From Gartenparadies to specialist outlet

Since 1998 Obi has been certifying its “Garten-Paradies” garden departments, and with good reason: the company achieves more than 25 per cent of total turnover in the garden segment. Since March, staff from the island of Mainau have been involved in  the certification of Obi’s garden centres. After all, as the company says, 81 per cent of all Germans know that Mainau is the “isle of flowers in Lake Constance”. Over a hundred gardeners and horticultural experts ensure that the island blossoms and flourishes. Their expertise is what Obi wants to make use of, so that Mainau’s “flair and horticultural know-how can be transferred to Obi’s Gartenparadies departments”, in the words of Martin Sandmann, category manager gardens at Obi.However, not every Obi garden centre will make the step up to become a certified specialist retailer. That is not what the company wants either. The aim is for only the best in the group to be awarded the epithet “Nature’s partner”. Sandmann says that certification is done at a high level where quality is concerned, and that level must be maintained as the only way to create consumer confidence. Accordingly, garden experts from the island of Mainau subject Obi’s Gartenparadies centres to a process of certification, following the franchise partner’s successful application. A total of 39 Obi garden centres in Germany and eight in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have received certification so far. What is known as “store coaching” is carried out in preparation for the assessment, in order to improve the staff’s professional expertise. The coaching concentrates on six main points:- Specialist knowledge: tree nursery, shrubs, seasonal plants, container plants- Market-oriented choice of product range, layout, space organisation- Knowledge of plant care, pruning, planting, overwintering- Basic principles of displaying plants- Rhetorical elements for providers of advice- Structuring the daily work cycle
After this has taken place, two garden experts from Mainau evaluate the store for an entire day. The business is audited according to 14 specific criteria in four areas: professional knowledge, quality of products, customer service and environmental standards. The criteria include shaping the product range and product presentation, plant protection, the number of staff on duty and the store’s image, as well as the range of services and events on offer, plus the implementation of advertising and marketing activities.Not only in Germany do…