Garden Pots made for Crusing.

I went on a cruise last month (don't be jealous, all business of course!) and saw this glazed garden pot near the lifts.

It's a good looking glazed pot, adds heaps of beauty to an otherwise dull blank wall.

But before the ship could go anywhere there had to be adjustments. Notice the ugly piece of black steel connecting the pot to the wall. So first a bracket or something had to be made then drilling into the pot and drilling into the wall.

What a job?

How about the next picture, on the same ship. Pots look great. It's a Terrazzo Garden Pot which means it's a bit heavier. Which means - no bracket.

Not only does a bit of weight stop any human movement of pots (stealing) it also helps with mother nature (rocking and rolling of the ship).

Also the last picture taken on the same ship, no need for a bracket here the pot is not top heavy at all. A rectangle pot is hard to produce in glaze. No problem for Terrazzo though.

If you'd like to know any more about Terrazzo Garden Pots be sure to visit our website www.mlennon.com.

Too much variety in my garden pot range?

These days there is more variety in garden pots than ever before. Not all of them sell the same. Some hardly sell at all.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of having a pot shop full of bad sellers.

How to avoid this? 

You have to order the pots the Average Joe wants to buy. The Average Joe wants a pot of moderate size to go on his verandah that is either round or square or rectangular, he wants no design - just plain, he wants it in a glazed finish either black, blue, antique, green or he wants terrazzo black or white, or terracotta.

So if you don't have a square plain blue pot, if you only have a square with design blue garden pot - Joe goes.

First cover all the pots Average Joe wants from the above, and cover does not mean one or two of each, have a stack so you can sell to more than one Average Joe.

Then and only then you can experiment with other pots that may suit Different Derek. But don't get too much, it will never be more than 10-20% of your sales. Don't devote 50% of your floor space to it or worse still 50% of your cash flow.

For any more info about our garden pots visit us at www.mlennon.com

Terrazzo Garden Pots Again!

This is a common occurrence - not a once off.

There is a shop in south east Queensland that devotes half their floor space to terrazzo pots. Reason being is that most weeks more than half of their sales are terrazzo pots. This shop hasn't allocated equal space for the other 4 or 5 finishes that don't sell as well - they focus mainly on the best sellers.

Last Tuesday it poured rain at this shop all day. No suprise there was only 3 paying customers as the shop is 99% outdoors. Yes 3! Sounds like a bad day huh! Well each customer spent over $500 in terrazzo! All of a sudden not such a bad day!

Reason why this shop makes these kind of sales week in week out? Firstly there is no competition for terrazzo, the big box hardwares don't have it. Second, people who buy these pots normally want a few and normally want big, often times they are commercial jobs. Third, this shop carries quantities so the customer can buy instantly 5, 6 or 10 of one type of pot.

So if you don't want to keep doing battle with the big hardwares hoping one day that they go bust, think seriously about doing serious business with terrazzo.

Just yesterday I had a business ring me from my website asking for a retailer in Sydney that could supply 18 sets of 2 terrazzo pots. I have nobody that serious about terrazzo there.

For any more information on our terrazzo pots or any other garden pots check out our website www.mlennon.com

Camilla Tall Terrazzo Garden Pots.

This pot is a beauty!

The problem with most square this shape is that they aren't wide enough. This one is perfect - 46cm wide x 70cm tall.

We make them in our best selling finish - terrazzo black and white.

Unlike most terrazzo garden pots these days it doesn't fade or crack easily and its slightly lighter due to our secret ingredient.

So if you have a garden center or a pot shop be sure not to leave this one out. It's a winner!

For any more info on our garden pots be sure to email us or check our website: www.mlennon.com.

Round garden pots versus Square

There was a time when you couldn't buy a square garden pot, all you could find in the garden centres and nurseries were round.

Square pots are harder to make, warp easier in the kilns than round, and you are limited to the size of the base moreso than the round.

Suppliers of garden pots slipped by these problems by making the bases of the square pots small and the pots tall to give them some size. This changed the buying habits of pots, everybody wants the straight lines of the square pots to fit in wiht their modern homes.

This square pot trend has been around for years and looked like it was forever going to outsell the Round Garden Pots.

But wait.... The tide seems to be turning back now. Not every plants wants to be in a tall skinny pot, some would rather be in a short wide, the roots are closer to the surrounding soil. Tall skinny pots are top heavy normally - not great for the windy conditions. The big box stores love the square pots as they fit neater on their shelves and often get them at a cheap price, hence square pots are everywhere and even becoming too common.

So if you are in the Garden pot business, keep an eye on round, they are coming back.

So for any more info on our Round garden pots click here. Or to see all of our products click here.

Taking on the Big Boxes.

Anyone who goes into retail these days not informed of what the competition is doing, in particular the big boxes, does so at their own risk.

These big boxes have a system that is proven. Hence they will start new shops anywhere on the globe including across the road from you.

Garden Centres and Nurseries are not immune to this, even if you can't get the service, even if you may be 10 cents cheaper than them. The facts are they are in business, they are making money and they compete with you.

A smart operator will attempt to find niches where the big boxes would not or cannot compete. Nowadays a lot of garden centres go into big massive pots that look stunning. They are too heavy for the big boxes to bother with. They do provide a good boost for the tills when they sell, but that is the catch - when they do sell. The facts are you can't stick a plant in them, often they are vase shaped. If your customer doesn't have an easy $1,000 in their account they can't afford it and the finish doesn't suit everyone. They just don't fit the average customers needs, really he just wants a pot to put a plant in.

There is a saying going around. "You can live with the masses and sell to the rich or live with the rich and sell to the masses". I'm not saying I'd want to live with the rich, or that you'd want to - but look at the billionaires these days they sell the stuff everyone can afford, news papers, groceries, fuel, software for your computer.

Enter Terrazzo pots - You can order them in all sizes, of course you can plant it them. The shapes are in vogue right now. You can buy a trough 1.1m long, you cannot buy one in clay or glazed pots. You can have a tall straight square 1m tall, you can't buy one of these in clay or glazed. Terrazzo has the straight lines decorators and commercial offices love, they often sell in bulk as they are used for big jobs. Terrazzo has been done for a long time but not properly, we have set up our own place in Vietnam and we now have no more problems. This means for you, little competition as good terrazzo is hard to find. The big boxes don't want to touch it, it is slightly fragile and on the heavy side. 

All this considered, do you sell plants? Why make your customers go to the Big Boxes for a pot because they are cheaper or because your focus is on big pots. 

Carry Terrazzo pots and heaps, you'll be surprised at the sales you'll bring in.

For any more info about our terrazzo pots or any others click right here.

Rectangle Huge Terrazzo Troughs

If you sell garden pots please take note.

Your customers want to buy long rectangular garden pots. Do you currently have them?

If you do have them are they in a popular finish?

If you have not answered yes to these questions chances are that you are missing out on sales.

Rectangular troughs are popular as they have many uses. With 3 hedging plants they create a living wall that a coffee shop can used as a divider. They can go on a balcony to shield you from the neighbours. The smaller size can be used as a long trough for a window sill.

For all of these applications a round pot will not suffice.

We now sell more terrazzo black than we do shiny black (shiny black being our most popular glaze).

These pots are essential for a shop that sells garden pots. They will add dollars to your till!