Dr. Bridget Behe, horticultural marketing expert, answers questions about her can’t-miss Farwest Show seminars on the art and science of selling plants.
Dr. Bridget Behe is a marketing professional who has taught marketing and management to horticulture undergraduates at Michigan State University since 1997. She maintains an active consumer research program to investigate how and why people buy plants.
Dr. Behe is a prolific writer in academic and trade journals and presents her findings to industry and professional groups nationally and internationally. In 2022, she was honored with a Horticulture Industry Leadership Award. In 2018, she was awarded the American Society for Horticultural Science Undergraduate Educator of the Year, and in 2016, she was recognized as the Outstanding State Extension Specialist in Michigan.
She will present two seminars and a mini-session at the 2023 Farwest Show, taking place August 23-25, 2023, at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. They are as follows:
- 8:30–9:30 a.m. Wednesday, August 23 — The Art and Science of Pricing Products*
- 2–2:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 23 — Make Signs People Will Read! FREE!
- 9:45–10:45 a.m. Thursday, August 24 — The Shopper’s Journey*
*Farwest Education pass required to attend.
In “The Shopper’s Journey” you will share results from recent studies you’ve conducted with real plant buyers in both the lab and retail environments. What are some findings you’ve discovered?
In the lab, we use high-tech eye-tracking glasses to record where people look as they are making their plant purchase decisions. We can isolate displays, so consumers look at one display at a time. This allows us to study purchase decisions in a controlled manner, then we publish the results. But that isn’t necessarily how it happens on the retail floor.
With funding from the Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), we conducted a study at six retailers in Michigan to see the shopping experience with all its complications, distractions and messiness. The recordings showed us just how much people rely on signs and tags. It wasn’t a surprise how much time
people spent looking at tags and signs, but we were surprised how many people interacted with the sales staff — just to make a $10 purchase!
We also discovered who uses their cellphone and why. The lab studies showed us how customers “read” a display much like they read a book, and retailers can change how they read the display with vertical merchandising.
What will “The Art and Science of Pricing Products” seminar cover?
Many businesses think pricing should be based on a formula — and it should — but the formula should not have the last word! There is also an art to pricing. Improper pricing can result in lost profits.
There are many ways we add perceived value, and yet fail to capitalize on that. For example, retailers shouldn’t price new cultivars equal to the old cultivars. Why not? Because there is a segment of customers who are willing to pay more for having a new cultivar.
You’re also presenting a mini-session titled “Make Signs People Will Read!” All Farwest attendees are invited to this FREE mini-session on the Solution Center stage (located on the trade show floor at the end of aisle 10000).
In the mini-session I’ll share more research using the eye-tracking glasses based on several studies that involve reading signs. Some retailers tend to make price the “headline” on a sign and that works well for discounting prices for a “sale” item but it’s not the case for regular-priced items.
Retailers need to convey features to increase the perceived value of a product, especially at a distance. If people see a “high” price at a distance, it’s really easy to say “no” and never get close enough to see some of the great features and benefits of that plant. I’ll show how to use this information to enhance sales in every operation.
From the July 2023 issue of Digger magazine | Download PDF