2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Native grasses provide numerous benefits to the environment, including food and shelter for numerous species of Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) larvae. However, this is not typically known to many horticulturists or consumers. Many Lepidoptera are incidental pollinators, hunting for nectar and transferring pollen in the process. The public values pollinators, but their valuation of pollinators depends upon their awareness and knowledge on pollinator issues and the wording of advertising materials. Consumer education can be an important tool to influence consumer preference and buying decisions. One way to influence and educate consumers is through point of sale marketing. To understand if consumer awareness of native grass benefits affected purchases, a point of sale (POS) marketing study was conducted over the course of two years at five garden centers in Minnesota, U. S. Point of sale (POS) materials included a poster and plant tags that listed four benefits of native grasses, including the benefits grasses provided to Lepidoptera. The POS displays were used at the garden centers for two years. We developed a one-page consumer survey to understand the influence of the POS display. The questions assessed whether a consumer saw the display, reaction to the display, their current and past purchases, awareness, attitude and knowledge of native grasses and general demographic questions. The survey was given to customers at each garden center during the gardening seasons of 2016 and 2017. A total of 341 surveys were collected over two years of which 336 were suitable for the analysis. We found consumers were less aware of the benefits that native grasses provide to butterflies and moths in comparison to three other benefits. The results were inconclusive regarding whether consumer knowledge level increased after seeing the POS display. We found that consumers that saw the POS display were more likely to purchase a native grass. The level of consumer knowledge on the benefits of native grasses was not found to influence native grass purchases. Because consumer knowledge did not influence consumer decisions to purchase a grass, we cannot confirm that an increase in awareness of benefits caused consumers to buy more grasses. Further research is needed to clarify whether consumers internalize information from POS displays, causing them to make informed decisions or whether POS displays simply draw the attention of consumers, making purchases more likely.