Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center Aims to Be the IKEA of Gardening

First published in: Greening and Life

“We sell everything about flowers" This is how Zhang Ke, manager of Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center, described the large building before the reporter. It is a flower-themed supermarket, and that description is accurate, because selling flowers is its primary function.

But this is not the reason why batches of flower enthusiasts drive dozens of kilometers to come here, nor is it the purpose for which countless photography lovers keep flocking here, and it is even less the reason why Beijing's largest Spring Festival flower show chooses to be held here every spring. Selling flowers, renting flowers, flower arrangement, flower shows... saying it has "everything about flowers" may be an exaggeration, but perhaps, when you come here, you will not begrudge such praise.

Key points at a glance:

1. The various model rooms at Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center are a major feature.

2. The relationship between Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center and its parent company, Huaxiang Huamu Group, can be compared to a "front shop, back factory" arrangement - it is both a retail center and, at times, a testing center for how products respond to the market.

3. It operates a variety of businesses, including flower rental and placement, landscape design, flower arranging, mobile flower houses, pottery making, and more.

4. The gardening center is basically divided into a succulent area, a green plant area, and a pot and ornament area, with the green plant area further divided into flowering and foliage sections.

5. Retired seniors and parent-child families are the two major consumer groups of the gardening center.

Scenarios-based experience:

This place is like a flower-themed IKEA

IKEA, as a uniquely distinctive brand in the home furnishing industry, is known for its scenario-based display of merchandise. Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center imitates this approach, allowing visitors to experience different styles of floral arrangements in different environmental settings.

The most popular swing among customers at Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center

Zhang Ke said: "The swing is everyone's favorite. Many children line up to play here." Every few steps, you see a model room in a new design style - classical Chinese, Japanese, small family balcony, and so on - with scenery changing at every step and a view at every step. All the flowers for sale are distributed across different scenes, guiding customers to know flowers and like flowers to a certain extent. As market demand changes, the background settings for these flowers are also constantly changed. So customers see different scenes each season. Small family balcony-style flowers are currently quite popular and suit the needs of ordinary families. With the enormous pressure of urban life, cultivating a small world of one's own is one of the ways many people improve their sense of happiness.

It is worth mentioning that during the reporter's interview, a small exhibition of Japanese flowers was underway.These exhibits can also be purchased, and the exhibition will continue until August 31. Japanese gardening is relatively famous, but in recent years there have been fewer and fewer native Japanese gardeners. Coinciding with the Japan Rose Festival, roses became the protagonist in the model room exhibition hall. However, these flowers are often expensive, making people hesitate.

These model rooms are all designed and completed by the gardeners in the store. Most of the employees here come from a horticulture background. About 4 to 5 gardeners maintain daily work each day, and together with cashiers, cleaning staff, and other support personnel, generally 10 people can keep the gardening center running smoothly. During holidays and flower shows and other events, more staff are assigned. The gardeners' job is to introduce flowers, while the main format is still customers choosing for themselves.

The annual Spring Festival flower show

Beijing's largest annual Spring Festival flower show and potted plant competition have been held here many times. In 2017, combination potted plants featuring the characteristic of entering ordinary households were widely welcomed.

Model room display area. Combining flowers with the environment in the arrangement

Model room display area

Model room display area

This is also a change the gardening center has made to adapt to the market. R&D staff have developed many categories that can only be seen here. These works are currently in the process of applying for patents, and the next step will be to bring them to the market on a larger scale. By simulating natural landscapes and bringing nature into small pots, miniature micro-landscape creative products began entering the market this year as an emerging product. The relationship between Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center and its parent company, Huaxiang Huamu Group, can be compared to a "front shop, back factory" arrangement - it is both a retail center and, at times, a testing center for how products respond to the market. Almost all of Huaxiang Huamu Group's flower varieties can be seen here.

This is also a paradise for photographers. This place is like a museum of flowers, allowing endless exploration in the world of flowers and discovery of a world of beauty. As varieties are constantly updated, photographers continually produce new works. This is the birthplace of their creativity. They often come with suitcases and stay here for a whole day.

Diverse services, multiple business operations

Inside Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center

Relying on design-rich scenario-based layout design to attract customers, further using multiple business methods to serve customers, and meeting the public's various needs for flowers is another major feature of Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center. Flower rental and placement, landscape design, mobile flower houses, flower arranging art, pottery training, and so on are all within its scope. Their greater value lies in creating diverse brand content. Simply monetizing is not easy; frankly speaking, "it doesn't make money." Next, a brief introduction to each of them so you can get to know them.

Flower rental and placement, in cooperation with the rental and placement department of Huaxiang Huamu Group。Rental and placement refers to cooperating with clients by leasing flowers. The gardening center is not only responsible for providing flowers (including what flowers suit what kind of architectural space), but also for maintenance after placement. These projects often cost a bit more. Companies that have already cooperated include Baidu and other well-known domestic companies. Similar to rental and placement isLandscape design, because it is more aimed at households. In addition to selecting green plants according to the home environment for decoration, corresponding plants can also be sold to household customers.

The micro-landscape area that will apply for a patent

Mobile flower houseis a special project. At present, all three mobile flower houses are located in Yanqing, Changping, and inside Century Grand View Garden. A mobile flower house is a container-style RV. It can be flexibly dispatched with different flower festivals or exhibitions, and after the event ends and customer traffic decreases, it is moved elsewhere. They can be seen at the Rose Conference, carnivals, and even parade floats. As a mobile promotional vehicle, it also spreads the gardening center's brand to more places.

Wang Suizhi, a master of flower arranging art in Beijing, has long been based here conducting flower arranging training activities. Many companies chooseFlower arrangingfor team-building activities. For example, on International Women's Day, some labor unions cooperate with the gardening center to hold related activities for employees. Father's Day, Mother's Day, and so on are when flower arranging activities are most frequent. This is a business that has never been interrupted since its establishment. Some activities need to be held at the company, but most enterprises value the beautiful environment that comes with the activities organized by the gardening center. Some small training activities for ordinary consumers are provided free of charge to customers as part of the services attached to merchandise.

Pottery trainingis also a free service. The gardening center has one senior potter, who often provides one-on-one instruction. As part of parent-child activities on holidays (every week), children are provided with 4 potters for course training. Sometimes diversified competition activities are held, charging only the material fee.

It is precisely these ever-renewing businesses that fill in the "flesh and blood" of the gardening center; it is not merely a skeleton. The best result is that different people can all gain something from it.

Who comes here?

The current business scope of Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center was formally established in 2015. The company began in 2008 when the Beijing Olympics flower distribution center, after successfully completing the flower production and distribution work for the 29th Olympic Games, successfully transformed, and the original team established Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center.

According to the company's official website introduction, "Century Aomao Flower Gardening Center originates from the successful business model of the European and American gardening industry, 'Garden Centre,' and was the first in China to realize an intensive management business model of 'unified procurement, unified distribution, unified cashiering, and unified management.' It used to be just a large greenhouse, and has developed to the point where its business scope has fully blossomed,At present, there is also a branch store in Lianhuachi Park.Twenty percent of the flowers come from Century Aomao's distributors, while most of the rest are supplied through Huaxiang Huamu Group located in Shunyi. Flower sales remain the main profit point.

The gardening center is basically divided into a succulent area, a green plant area, and a pot and ornament area, with the green plant area further divided into flowering and foliage sections.General floral ornaments include gardening accessories, flower stands, and so on. From the zoning of the gardening center, one can see the biggest change in today's market - succulents have become the most closely watched category. The pot area also has many different types of flower pots in various sizes. The choice of pots is matched with different plants according to different customer needs. For example, generally good breathability is beneficial for plant roots to breathe; glazed ones look good but reduce breathability.

Succulent area

Retired seniors and parent-child families are the two major consumer groups of the gardening center.Zhang Ke said: "Many retired seniors have nothing to do at home, so they come here to pass the time after tea and meals. Many elderly women come once every few days, and they are even more familiar with our flower varieties than our staff. They know every change here like the back of their hand." Many parent-child families are attracted by weekend activities, and the gardening center has also refined the flower products it sells, providing items specifically for children. The entire population of Beijing is a potential customer base for the gardening center. From analysis of the supermarket's delivery service data, it can be seen that many customers come from Haidian District or Chaoyang District and so on; when they come from afar and buy more flowers, the items are shipped. The characteristic of consumers in surrounding communities, however, is that "they buy little each time, but they come often."

Attracting family consumers, children's toy car flower pots aimed at youngsters

The gardening center also has off-seasons and peak seasons. Customer traffic is highest during the Spring Festival and various holidays.Because of the "boost" from Spring Festival flowers, the Spring Festival is the hottest season in the entire flower market. For example, around Christmas, certain companies hold new variety launch events here every year, such as certain flowers being their signature categories. By cooperating with such outstanding companies, Century Aomao provides the venue while the other party brings customers. This place is even a recreational destination for surrounding communities. For example, if there is nowhere to go during "May Day," people choose to come here for leisure. The beautiful environment is naturally welcomed by everyone. Because the seasons differ, winter and spring are a period of scarcity for domestic flowering plants, so there are more large green plants and herbaceous flowers, and herbaceous flowers are relatively cheap. According to gardening center statistics, the most popular flower is pothos. Some customers, however, care more about the symbolic meaning of flowers. For example, a variety called "Smooth Sailing" sells relatively well. For varieties with good customer response, the gardening center will appropriately run promotions. In addition, whether a plant can purify the air is also one of the standards by which many people choose plants.

Flower products in diverse colors

The rapidly developing social media platforms are also used by the gardening center for promotion and after-sales service. All activities of the gardening center are published on its own official account. WeChat groups have become the media platform for their after-sales service, where customers can directly communicate with staff and other flower enthusiasts about various problems encountered in the process of growing flowers.

Zhang Ke showed confidence when introducing things to the reporter. As one of the few "flower supermarkets" in Beijing with multiple business operations, Century Aomao's brand has already become well known. As a new industry trend in recent years, it will continue to develop more and more in the future. However, its growth behind the scenes relies on the support of a powerful flower and tree group. If more creative new enterprises that prosper the market are to be created, where will the next focus be?