International Garden Products is a relatively new company that has expanded through the acquisition of some well-known, established producers and suppliers of plant products. IGP founder, chairman and president Jack Hesse discusses the challenges and goals IGP faces as it tries to create its own identity in the market while maintaining and enhancing those of its various business units.

Q. IGP has diversified its product mix quite extensively on the green goods side. Is there any green good products that you feel IGP is still lacking or it would like to add to its offerings?

A. To meet the product requirements of our main customer group of independent and multi-location garden centers, we are actively seeking to acquire selected, well-established primary product growers in California, conifers; the southeastern United States, broad-leafed evergreens; and Northwest, ericaceous woody ornamentals. In certain cases these new product lines may be handled by one of our existing sales representative groups.

Q. Of the green good products offered by IGP companies, are there any specific product categories the company is interested in expanding or reducing?

A. We expect to expand all of our present product categories to varying degrees, based upon our own projections of product demand over the next three to five years. We have no plans to reduce any categories.

Q. Did any of the IGP companies compete with one another before being acquired by IGP?

A. Generally speaking, because our IGP acquisitions were of companies that specialized in introducing and producing products in specific categories, the products of our business units did not compete among our customer groups. Instead together they met a greater portion of customer requirements. Our recent acquisition of Vandenberg Bulb did bring us a company in which some of its garden center and grower customers competed with IGP's existing Langeveld business. We are working closely with both companies to help them service these users in the most efficient way from a customer standpoint.

Q. Is there any interest by IGP to expand into garden-related hard goods that would complement IGP's green good products?

A. We are concentrating on growers who can introduce, grow and market ornamental plants and horticultural specialties, including bulbs and seeds.

Q. Do each of the companies owned by IGP operate separately from the others? In other words, does each company have its own management team?

A. Each of the six existing IGP business units is headed by a general manager and senior team in sales, production and finance that is responsible for the operation of the unit. Together with these general managers, we are exploring ways in which we can service retailers and their purchases of plants more efficiently. This may take the form of cross-selling or enabling certain representatives of another unit where geographical size of a territory indicates that this is a more effective way in which to service the customer.

Q. Do each of the companies process their own orders or are they handled through a central processing office?

A. We believe there would be opportunities in the future to gain efficiencies through central billing. We would only put this system into place if this could be more efficient for our customers and ourselves.

Q. Has there been any downsizing or economies of scale achieved through the acquisitions of these companies?

A. We have not and do not expect to downsize, because retention of key personnel in our companies is an important building block on which to base our future growth.

Q. The companies acquired by IGP are relatively well known in the horticulture industry. Does IGP plan to promote each company to maintain this name recognition?

A. We are actively working on a consumer branding program designed to give the retail consumer confidence in the attributes of our products in terms of differentiation and quality. The purpose of this branding is to create and maintain consumer traffic in the retail stores that we supply. This branding program includes point of sale and product literature in stores, selected consumer advertising and editorials that will be heavily built around the existing trade recognized portions of Iseli, Skagit, Weeks, Langeveld and Thompson & Morgan, with a tie to the International Garden Products' name.

Q. Are there any plans to increase the name recognition of IGP?

A. Name recognition of IGP is a necessity because it reflects the common business value principles embodied in all IGP companies. International Garden Product name recognition will be directed both to consumers, through the foregoing tie to our IGP companies, and also to the trade.

Q. Have Web sites been developed for each of the IGP's companies?

A. Each IGP company has a Web site, primarily as an information source. IGP companies -- Iseli, Skagit, Weeks and Langeveld -- that supply retail outlets do not sell directly to consumers. We do have a separate direct-marketing business, Dutch Gardens, which sells its own product line to consumers via catalogs and the Internet. We intend to improve and expand our Web sites as a means of providing consumers with more information on our products and as a means of supporting their sale to consumers via the retail stores we serve.

Q. Many companies now under the IGP umbrella formerly specialized in high-end products for independent garden centers, landscape firms, etc. Will this continue to be the focused customer base for IGP?

A. IGP has focused the most substantial portion of its business and efforts on supplying high-end garden centers because we view this as a distinct segment with its own needs. Through a series of separate brands and tailored product lines, we also supply mass merchants with bulbs. We strongly believe that the needs of mass merchants or big boxes are significantly different than those of garden centers and thus must be serviced by a separate entity.

© 2000 Branch-Smith Publishing