At a recent Mailorder Gardening Association conference, Kip Creel of Standpoint Marketing Research offered some interesting facts on garden centers that point to opportunities for direct marketers.

Kip, who specializes in researching home and garden industry trends, reported the following:

* 60% of the profit at the typical independent garden center comes from annuals.

* Consumers expect variety at independent garden centers, but it’s tough for the nurseries to deliver variety profitably.

* Consumers perceive garden centers as being high on expertise and low on convenience.

* Only a tiny percentage of independent garden centers have annual sales of more than $1 million.

* Garden centers would like to do more ecommerce, but that’s not their area of expertise.

Put these facts together, and it points towards opportunities for online nurseries to cooperate with independent garden centers, offering them the variety and convenience that they’re lacking.