connect-2-consumer's podcast

This week, Ariana Torres and Bridget continue their discussion about social media changes and challenges during the pandemic. Their conversation moves to selling online and some considerations for spring 2021. Keeping a good supply of images of products (and services, too!) is the basis for a good e-commerce website. Selling gift cards online can be especially helpful for people who still aren't comfortable shopping in person.

The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed many things, including our use of social media. This week, Bridget and Dr. Ariana Torres (Assistant Professor at Purdue University) discuss the changes and challenges of social media for this winter and next spring. How will you change your social media campaign to stay relevant and communicate with consumers? Ariana and Bridget discuss how to manage your social media postings to capitalize on increased consumer use for information and purchases through social media. 

Shopping for fresh-cut Christmas trees will be a bit different (like so many other things) this year. This week, Bridget discusses some considerations for any fresh-cut tree retailer to consider. Think about making shopping safe, both for people who want to come and continue their holiday tradition and people who want to shop from the safety of their own homes.

Your product portfolio is just as important as your retirement portfolio. The Boston Consulting Group was one of the first to categorize products sold as cash cows, stars, pets, or question marks. This week, Bridget talks about what makes each of those products in your product portfolio contribute to the bottom line and what you should plan to do with them.

It's National Pollinator Week so connect with your customers on the many ways pollinators are important to the ecosystem and our dining tables. Pollinators are as diverse as our garden should be so encourage planting diverse species as well as flowers from spring through fall. Helping to create a habitat for them is also important.

Many plant retailers experienced an unprecedented spike in sales with the COVID-19 shelter in place orders in effect throughout the country. With that surge in demand, it makes planning for the 2021 season a bit more challenging. This week on the podcast, Bridget discusses scenario planning and gives businesses some 'food for thought' as they plan for production and sales in spring 2021. First, consider what are some of the key forces that may be driving big changes? Certainly COVID-19 was one of those forces but now the state of the economy also will come into play in a big way for 2021 planning. Then, consider what implications those big shifts could be causing. One of those is demand - will people buy at the 2020 level in 2021? The other implication is availability. What products may be in limited supply, especially for producers (and then retailers) in 2021? If you have a good POS, looking at items that sold out quickly will help your understand the high-demand products. If they are limited in supply for 2021, they make great candidates for modest price increases.

Dr. Ariana Torres and Bridget continue their discussion of their latest marketing paper on melons. They discuss more from the marketing melon paper including three types of attributes: search, experience, and credence attributes. All three are important in marketing any product. In today's marketplace, experience (e.g. flavor, fragrance, etc.) and credence attributes (e.g. local, organic, bio-dynamic, etc.) are increasingly the types of attributes some consumers are willing to pay more for. They also discuss how melon consumption is related to general health interest, cravings for sweet foods, variety seeking in food, and food pleasure but found few differences that could be added to a marketing strategy. If there were differences, it was the "heavy" users (those who at a LOT of melon servings) who scored higher on those scales compared to the moderate, light, and non-consumers of melons. They also did a segmentation combining all of the questions in the study and found three groups: local melon lovers, convenience shoppers, and 'ripe for the picking'. It's the 'ripe for the picking' customers who show the greatest potential for new melon cultivars at local retailers.

Drs. Ariana Torres and Petrus Langenhoven (both at Purdue University) recently teamed up with Bridget to investigate the domestic market for melons (excluding watermelons). Many marketers begin to investigate their market by looking at consumption levels. This is just what they did. People who at melons more than others were often younger, had greater disposable income, and shopped at local farmers markets. Bridget and Ariana discuss this most recent publication in HortScience.

The National Retail Federation has published a free checklist to help all retailers consider important factors as they re-open for business to the public. This week, Bridget talks about some key points on the free checklist as they pertain to employees, vendors, and longer term adjustments to the shopping space.

Increasingly, the grower's ability to control inputs can lead to greater crop quality. This week, Bridget discusses controlled environment agriculture (CEA) with the soon to be Dr. Kellie Walters (doctoral candidate at Michigan State). Kellie and Bridget, along with Drs. Roberto Lopez and Chris Currey, co-authored a study delving into the history of CEA as well as examining some future research areas.