Plants Plus is an Australian marketing and buying group operated on behalf of independently owned garden centres, with 75 member nurseries across the country. Each member nursery pays an annual fee for membership. In return, they trade under the Plants Plus banner, sell Plants Plus branded garden products and participate in group purchasing and marketing schemes.
Plants Plus was established in 1978 in Melbourne, Australia as the Retail Nurserymens' Products Co-operative Limited, which traded under The Nurserymen brand. The group's motto was "Your Plant Professionals". In September 1991, the Plants Plus brand was developed and replaced The Nurserymen. A new circular logo was devised which continued the use of a tree motif developed for The Nurserymen brand. The Plants Plus motto was "Knowledge. Advice. Quality".
In 1995, John Danks & Son acquired the Plants Plus brand and the Retail Nurserymens Products Co-operative Limited was subsequently dissolved. By 2000, the group had expanded into all Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory.
The current pink and green logo device was developed for Plants Plus in 2002.
The Nurserymen published a 40-page monthly magazine called The Nurserymen which was issued free to customers. The magazine featured commissioned articles, product advertisements and group promotional information. In September 1991, the magazine was renamed Plants Plus (Vol. 13, No. 1) to reflect the re-branding of the group. In February 1995, the magazine became Plants Plus Garden Living (Vol. 16, No. 6). Publication of a free magazine ceased in July 1996. Plants Plus publish a subscriber-based quarterly magazine, Gardening Days.
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers.
A garden centre is a retail operation that sells plants and related products for the domestic garden as its primary business.
Hardware stores, sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing supplies, electrical supplies, cleaning products, housewares, tools, utensils, paint, and lawn and garden products directly to consumers for use at home or for business. Many hardware stores have specialty departments unique to its region or its owner's interests. These departments include hunting and fishing supplies, plants and nursery products, marine and boating supplies, pet food and supplies, farm and ranch supplies including animal feed, swimming pool chemicals, homebrewing supplies and canning supplies. The five largest hardware retailers in the world are The Home Depot, Lowe's, Kingfisher of the United Kingdom, Obi of Germany, and Leroy Merlin of France.
Migros is Switzerland's largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It is also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. It is structured in the form of a co-operative federation, with more than two million members.
Kmart Australia Limited is an Australian chain of retail department stores owned by the Kmart Group division of Wesfarmers.
Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue of A$30.8 billion in the 2020 financial year, it is one of Australia's largest companies by revenue. Wesfarmers is also one of the largest private employers in Australia, with approximately 107,000 employees.
The Loddiges family managed one of the most notable of the eighteenth and nineteenth century plant nurseries that traded in and introduced exotic plants, trees, shrubs, ferns, palms and orchids into European gardens.
Thompson & Morgan is an independently-owned company based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Founded in 1855, Thompson & Morgan offer English plants, seeds and sundries worldwide through their websites. The U.S. division of the company was sold to Gardens Alive in 2009.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to marketing:
Ravenhead Glass was a glassworks near Ravenhead Colliery, Lancashire, North West England. It was founded in 1850 by Frances Dixon and John Merson after a move from their earlier (1842) factory at Thatto Heath near St Helens. In 1852, this factory was sold to the Pilkington Brothers and Frances Dixon then acquired a 13-acre (53,000 m2) site at Ravenhead, building a new gas-powered glassworks.
Yahoo! Australia is the Australian subsidiary of global internet company Yahoo! Originally a 50/50 joint venture between Yahoo! and Seven West Media, it has been a 100% subsidiary of Verizon Media since March 2018. Yahoo! is a web portal, providing email, online news and lifestyle content, as well as weather, travel and retail comparison services.
The Co-operative, also known as Co-op, is a brand used by a variety of co-operatives based in the United Kingdom. It is not a single business, but a number of different consumers' co-operatives spanning various sectors.
Spring Hill Nurseries is a mail-order garden center based in Tipp City, Ohio. Founded in 1849, Spring Hill Nurseries is one of the oldest gardening companies in the United States. The company specializes in garden plants, garden designs, perennials, shrubs, ground covers and gardening supplies. Spring Hill Nursery distributes catalogs nationwide and maintains a substantial presence online. One of the largest companies in the gardening industry, Spring Hill Nurseries’ headquarters features many acres of greenhouses and trial gardens.
Joseph Breck (1794–1873), a notable businessman and horticulturist of the 19th century, was born in Medfield, Massachusetts. He moved to Pepperell, Massachusetts, in 1817, working in the chaise carriage manufacturing business while also exploring his passion for horticulture in his gardens. His interest in flowers and plants developed into a career as an editor, from 1822 to 1846, of the New England Farmer, one of the earliest agricultural magazines established in the U.S., and the first of its kind in New England.
Superdrug Stores plc is a health and beauty retailer in the United Kingdom, and the second largest behind Boots UK. The company is owned by A.S. Watson Ltd which is part of the A.S. Watson Group. It was acquired as part of the buyout of Kruidvat BV in October 2002. The A.S Watson Group is itself part of the Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings.
Lee and Kennedy were two families of prominent Scottish nurserymen in partnership for three generations at the Vineyard Nursery in Hammersmith, west of London. "For many years," wrote John Claudius Loudon in 1854, "this nursery was deservedly considered the first in the world."
The Australian Made, Australian Grown logo is a registered certification trade mark logo and country of origin label that certifies that a product has been manufactured or grown in Australia. The triangular green-and-gold logo, featuring a kangaroo, was introduced in 1986. The Australian Made, Australian Grown logo is administered by Australian Made Campaign Limited (AMCL).
Gardens Alive!, Inc. was a privately owned multi-title catalog company founded in 1984. It sells garden and lawn supplies, specializing in organic products under its namesake catalog. The company has expanded by aggressively purchasing other catalog companies, including expansion into gift and games after acquiring the assets of defunct catalog company BlueSky Brands in 2008. As of 2010, the company has annual sales of approximately $170 million, 60 percent of which was from garden-related business.
Jane Marion Edmanson is an Australian horticulturalist, author, and television and radio personality. As of 2018 Edmanson is best known across Australia as the Victorian state presenter for the ABC TV program Gardening Australia. As of October 2018 Edmanson is the only presenter who has been with Gardening Australia since its beginning in 1990.
Luke Pope (1740–1825) was an English nurseryman and florist in the English West Midlands, who founded the firm that became John Pope & Sons. He was associated with the Manor of Smethwick, from whom he rented land and for whom he carried out the duties of constable and bailiff, and had nurseries there and in nearby Handsworth. He specialised in tulips, claiming on his deathbed to have spent more than £3,000 on them, and later in the shrubs and plants of North America for which his son John's travels in the United States were a source. His grandson, Luke Linnaeus Pope, prepared illustrations of plants from his father's stock as they would appear when they were in bloom.
