Prototype L&G dept. may grow business - Kmart's lawn and garden supply department - Kmart Power Merchandising

Discount Store News, Feb 21, 1994

In an effort to retain its narrowing lead as the nation's largest supplier of gardening supplies, Kmart is expanding its new prototype lawn and garden department introduced in 1992 and enhancing its KGro private label program last spring by putting the label on live plants as well as fertilizers and insecticides.

An estimated 250 stores now feature the prototype department, and Kmart expects to open about 60 more in '94. Kmart says it is on target with a projection of 40% sales gains. The L&G prototype features a heated and air-conditioned space that can be used year-round to merchandise other categories when the gardening season ends. The department encloses 16,400-sq.-ft. (the previous standard was 7,400-sq.-ft.). The new department has its own entrance and registers, and can open earlier than the main store.

Kmart last spring began affixing its KGro private label on green goods. For uniformity, all labels now include a picture of the shrub or tree and growing instructions. Kmart was one of the first discounters to introduce a private label in L&G, and now applies it to a wide range of fertilizers, insecticides and other garden chemicals.

Kmart retains its lead as the largest L&G retailer, with estimated sales of $825 million in 1993, compared to $820 million in '91. No. 2 Wal-Mart is closing the gap, however, with estimated L&G sales of $686 million in '93, an increase from $544 million in '91.

L&G is doing much better in remodeled stores, Kmart says, than in stores that haven't been renewed. In customer surveys, Kmart found that 31% would buy more L&G supplies in a remodeled store, compared to 17% at stores that haven't been renewed.

In a consumer survey that Leo J. Shapiro & Associates conducted for DSN, twice as many said the L&G department in a remodeled store was a "great place to shop" than in stores at least 15 years old that hadn't been remodeled.

And on a scale of one to nine, the mean rating for a remodeled store was 6.0. In stores at least four years old, the consumer rating slipped to 5.64. In new stores, those less than 4 years old, Kmart drew the highest L&G rating, 6.34.