Target Launches “Good Little Garden” Floral Brand | Retail Strategy Hit or Miss?
Target’s new floral brand Good Little Garden has entered the chat — and Chris and Anne are divided (00:03). While the brand offers fresh flowers and plants starting at $6 (00:28), Chris argues the category is operationally complex and unlikely to become a billion-dollar brand (01:00). Anne sees parallels with Trader Joe’s floral success (03:10), and the duo debates whether this launch is a strategic win or a fleeting experiment (05:00). From vermin talk to sales data speculation and nostalgic merchandising war stories, this one’s got all the petals and thorns.
For the full episode, head here: https://youtu.be/YZOCyd_MPhw
#target #retailstrategy #GoodLittleGarden #retailinnovation #traderjoes #retailnews #flowers
This week's episode was brought to you by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Simbe, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and ClearDemand.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcript
Target has launched a fresh new floral brand.
Speaker A:Chris According to a Target press release, Target announced that it is expanding its floral offerings with the launch of Good Little Garden, the retailer's first standalone floral owned brand.
Speaker A:Whether shopping for special occasions like Mother's Day or to simply brighten their own day, consumers now have more fresh flowers and potted plants to choose from on their Target run all year long.
Speaker A:Starting at just $6.
Speaker A:Good Little Garden includes more than 60 options across seasonal and everyday assortments of fresh colorful blooms and plants, including bouquets of fresh cut roses, tulips, carnations and mixed flowers starting at $6.
Speaker A:Potted plants and florals including succulents and orchids starting at $15 and special occasion plants and flowers for Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduations and beyond starting at $10.
Speaker A:Chris, do you like the smell of Target's new floral owned brand?
Speaker B:Oh man, great question.
Speaker B:And in a word, no, I don't.
Speaker B:And the reason I say that is I don't remember exactly when, but Target was in the potted plant business years ago and for if memory serves, they got out of it because there just wasn't that much money to be made, especially against the operational cost of running it.
Speaker B:Sure, it's a hard business to do well and it also comes with one other aspect, if I remember correctly and I and I pinged the guy who I think was responsible for, for, for removing the business from Target, but unfortunately he hasn't gotten back to me yet.
Speaker B:I can't wait to hear what he has to say.
Speaker B:But it comes down to me to one word.
Speaker B:Vermin.
Speaker B:You start introducing live plants into your stores and you get all kinds of crazy vermin that come in there too.
Speaker B:So, so it's kind of a Pandora's box of operational issues once you start getting into this business.
Speaker B:And at the end of the day it's marginal added value at best.
Speaker B:This is never going to be an one of Target's vaunted billion dollar brands like Cornell likes to harp on about because this is a true introduction of a new owned brand in, into what is probably a very small, you know, annual sales volume category as opposed to a brand reskin of a category that was already doing a hundred billion dollars before slapping a new Target owned brand on it like or brand label on it, which is what Target generally likes to do.
Speaker B:So, so I don't think, I don't, I think this story is silly.
Speaker B:I think it's fine, like you know, go ahead, introduce it but you know, careful what you wish For.
Speaker B:Cause it could have a lot of operational dynamics down the roads, and you might be having to pull this out, you know, as well, because, you know, lots of people have come before you have tried it, and they haven't.
Speaker B:There are all these categories like this, too.
Speaker B:And back when I was merchandising, like, some people want to bring paint in the store, and it brings all those dimensions.
Speaker B:Florals were always coming up.
Speaker B:It's, you know, I don't know.
Speaker B:It's.
Speaker B:Again, it's just like, kind of those.
Speaker B:Like, it's kind of that whole thing about, like, man, Target, just stick to your guns and do what you do and do it the right way and do it.
Speaker B:Well.
Speaker B:I don't know.
Speaker A:Yeah, I.
Speaker A:I was really puzzled when I heard this.
Speaker A:Like, it.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I had to really dig in.
Speaker A:Like, this is one of those articles where you see the headline come up, and I was like, I have to find out more about this immediately.
Speaker A:Because you're right.
Speaker A:Like, it does seem like a highly volatile category to bring in as a growth vehicle when you think about, like, all the stuff that you're talking about.
Speaker A:I know you have a special, like, spot in your heart for the vermin argument, but I.
Speaker A:You also sell food, so you're also dealing with vermin because you have it somewhere there, too.
Speaker B:But it's a little bit different.
Speaker B:Yeah, but just the.
Speaker A:I mean, these things are alive.
Speaker A:Like, that's the number one thing, like temperature control and all these things.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker A:But then I thought about this some more last night, and maybe it was part of a fever dream, but I.
Speaker A:When I was reading through the article.
Speaker A:Okay, so they increased their floral business that they started with their.
Speaker A:Their.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:What is it?
Speaker A:The Sparks line.
Speaker A:What's the.
Speaker A:What's the line?
Speaker A:I'm totally forgetting it.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, yeah, I know that.
Speaker A:Spritz.
Speaker B:Spritz.
Speaker B:Spritz.
Speaker B:Yeah, Spritz.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:So they started.
Speaker B:They started.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A: ith their Spritz line back in: Speaker A:And they.
Speaker A:They seen the.
Speaker A:In three times.
Speaker A:And at first I was like, yeah, I.
Speaker A:Like, it's just not that appealing to me.
Speaker A:And I don't think of Target as a destination where I would go for these types of flowers.
Speaker A:But you know where I do like to go to my plants.
Speaker A:And I always buy plants, especially around that $6 price point, Trader Joe's.
Speaker A:Like, I am always buying.
Speaker A:And, like, you see, they're doing a booming business with floral.
Speaker A:They.
Speaker A:I tried to pull and see if I could find the exact sales stats for that specific category.
Speaker A:And I wasn't able to in time for the show, but I'm something I'm still going to dig into.
Speaker A:And I think that as a traffic driver, like, $6 for some flowers, like, that's going directly in the face of Trader Joe's.
Speaker A:And perhaps if you're banking on the fact that, like, okay, this is a way that we can get in.
Speaker A:We already know people are coming in here to grab a card or to grab something else or to just, you know, complete their weekly shopping trip.
Speaker A:And if these flowers are, you know, in an even more impressive display right when you walk in and they.
Speaker A:They are really investing, putting the Target wink into this product assortment, I.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker A:I think that they could be, like, in a good spot here.
Speaker A:I might be crazy, but I've.
Speaker A:I've completely turned around given the Trader Joe's experience.
Speaker B:Yeah, that was one hell of a fever tree, man.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, I would.
Speaker B:I would.
Speaker B:I would come back with three things, I think.
Speaker B:You know, number one, I don't think flowers are a traffic driver.
Speaker B:I think, if anything, they're a basket builder.
Speaker B:Once you've made the trip to the store, that, that.
Speaker B:That is my hunch.
Speaker B:Number two, Trader Joe's very different operation than.
Speaker B:Than Target.
Speaker B:You know, there's very fewer locations.
Speaker B:The quality of the staff is generally much improved and much better.
Speaker B:And the store is not as big.
Speaker B:There aren't as many things to focus on and distract so that it enables them.
Speaker B:And they put it up at the front of the store, enables them to.
Speaker B:To execute this and operationalize it a little bit better.
Speaker B:And the last point, I'd make the spritz Callback like 300.
Speaker B:What they say 300% or whatever, like three times as much sales they saw in the growth.
Speaker B:That number is nothing like from zero to something.
Speaker B:Your numbers should be, like, exponentially more than that.
Speaker B:So that actually makes me go, wow, what are you guys grabbing here?
Speaker B:When you're.
Speaker B:You're quoting a number that's as low as 300% growth, like, when you're not in the category and you're getting into it, you should be at, like, factors of 10, 20, 20 times that.
Speaker B:So, like, I don't know, it just doesn't make sense to me.
Speaker B:But I don't know that convince you or like, you still.
Speaker B:I don't know, the sweaty sheets of the fever tree, man.
Speaker A:I thought.
Speaker A:I actually was thinking the opposite.
Speaker A:I was like, if Trader Joe's can pull this off from, like, a logistical standpoint, when you have things that are living that you need to keep alive and fresh.
Speaker A:Like, I actually was thinking that if Trader Joe's can do it in an 8,000 square foot box, Target certainly should be able to find the room to do this in a hundred thousand plus square foot box.
Speaker A:And then the other part is like, I think the spritz thing was a test, like, early on.
Speaker A:I don't think they were putting the full, like, Target mojo into that line.
Speaker A:I think it was somebody else owned it.
Speaker A:They were bringing the flowers in.
Speaker A:Like, this is Target's own brand.
Speaker A:So I do think that that's enough volume or enough of an interest spike for me to like, actually go in and test this as a concept.
Speaker A:And my fingers are crossed.
Speaker A:I hope that Target has made this into like, a more fun and funky.
Speaker A:Like, if you look at Trader Joe's, like, they do cool seasonal potting and other things that make these giftable and fun.
Speaker A:So I think if that's a possibility, then I want to see that through.
Speaker A:But you, I mean, I'm probably wrong for all the reason.
Speaker B:So if you're, if you're a bet on.
Speaker B:On which side of the Ledger you, like, 60% like this idea, 90% liking this idea.
Speaker B:It feels like you're like 55, 60 range.
Speaker A:It just.
Speaker A:I don't like betting.
Speaker A:I don't like the bets that you're making me make on this show because I just.
Speaker A:I just want to, like, see it through without there being any monetary engagement.
Speaker A:No, no monetary.
Speaker B:Just like, how confident are you in your call?
Speaker B:That's all I'm asking.
Speaker B:No monetary.
Speaker B:That, like, just so the audience knows, like, how confident are you in your call?
Speaker A:I'm over 50.
Speaker A:I'll do the over 50.
Speaker A:I'm over 50.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Over 50.
Speaker B:All right, well, I'd assume so if you're confident in the call, you're over 50, but anyway.
Speaker A:All right.
Speaker B:You don't want to put a number on it.
Speaker A:60, maybe.
Speaker A:I don't know.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:I'm just looking for a relative number because, like, if you're 90, that's a big difference of being.
Speaker A:No, no, I'm not 90 because of the reasons that you stated, like, because of all the things that.
Speaker A:And you are a merchant, you know better than I would.
Speaker A:I just think that it's definitely something I would have, I would have tested if I was still at Target right now.
Speaker A:Like, I, I went from what the hell are they doing to.
Speaker A:All right, let's try it out and see.
Speaker A:See if this is something that we can, we can own or take, take share from a Trader Joe's.
Speaker B:But not only was that.
Speaker B:Not only was I a merchant, but I was also a store field leader, too.
Speaker B:And I can tell you, like, my store in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, probably had less people working in it on an average day than a Trader Joe's does, too, in, you know, three times the size of the box.
Speaker B:So there's dynamics here at play.
Speaker B:But anyway, let's keep moving.
