Information

About Joe Bagley (THE HOUSEPLANT DOCTOR™ )

There's no denying that houseplants are firmly back on trend for all ages or abilities. Bursting with many benefits of well-being, indoor horticulture can offer a new hobby for those looking to delve into the world of greenery - at very little cost. BBC Gardeners' World's Joe Bagley has played a part in inspiring the nation to welcome nature into their home by showcasing his collection of 1,400 houseplants in his small Leicestershire apartment on TV, radio & social media. He has worked for a host of different garden centre sizes, ranging from Wyevale, Dobbies & Blue Diamond, before setting his sights on a smaller family-run garden centre in Leicester.

What Will Joe's Bring to Your Company?

• Confidence with new/existing plant suppliers (Waterdrinker, Pannebakker & Zoon, British nurseries, etc).
• Expansive knowledge & relationships with pots companies and sundries suppliers (Fertilisers & Soils)
• Better sales (SPSF & ATV) (See below)
• Teaches your staff members quick & more effective ways to maintain/care for the plants, along with and creating new displays in the future.
• Creating inspiring merchandised displays, based on themes or plant characteristics (pet-friendly, air-cleansing, certain global regions).
• Understands & encourages add-on sales when a customer would only purchase one plant though information-bursting posters.
• Organises plant-related events such as talks, terrarium-making courses, etc.
• And finally, get access to his DEFINITIVE Microsoft Excel sheet on longer shelf-life plant species/varieties and key information on their individual target audience. (See below for a snippet)
• Designs product-information posters/signs to improve customer knowledge of plant cultivation (See Image 3, at the bottom).

Examples of How Joe Can Help Your Business

When plant buying, garden centres often make the fateful decisions to order the incorrect variety of a certain plant species, only to find it inherently develops browned leaves or even dies shortly after purchase. A great example of this is the Alocasia zebrina, whereby some varieties work better than others. The common, long-petioled cultivar is a top-seller within garden centres that can instantly provide the cherry-on-the-cake final touch for a houseplant display. They can survive in departments that boast little natural light for several months without developing any visual problems. Its smaller counterpart, however, (Alocasia zebrina 'Little Zebrina') can suffer from serious environment-shock related issues, along with yellowed halos around the leaf-edges that mean the plant only has around two weeks of shelf-life before showing signs of stress. 

With this in mind, Joe will immediately restructure your buying procedures by introducing your company to better varieties of plant, all whilst retaining a similar product list to avoid alienating your pre-existing customer base. He will also teach your staff members effective ways to maintain/water/feed & create your new plant displays once the new stock arrives. 

Picking a Short or Long-Term Plan

Short-Term

Short-term plans are best suitable for businesses that just need a quick helping-hand in terms of fresh merchandising ideas & better knowledge on plant products that either sell quickly and/or have a long self-life. He can:

• Mentor your employees on creating theme or narrative-based displays, bursting with foliar contrasts in colours or leaf shapes. (Theme/narrative-based displays include terrarium building, pet-friendly, low-light, certain leaf colour, locational collections, etc.)
• Switches-on & engages your employee's into experimenting with display creativity & wider horticultural knowledge
• Introduce you to reliable stockists that sell pots, sundries or plants, and will highlight key products that sell better than others (based on your customer base)
• Redesign displays from the ground-up or entirely re-shifting the department's table placement
• Access to Joe's DEFINITIVE Microsoft Excel sheet that names the best cultivars to buy, characterised by air-purification, toxicity, care difficulty & physical appearance. (See image below)

Long-Term

Longer-term support includes all of the above, that includes a plan-of-action to solidify your department's performance in six, twelve and eighteen months' time.

• A more in-depth teaching to your employees into the long-term management/care for your houseplant department.
• Long-term plan into experimenting with new plant-lines, products and events to strengthen relations with current and new customers.
• Joe can visit or have online meetings with you to discuss houseplant department's performance & new ideas, etc.
• Teaches new staff members that are hired so they can maintain and create plant displays.
• Event planning. Joe can also host them, too. (Terrarium Workshops, preview evenings, talks for Member Groups / your customers at your premises).

Examples of Joe Bagley's Houseplant Department Work

As mentioned above, Joe has worked for four different garden centres; all with different sized departments, retail capabilities & customer bases. His merchandising and customer service work at each company has resulted in better customer retention, ATV (average transaction value) and SPSF (sales per square foot) within the houseplant department. Here is some of his work:

Image 1: A section of Joe's DEFINITIVE houseplant-department buying guide that's accessible when you book. This includes different size grouped plants, Cacti, Succulents, Bonsai, Flowering Plants, Gifting Plants for Events (Mother's Day, etc.), and Terrarium plants.

Image 2: Joe's Cactus & Succulent display for Blue Diamond, grouping different species together on terracotta saucers to aid a customer's decision of purchase. (2020)

Image 3: Joe can create posters/info boards on houseplant care to advertise add-on sales, such as fertilisers & soils. (2023)

Image 4: Joe can re-use old garden centre apparatus to create new, fresh designs to save money. 

Image 5: Foliar Contrast is key with merchandising. Each table of Joe's display has individual groups of plants that contrast others to entice the customers to investigate more. 

Image 6: Cacti can be difficult for customers to handle, but with Joe's ability to purchase them with 'splinters' means they can handle each plant without hurting themselves. (Splinters can be seen on the Cacti below the 'Children Must Be Supervised' sign).

Image 7: Themed displays with perfectly placed add-on products (Fertilisers & Soils)

Image 8: Joe is familiar with retail wholesalers (Ivyline) & smaller businesses (like No Way Crochet, pictured) that produce pots and accessories.