Garden Centre Revelation

…innovative construction and experience...

Garden centres in the year 2007 are nothing like the garden centres of twenty years ago. More than any other branch, the garden centre branch has in the past few years undergone a temendous professionalisation process - it is now far more professional than ever before in the way it tempts its customers into buying its products, in its accommodation and in all business aspects. All this makes this development very praiseworthy. But the branch has not been able to escape the trend that good sales concepts tend to be imitated. As a consequence, green chain stores now all look very much alike, with the same product ranges, the same presentations and the same routing systems all making for the same experiences.
This induced Thermoflor to give some thought to ways of surprising customers with something entirely different. In an innovative manner in an astonishing building. A veritable revelation ... 

The Revelation Garden Centre

The Revelation Garden Centre is a veritable revelation in terms of the presentation of the green will greatly enjoy strolling along the shelves, and at the end of the route they will truly feel that they have experienced something quite different and exciting:

"…a revelation to shop here ..."

How does it work?

The four pyramids at the corners of the building are the eye-catchers of this garden centre. By immediately attracting attention on the outside they suggest that customers may expect something extraordinary here. Indeed: four topical themes are presented inside the pyramids – themes representing the key elements in life: growing, caring, living and giving.

Growing	for plants and flowers for your garden	annuals, perennials, flowering plants
Caring	for your garden and your pets	fertilisers, pets, ponds, equipment
Living	for furnishing your house and garden	garden furniture, BBQs, indoor plants
Giving	for atmosphere, interior design and gifts	pots, silk, bathroom and kitchen articles

Each pyramid accommodates a trendy presentation of each theme. The presentations will be specifically designed so as to arouse the customers’ interest in and desire for the presented products. The products will be on sale along the routing to the next pyramid. This way customers will wander from one experience to the next and will be tempted to buy products according to the AIDA model.

The term AIDA is used in marketing psychology. It stands for a model of how customers buy things, based on what goes on in a customer’s mind and how entrepreneurs can take advantage of that. It all boils down to the following. The A stands for Awareness: you first have to make your customer aware of your product. The next steps are to arouse an Interest in that product, followed by a Desire for it. That will induce the customer to take Action – in other words, buy the product.

Our Revelation garden centre boasts all the elements of this model. Awareness is created by a striking building that immediately attracts attention, both on the outside and inside. Interest is aroused by the overall ambiance permeating the building, created by the combination of colours and light-transmitting roofs. Desire is evoked by the special form of presentation in the separate pyramids. And action ultimately takes place along the routing between the pyramids.

Entrepreneurs can use their own creativity in working out the details of the four presentations. Some examples:

The Growing pyramid could have a botanical character, with plants being presented as in a botanical garden, complete with water features, bridges and large living greenery.

The Caring pyramid could be conceived in the form of a farm with small domestic animals, gardening tools, fertilisers, etc.

The Living pyramid could be a garden created with artificial grass, barbecues and sets of garden furniture - just what a customer’s garden may look like.

And the Giving pyramid could be part of a home with rooms such as a kitchen, living area and bathroom, with interior design articles creating a special atmosphere in each room.

The presentations can also be varied annually to make for a constantly changing shopping experience, so as to keep surprising customers over and over again. The main thing is to ensure that customers reaching the end of the routing will have enjoyed their experience and will want to return.