Looking to Learn About Landscape Operations?
Do you sell to landscape operations? Are you looking for ways to connect to this continually growing market segment?
If you are interested in gaining insight into the best practices of some of the landscape industry’s leading operations and how you can you can take advantage of this category then you might want to participate in AmericanHort’s 2019 Landscape Operations Tour.
The tour will take place Sept. 30-Oct. 1, in Chicago, Illinois. This tour is an opportunity to network with leaders in the landscaping industry while touring seven world-class landscaping companies and learn more about such topics as sustainability, product and service specialization and operational efficiency.
This is the second year that AmericanHort has offered a landscape operations tour. “After the successful debut of the first AmericanHort Landscape Operations Tour in 2018, we are excited to again be providing this opportunity,” said Ken Fisher, president and CEO of AmericanHort.
Here are the sites that the tour will visit:
- Acres Group
- Mariani Landscape
- Lurvey Landscape Supply
- Chicago Botanic Garden
- Midwest Groundcovers
- Sebert Landscaping
- Cornerstone Partners
To learn more about the tour, the participating companies or to register to attend, please visit AmericanHort.org/LandscapeTour.
Walmart Holds Open Call for New Products
In June, entrepreneurs and small businesses from across the country visited Walmart’s headquarters to pitch their U.S.-manufactured products to Walmart buyers, hoping to land on store shelves and create more American jobs. During the sixth annual Open Call event, more than 100 companies moved on to the next step, with several dozen getting deals on the spot to go on Walmart store shelves. All participating companies received valuable feedback on their products from Walmart’s buyers. The two-day event provided informative sessions including a supplier mentoring session, a discussion on how suppliers can grow their businesses and a presentation on how to get products ready for retail.
Sam’s Club Debuts Voice Responsive App for Associates
Sam’s Club recently rolled out “Ask Sam,” a voice responsive app that acts as a digital assistant when associates ask questions on their mobile device. This app is now available to all associates in the chain’s nearly 600 clubs nationwide. Associates can “Ask Sam” anything about the club — just like they would on their own phone. Since its launch in March, Ask Sam has answered 1.5M questions. Questions range from asking about work schedules, recipes for home meal solutions and item location and availability. The design of the app also helps associates better predict the number of fresh items to produce throughout the day, like pies and rotisserie chickens, so members will be purchasing the freshest items possible.
NRF Unveils Top 100 Retailers List for 2019
The National Retail Federation’s Stores magazine just published its annual Top 100 Retailers list. Walmart continues to top the 2019 list with $387 billion in retail sales in 2018. Number two on the list is Amazon.com with sales of $120 billion last year. The Home Depot holds down the number six position on the Top 100 list and Lowe’s is at number nine. You can view the entire top 100 list by visiting https://stores.org/stores-top-retailers-2019.
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