Fairweather's Garden Centre, Increasing Customer Flow
Increasing customer flow, reducing bottlenecks and improving sales
Summary: Empowering people to drive business improvement
Small independent garden centres face a growing challenge not just to differentiate themselves from larger retailers, but to optimise the value that is inherent in their business. They do not have the buying power to differentiate on price and so creating a unique customer experience – while at the same time leveraging process innovation – is crucial to increased sales and business sustainability.
Fedden USP has been working with one such garden centre in Beaulieu in the New Forest to implement a LEAN project, as a result of which Fairweather’s Garden Centre is strongly positioned to compete effectively in the future:
Fairweather’s LEAN Outcomes:
- 20% increase in average customer spend
- Improved customer flow throughout the garden centre
- Enhanced customer experience
Background: A Progressive Garden Centre with Traditional Values
Describing itself as Beaulieu’s ‘Hidden Gem’, Fairweather’s Garden Centre prides itself on the wide range of plants that it sells, matched by expert advice and a five year guarantee on all hardy plants. The centre has a particular expertise in lavender, heuchera and agapanthus which, along with many of the other plants, have been grown in Beaulieu. It describes itself as a unique Plant and Garden Centre in the heart of Beaulieu, with its historic buildings offering a fascinating and relaxed atmosphere for garden shopping, while its knowledgeable team members provide inspiration and advice.
Fairweather’s has also created Patrick’s Patch – an inspiring, educational and productive garden that grows a wide range of vegetables, fruit, herbs and cut flowers used in Steff’s Kitchen, the centre’s homely cafe.
Project: Objectives and Planning
Fedden USP was called into the centre by David Aylieff-Sansom, Centre Manager, who felt there was scope to enhance the customer experience, increase sales and deliver greater profitability.
Fairweather’s opted for a 3-day LEAN Retail improvement workshop involving a wide a range of staff to ensure project buy-in to the overall objectives, which included driving up sales.
The first stage focused on clearly defining the target customer that would generate the increase in sales sought by the garden centre. This meant confirming exactly what experience these customers were looking for – in LEAN terms this meant defining the ‘value’ that the customer wants to receive, particularly the ‘marginal’ gardeners in this instance who need help and guidance through the buying process.
Together with garden centre staff and managers, Fedden USP walked and process mapped the Customer Journey from the moment they enter the garden centre through to the point they exit with their purchases. During this walk, the ‘Touch-Points’ where the customer interfaced with the process were recorded to assess the value provided – for example did the signage and point of sale information offer adequate guidance the marginal gardener?
Armed with the process map of the Customer Journey – and the location of ‘hotspots’ around the centre – the team then considered how best to re-design the process to provide the optimum retail experience, using LEAN techniques such as Rich Pictures.
Out of this came an Action Plan, which included a Cost/Benefit analysis to ensure payback. Staff members defined the plan timescales and assigned responsibilities with the support of management.
Project: Implementation and Results
The LEAN team began the implementation phase by moving the Garden Centre entrance to a position that would optimise the flow of traffic into the indoor spaces. Till areas and counters were re-designed in line with staff recommendations to improve the customer service speed and reduce bottlenecks during busy periods.
Read more Case Histories