Let's get down to business

Not everything about the horticulture field is about the plants. Paying attention to marketing is essential in a business environment, whether you are selling the plants themselves, the landscaping services, or the products to support them. If you are in business, you are selling something.  And the logic is really simple. If your potential customers don't know what you are selling, they won't buy what you are selling. 

The most important aspect is visibility.  If you are selling plants, you want them to look vibrant and healthy and inviting.  Therefore, no dirty containers, NO dead or dying leaves and definitely no "worn out" displays (which would include individual plants that look sickly or dying).  If you are selling landscaping services, you want to include pictures of the landscapes you have done while they are at their peak of beauty. (Also consider asking satisfied customers to post a sign in their landscape with your company logo and ALWAYS leave them several of your business cards.)  And if you are selling products to support landscapes you need to be sure your displays are in tip top shape. 

So here is the scenario:  A couple is holding a backyard birthday party for their 5 year old and a dozen friends.  Their yard is infested with those nasty fire ants.  He has only a few hours to get rid of the pests so he heads off, in a rush, to the local garden store and sees this...

Your company's product is in the silver bag.  What do you assume the chances are that Joe P. Consumer is going to purchase YOUR product?
There are several problems with this picture and all will affect the store's sales numbers and your bottom line as well. There is a method to the madness of how a store stocks is shelves. And many corporations will package their products to create the largest impact.  Bright colors, flashy or bold labeling, large or unique containers.   But all of those efforts are lost if a retailer is not stocking their shelves appropriately or not straightening their shelves.  Compare these two photos.
The simple act of having all labels facing outward with all products straight on the shelf creates less visual chaos. It also improves the possibility that your product is chosen.  A retailer does a disservice to themselves and to your company if they do not display their products in a pleasing manner. 

Which of these shelves is more enticing to purchase from?  The shelf that is nearly full or the shelf that has many open spaces or has products pushed back?  "Flushing" is a retail is pulling everything forward on a shelf so that all products can be seen.

A small tactic of product sales managers will be to flush all items then push the competitor's products back very slightly.  This literally brings the product they are trying to sell 'into light'. Those products that are slightly in shadow receive less attention than those that are pulled forward slightly.

Notice the bottles that are place haphazardly and labels not facing out

The same shelf as but with packages properly "flushed"