April 2014

Are You Ready for the Revival? By Tim Hodson

Big growers from across the country definitely knew the way to San Jose in February. They traveled to the heart of Silicon Valley to participate in GPN's seventh annual Big Grower Executive Summit. (See news item on page 8).

Our keynote speaker this year was Doug Stephens aka The Retail Prophet. Stephens is a retail industry futurist who has spent 20+ years working with retailers like the Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Ace Hardware. He has written a fascinating book called The Retail Revival.

During his presentation, Stephens provided attendees with insight into "the new era of consumerism" and how it is redefining the retail landscape. He explained how technology is really driving today's consumers and influencing how, where and why they shop. He says non-stop change is now the new normal and retailers and their suppliers need to adapt and anticipate and be ready to change if they want to succeed in the future.

Stephens also presided over a "think tank" where he really got the growers thinking about what they do and how they can position themselves to take advantage of the retail revival.

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of Stephens' book. It will help you learn more about today's consumers and, more importantly, tomorrow's consumers. You can learn more about Stephens at www.retailprophet.com.

GPN would like to extend a special "Thank You" to Hank Bukowski and April Herring and the team at Pacific Plug & Liner in Watsonville as well as Don Howell and everyone at Floricultura in Salinas for their hospitality and allowing our group to come and tour their facilities during the Executive Summit.

Coming Soon

Even though it is only April, plans for 2015 are already underway. Later this summer we will be announcing all the details for the 2015 Big Grower Executive Summit. Keep an eye out in an upcoming issue of GPN's Big Grower as well as GPN Weekly for the latest developments.