Bigfoot   Lawn & Garden Retailer June 2008   By Stan Pohmer
When looking at the big picture, our industry has a compelling story to share regarding our carbon footprint. It’s time your customers heard it!

Maintaining Relevance   Lawn & Garden Retailer May 2008   By Stan Pohmer
Today’s economy is undeniably shaky. Could establishing better ties to your community be the ticket to staying there for good and turning a profit in the future?

Confusion Reigns   Lawn & Garden Retailer April 2008   By Stan Pohmer
In the grocery store aisle, consumers are flooded with labels, numbers and buzzwords to “help” them decide which foods to buy, but they serve only to mystify many shoppers. Can the floriculture industry avoid going down a similar path?
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Darwinism Redux   Lawn & Garden Retailer March 2008   By Stan Pohmer
Most people are familiar with Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” notion. But have you ever considered economic Darwinism and how it affects retailers? It may not be the strongest that survive, but rather those most responsive to change.
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The Fright or Fight Instinct   Lawn & Garden Retailer February 2008   By Stan Pohmer
When your competition is fearing for its life and slashing costs in the most obvious, most visible areas, will you do the same or take a more radical approach?
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The coming year   Lawn & Garden Retailer January 2008   By Stan Pohmer
Economic growth in 2008 is expected to be slow, if not stagnant. Here are a few ideas on how to keep your business on the fast track.

Rethink, Rework, renew, re-energize   Lawn & Garden Retailer November 2007   By Stan Pohmer
The retail landscape is changing and changing fast. Successfully navigating this shifting landscape will require you to examine how you operate today — so you will still be operating tomorrow!

Loyalty   Lawn & Garden Retailer August 2007   By Stan Pohmer
How will Tesco’s debut in the United States impact business on other retail segments?
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Pohmer On...Clairvoyant Or Close Minded...A Subtle Difference   Lawn & Garden Retailer July 2007   By Stan Pohmer
Understanding all the market segments is key to becoming a successful retailer. The first step is always most difficult: Are you willing to admit you don’t know how other generations think?
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Pohmer On...I’m Confused!   Lawn & Garden Retailer June 2007   By Stan Pohmer
Are you competing to the full extent with the big box stores? They are starting to encroach on your coattails; are you going to let them?
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Pohmer On: Alphabet Soup…Time to Go Back to School?   Lawn & Garden Retailer May 2007   By Stan Pohmer
Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Passion and People are the six P’s that can help make almost any business successful…if they are done correctly.
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Retailers Seek Converts!   Lawn & Garden Retailer April 2007   By Stan Pohmer
Just because you have a solid customer base doesn’t mean you can’t afford to get more. See how you can do this and what it will take to add those converts to your store.
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Inventory... An Asset or a Liability?   Lawn & Garden Retailer March 2007   By Stan Pohmer
Inventory control is one of the most important aspects of any retail business. It is the best way to know what sells and what doesn’t. Make sure you are doing everything correctly so you can ensure your business stays on top of its game.
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Pohmer On...Looking Toward Organics   Lawn & Garden Retailer February 2007   By Stan Pohmer
The future of environmentally friendly products is hard to predict, but with large companies such as Scotts and Wal-Mart looking into organics, it wouldn’t hurt to be familiar with them yourself.
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Pohmer On: Lessons To Be Learned…Wal-Mart   Lawn & Garden Retailer January 2007   By Stan Pohmer
In the past year, Wal-Mart has made some different marketing decisions than it has in previous years. See how the decisions worked (and didn’t work) and what it means for this industry.
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What Are We Really Selling?   Lawn & Garden Retailer November 2006   By Stan Pohmer
Throughout the years our industry has gone through some major changes in how consumers perceive us and what we offer them.
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Pohmer On...The New Normal   Lawn & Garden Retailer August 2006   Stan Pohmer
Our consumer is being more deliberate about what she is buying and why. The key point is she is more price conscious and less willing to pay a premium for convenience than before.
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Pohmer On...What’s Your Favorite Future?   Lawn & Garden Retailer July 2006   Stan Pohmer
“Those who have succeeded at anything and don’t mention luck are kidding themselves.” -Larry King
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Pohmer On...Two Out of Five Ain’t Bad   Lawn & Garden Retailer June 2006   Stan Pohmer
Trying to succeed in all areas of retail may not be the best strategy…a recent study found picking your battles might be more effective.
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Pohmer On...Bring On The Complaints!   Lawn & Garden Retailer April 2006   Stan Pohmer
How do you deal with customer complaints?
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Pohmer On...Celebrate…Failures?   Lawn & Garden Retailer March 2006   Stan Pohmer
Everyone has failures in business but you need to think about how you can make a failure into a celebration.
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Pohmer On...Monkey Trouble   Lawn & Garden Retailer February 2006   Stan Pohmer
Being a good manager takes more than just feeding the animals.
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Pohmer On...Timeless Management Messages   Lawn & Garden Retailer January 2006   Stan Pohmer
Reflecting on the life of the “father of modern management concepts.”
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An Industry of Silos…or the Power of One?   Lawn & Garden Retailer August 2005   By Stan Pohmer
Repeating the way we do things today will only cause us to further lose touch with our elusive consumer and perpetuate a stagnating industry focused on channel conflict, not growth.
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The Thrill Of The Hunt   Lawn & Garden Retailer July 2005   By Stan Pohmer
One of the major challenges an independent garden center has is to populate the store, bringing their customers back in with frequency.
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Dead armadillos…   Lawn & Garden Retailer June 2005   By Stan Pohmer
Play your game, not your competitors’. It’s as important to know who you are not as it is to know who you are.
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Who Are Your Einsteins?   Lawn & Garden Retailer April 2005   By Stan Pohmer
Academic studies have shown that it takes far more time, effort and resources to correct and improve negative behaviors than it does to positively leverage strengths or positive behaviors.
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Dream Your Customers’ Dreams   Lawn & Garden Retailer March 2005   By Stan Pohmer
“Home is no longer a place to retreat, retire and nest. In the new connecting lifestage, home becomes a hub for connecting with the outside world…reaching out and doing things”
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Pohmer On...Shopability…   Lawn & Garden Retailer February 2005   Stan Pohmer
Making your store shopable is a lot harder than you think. Read some facts, figures and suggestions on how to make your store shopable without losing all of your inventory.
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The Things We Do…   Lawn & Garden Retailer January 2005   By Stan Pohmer
The satisfied and loyal customers you create from doing the right things become your strongest advocates, praising your glories to their friends, the best and most effective (and cheapest) form of advertising.
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Is Floriculture Relevant?… You bet it is!   Lawn & Garden Retailer August 2004   By Stan Pohmer
This conference is an industry think tank, drawing in leaders from all aspects of our industry — for four days to discuss and dissect a different topic each year.
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Celebrations…   Lawn & Garden Retailer July 2004   By Stan Pohmer
Few, if any other industries have people at all levels who are as committed and passionate about what they do, who can take in stride and rebound from the curveballs you’re constantly served up.
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ALCHEMY   Lawn & Garden Retailer June 2004   By Stan Pohmer
In the past, older Americans retired earlier, and their disposable income decreased as they aged; but in the future, people will retire later in life, and they will maintain their spending power for a longer period of time.
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Rally 'Round The Flagpole   Lawn & Garden Retailer March 2004   Stan Pohmer
Companies need to do all things well to continue existing, but there are certain things that they need to do exceptionally well to be leaders and maintain their competitive edge and position . . . their core competencies.

Fuzzy math . . .   Lawn & Garden Retailer February 2004   Stan Pohmer
We often forget that it's the consumer who ultimately determines the value of a product, not some accountant or business analyst who is focused on crunching numbers.

The Urge To Splurge   Lawn & Garden Retailer January 2004   Stan Pohmer
This consumer is willing to pay more for what they see as improved quality versus cheaper, non-branded and mainstream items… And there’s no reason why premium lawn and garden products can’t be part of these consumers’ choices for up traded categories.
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What’s Your Reputation Quotient?   Lawn & Garden Retailer August 2003   By Stan Pohmer
Positive reputations are difficult to build, and they take a long time to become established. Yet, unfortunately, they are quickly and easily destroyed…and a bad reputation is long lasting and even harder to reverse.
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Stop The Insanity   Lawn & Garden Retailer July 2003   By Stan Pohmer
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You Don’t Own the Customer…The Customer Owns You   Lawn & Garden Retailer June 2003   By Stan Pohmer
Much too often, we’re still selling “stuff” at a price, and a price/value war against the alternative category choices is not one that we can win consistently.
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Innovation…A Competitve Advantage   Lawn & Garden Retailer April 2003   By Stan Pohmer
The greatest rewards go to companies that “invent” new business models — that create new sources of revenue.
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The Kmart Saga Re-visited   Lawn & Garden Retailer March 2003   By Stan Pohmer
My concern is that I haven’t yet seen the strategic moves necessary to position Kmart for long-term survival — and some of the tactical moves already made will limit its ability to make the necessary strategic changes now and in the future.
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It’s Not What You Know   Lawn & Garden Retailer February 2003   By Stan Pohmer
Take a minute and think of all of the various challenges growers and retailers face today that they didn’t have to consider previously: Marketing and Merchandising, Branding, differentiation, merchandising and display, point-of-purchase, in-store service and product guarantees.
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A Call to Action   Lawn & Garden Retailer January 2003   By Stan Pohmer
The program raises the awareness of the tangible and intangible benefits that plants, flowers and environmental horticulture provide, improving our lifestyle and demonstrating financial payback through improved home valuation and business conditions and, in some cases, improved tourism revenues.
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Do You Walk Your Talk?   Lawn & Garden Retailer August 2002   Stan Pohmer
Talking the talk is the easy part, walking the talk a lot more difficult. Management often perceive themselves as truly walking their talk, but employees quickly see if this isn't really the case; to them they're just watching a charade, someone going through the motions without any substance or credibility behind them.
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Selling Emotional Solutions   Lawn & Garden Retailer July 2002   Stan Pohmer
Two consumer studies quantitatively demonstrate physiological, psychological, sociological and emotional benefits of flowers -- all positive messages that the Society of American Florists (SAF) is communicating in a public relations campaign directed to the consumer through the media.

The Lifetime Value Philosophy   Lawn & Garden Retailer February 2002   By Stan Pohmer
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All Customers Are Not Created Equal   Lawn & Garden Image Deck January 2002   Stan Pohmer
I differentiate between profitable and unprofitable sales. Difficult as it may be, you should seriously consider abdicating or not chasing the unprofitable ones; in fact, the unprofitable sales may actually be impeding your ability to grow your profitable sales.

All Customers Are Not Created Equal   Lawn & Garden Retailer January 2002   Stan Pohmer
In fact, unprofitable sales may actually be impeding your ability to grow your profitable sales. If the current economic environment dictates that sales growth is going to be tough to achieve, you'd better ensure that the sales you do have are profitable ones.
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