Inflation increases have been in the news a lot lately. Why is a 13% price increase the "magic" number for 2022? Listen to learn more about why inflation is such a concern, how the supply chain disruptions played a role, what the labor availability might look like, and why it is imperative to increase prices.

It all started with an email with the subject line, “Shouldn’t we charge what consumers are willing to pay?” and I was immediately intrigued. A few emails later and he agreed to be my guest on the podcast. Mark Javier founded Plants Without Borders to help connect foliage plant growers (many of whom are small farmers) with nurseries, greenhouses, and garden centers in the U.S. Transparency is a cornerstone of his business. Bridget and Mark discuss prices of rare and unusual plants and how he keeps up with inventory. This former employee of a crypto-currency issuer who has become a plant wholesaler has some interesting insights for sure!