The 50^th year of the MANTS show and conference was 3 days of bustling activity of hundreds of Growers, the bulk of which are in the tree and shrub area of our industry, and vendors exhibiting and discussing business with attendees.  

One of the measures of the health of the conference is the ratio of red exhibitor badges to green attendee badges and from what I saw it seemed like a healthy conference this year. The customers we have that exhibit at the show all reported brisk customer traffic at their booths.  

We were able to meet with many of our customers and hear their praise for the things we do well and discuss issues and new features that they need. We also met with new prospects looking to solve operational issues and improve their software capability.  

Through the discussions we had there were several themes of challenges and opportunities for the growers and vendors that we talked to. 

Selling Online 

The interest in selling plants/trees/shrubs online is still very high. Growers see and understand the benefit to their operation as well as the improvement in customer experience they can deliver with an online sales channel.  

Growers view selling online as the addition of a new channel and are working to integrate that channel into their existing methods. The growers see supporting multiple channels of order taking as providing great customer service. 

Most growers I spoke to have various segments of customers. Some customers, who are ‘set in their ways’ want to continue ordering the way they have always done it, whether by paper, phone call or fax. Yes, faxing is still a thing here in 2020. The growers also have other segments of customers who embrace and appreciate the online ordering experience and the convenience and flexibility it brings them.  

The challenge for growers and their staff is to continue to provide existing sales and order channels for those customers unwilling to change ordering methods but to also move customers, where they can, to more efficient channels of sales.  

Anecdotal evidence from some of the GrowerOnline customers we have heard from suggests that online orders tend to be larger dollar amounts per order for a given customer than other methods, sometimes 10-20% higher. Additionally, the grower’s customer users of GrowerOnline report a faster order creating experience overall. And with features like Order copy, once a customer has some history in the system things can really go quickly.  

Clearly, due to the extremely wide demographic of buyers in our industry, online ordering won’t be for everyone but those who embrace it can see the benefits and advantages for both Grower Staff and Customer quickly.  

What Growers Want with Inventory Tracking 

Tracking inventory for a grower is still one of the biggest operational pain points. Labor with the right skills, consistent inventory management processes and data integrity are still issues looming large in a grower’s inventory management.  

Many available software packages will help with inventory tracking (production, moves, scrap, sales, etc.). There are identification automation capabilities such as optical bar code scanners and RFID stickers and tags that can be used to speed certain types of recording and lookups. However, many growers we talked to still struggle to put together the whole spectrum of inventory management, especially in the heat of spring deliveries.  

Effective and efficient inventory tracking and management require a four-pronged approach 

1. Software and systems that integrate well with the physical demands of the grower
2. Identification creating and reading devices such as tags and stickers, printers and scanners
3. Employee training and consistent work processes that ensure consistent tracking operations
4. Follow-through and accountability

Growers need systems with capabilities to automate some of the reporting and accountability portions and managers that will follow-through on seeing that processes for tracking are followed.  

Some GrowPoint customers use mobile tablets to handle in-field data access and manipulations such as inventory counts.  

It was clear that the growers still need technology improvement in this area. All systems need to improve the integration, mobile access and tracking ease for grower inventory.    

Improving In Field Grower Data Access

Growers data access while in the greenhouse or field continues to be a difficult problem. There are still many growers who, due to their geographical location or arrangement of their farms, have difficult and inconsistent network coverage for their operations.  

Many of the very rural areas of some of our customers continue to suffer from very limited (or expensive) options to get modern, high speed internet access for their business locations.  

These 2 factors make in-greenhouse or in-field data access a much harder problem to solve for many of these growers. Lack of consistent network coverage makes accessing in-office servers or cloud services difficult.  

Some growers have success with a dual access network approach using both a standard internet service provider like cable or DSL coupled with either a cellular hot-spot for remote coverage or using devices with 4G cellular network access.

Advanced Grower Solutions Co-Founder Rick Goff spoke to a workshop of customers and discussed networking options for the “Grower Office” showing growers with less than optimal networking situations can use dual technologies to improve the access on their facilities.  

Many legacy software systems are not well suited to a mobile environment demanded by the field or greenhouse side of a grower’s operation both from network access (access private servers via public networks) as well as the user interface – screen and program controls not well suited to small devices.  

Growers need more mobile friendly, easy to use software interfaces that allow both data access for viewing as well as making in field notes and inventory or availability updates.  

Software System Integration 

Our industry still has too many software silos that impede the integration of new capabilities and new technologies for growers.  

Too many of the software solutions that are available, even newly created ones, don’t provide for adequate integration capabilities such as application programming interfaces (API). API’s allow software systems to share information and communicate without the need for human intervention. Lack of integration API’s creates barriers to collaboration and limits the speed of adoption of new processes and new technologies. 

Our industry loses efficiency and adds cost due to these software silos. 

There are some small evidences of change in this area, however.  

The GrowerOnline platform does support a public API that allows automated availability data sync to the platform.  Several customers use this API to automate availability data sync, no staff intervention required. The machines do the work and the staff focuses on other more important things than copying data from one system to another.  

Additionally, LandscapeHub CEO Lisa Fiore announced this week a strategic intent to work with EPICORE, a large ERP software provider, to build an integration between their systems.  

These developments are small steps in the right direction but much more is needed in this area for growers to have a software ecosystem with the flexibility and adaptability to meet their ever-changing needs.  

Online Selling Options for Growers 

For growers seeking new market exposure putting some availability onto an online marketplace such as Amazon or LandscapeHub can be an effective strategy. Growers can find new customers and open new markets with services like these.  

From the Growers perspective, they want to differentiate their products or services from all the other players in the marketplace they participate in. This is important to their branding strategy to stand out in the crowd and not just participate in ‘race to the bottom’ price wars that can occur in some online marketplaces.  

From the consumer perspective, the end customer buying the plants, such as homeowners or landscape companies, the online marketplaces can make finding what they need easier. An online marketplace with multiple growers listing availability can make finding the right plant and price point easier as compared to contacting individual growers to find out their availability and pricing.  

Growers can also participate in a dedicated online ordering channel such as GrowerOnline. This allows the grower to provide a direct channel for their customers to see availability with customized features such as specific customer pricing and customer SKU information integration. A dedicated online channel provides a controlled and custom online experience for the grower to present their availability directly to their customers without having to pay for IT or software development staff.

Growers could also integrate existing e-commerce shopping cart technology to their own sites and have a fully custom solution. For some growers with very specific needs or the technical staff to handle the development and maintenance this method can provide a completely unique branded shopping experience for their customers.

Growers must weigh the pros and cons for their business and unique market position before deciding to participate in an online marketplace where their products and potentially prices are juxtaposed with other growers. For growers that want a more dedicated, online ordering experience that can engage their availability directly with their customers what is offered by GrowerOnline may be what you need. Growers that need a completely unique and custom shopping experience may elect to develop a customer solution. Regardless of the method, online ordering, whether through marketplaces, dedicated sites or custom sites, benefits both Grower and Customers.  

Analytical Reporting 

As growers expand product lines and serve more diverse customer bases, the need for increased detail and breadth in their analytical reporting is apparent.  

I spoke with customers who just this year have broadened their customer base and those new customers require different data, and different analysis. This differentiation raises the need for more detailed sales and costing analysis to make sure growers can serve those customers profitably.  

Many growers have systems with production, planning, sales, costing and other data. But in many cases this data is encases in separate systems and is not easily accessible for synthetic analysis.

Growers need systems that support integration with reporting and analysis tools. Growers need improved and easy to use business intelligence reporting and analytics that help support timely and profitable business decisions.   

Final Word 

From what I observed at the MANTS2020 show our industry is enjoying a time of good activity. Certainly, that does not mean that there are not operational issues and the margin pressures that are ever present that need to be managed.

For Advanced Grower Solutions, the MANTS2020 experience was a good one and we look forward to attending again next year.