Natural Inspiration

Incorporating natural products into gift and home décor displays is a sure-fire way to create strong, visually appealing statements that customers are drawn to. Many independent garden centers are enticing their customers and encouraging exploration with stellar displays and those techniques can be applied in home décor and gift shops as well. Read on to find more display inspiration.

Create a Retreat

Outdoor living spaces are ideal for relaxation and retailers can highlight items such as small fountains and outdoor art in a way that creates a welcoming and calming environment. Place a bench near a small fountain with an outdoor art piece and some flowers or plants in a patio-like setting to provide inspiration for an ideal retreat. This technique works well for Wasson Nursery’s displays.

Bring the Outdoor Vibe Inside

Down Town Home & Garden has a knack for bringing the outdoors inside when creating displays inside its gift shop. This image shows how a variety of goods are displayed in a clean, simple format, yet all the patterns and colors reflect nature. Gift shops can utilize the same principles to create a similar eye-catching display that will help cross-sell merchandise.  

Merrifield Garden Center “borrows” from other departments to bring in organic elements to complement its merchandise, and layers plants and garden tools and natural textures to draw a customer’s eye. It considers “displays as spaces and design them to be meandered throughout, like a garden path,” and it takes customers on an inspirational journey designed to inspire.

Organic Approach

Maura Godat, creative team director, Studio M told Lawn & Garden Retailer, a sister publication: “We spoke with many retailers at the Atlanta Market who were very excited to find a burst of color and uniqueness in items like Art Poles and Floor Flair. These are categories shoppers aren’t seeing everywhere else, so our retailers love bringing them in to be able to offer something fresh.”

At Merrifield Garden Center shared that it always considers its floor plan when creating displays. “…Then we do the build out, such as cabinetry and lighting, and then bring in the large pieces. Next, we layer in the merchandise starting with the biggest items and working down to the smallest accessories. Our process is very organic and each display takes its own path, sometimes a departure from the plan depending on how the product looks upon arrival,” Whitney Sproul and Karen Velehoski, designers, explained.

Outdoor Living

Another terrific merchandising technique is the complete outdoor living package. Many independent retailers now carry a variety of casual furniture, garden benches, bistro sets and home décor items. Displays in gift shops can provide inspiration to shoppers by incorporating furniture, pottery, flora and fauna and home décor as well. Wallace’s Garden Center in Bettendorf, Iowa has been extremely successful with this concept.