Staff and skills shortages at garden centres across the country can be plugged with touchscreen technology says a plant information company at the forefront of the latest developments.

Vacancies are at a record high and garden centres nationwide are struggling to fill positions so need to invest in technology says Joy of Plants, which offers digital assistance with its ‘Plant Finder’ Touchscreen Kiosk.

Terri Jones, Managing Director at Joy of Plants, said: “There are significant workforce shortages in many sectors including horticulture. 

“The Learning and Work Institute thinktank says there are 1.1 million fewer people in the workforce than pre-pandemic. The population is now smaller, as many people have left the UK and fewer are coming in. Also, young people are spending longer in education. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development says there just aren’t many candidates out there and we’re certainly hearing from our garden centre clients that finding and retaining staff with horticultural knowledge is harder than ever.

“We’re now entering an era where garden centres, which have traditionally not been technologically driven and perhaps have even been technology adverse, are coming to us to ask for help and advice and to find out how our Plant Finder Touchscreen Kiosk can help fill their skills and staffing shortages. Our kiosks act as guides for customers to the plants a garden centre sells and it’s like having a new team assistant in the plant area ready to answer any plant related questions.

“The Home screen can be personalised to specific plant groups, such as easycare plants, fruit or trees for small gardens and there are buttons to quickly find plants by name or criteria to meet a customer’s precise needs.

“As well as customers using the kiosk, staff members can also use it to find answers to plant questions quickly and efficiently.”

Garden centres can also use the Touchscreen Kiosk as a digital advertising tool while the Plant Finder is not in use. Customers can be made aware of seasonal offers, promotions and daily specials. Content can be scheduled any time of the day and kiosks can run targeted campaigns to a single screen or to a network of units across multiple sites.

Terri added: “We have kiosks in 60 centres across the country now with more being added each week. Garden centres are following the kiosk trend started in other retail and hospitality sectors.”

Review Systems Digital Signage, who supply the Kiosk hardware, has recently launched smaller, cheaper 21-inch digital touchscreens as freestanding kiosks or wall mounted units.

Joy of Plants can also apply the Plant Finder technology as a plugin to retailers' websites. The Capital Gardens Group has recently added it to its website along with kiosks in three of its five centres.

Oscar Beardwood, Plant Area Supervisor at Capital Gardens, said: “The Plant Finder is a massive help in the day-to-day operations within Neals Nursery and across all Capital Gardens centres where we have them in use.

“As we continue to navigate these troubling times, while doing our absolute best to make every customer feel as comfortable as possible, but still receiving the best service and care, the Plant Finder is a great help. We are now able to assist all our customers while respecting everybody’s wishes, with the additional help from the Plant Finder, as well as being able to find help from a member of staff.

“Features such as the ability to email plant lists and all necessary care information to customers from the Kiosk, or email directly to us for further research or planning, have been amazingly helpful, as well as the ability for the customers to use the touchscreens and gain access to all the information in peak times when all staff members are busy. Moving forward, I think that the Plant Finder will be an extremely helpful tool that we will look to utilise to its full capabilities, as our team and customers get even more comfortable using all the useful features.”

Capital Gardens has Kiosks at its larger centres at Alexandra Palace in north west London, Wandsworth in south west London and outside London at Sherfield-on-Loddon.

The centres offer customers a diverse and large collection of plants throughout the seasons, suited to our country’s varied climate and seasons.

Joy of Plants’ mission is to make plant information easy and accessible to all. It has created a library of more than 15,300 UK garden plants and trees and offers a platform of tools to help garden centres, retailers, growers and breeders maximise their plant sales and income.

It provides information in many products including an Image and Text Library for ecommerce sites, Plant Finder for websites and Touchscreen Kiosks, and print on-demand Bed Cards.

For further details about Review Systems Digital Signage Ltd, please visit https://www.godigitalsignage.co.uk or call 01772 875536. You can also follow the company’s blog at https://www.godigitalsignage.co.uk/blog-1.

For further details about Joy of Plants, please call 07717 532323 or visit www.joyofplants.com.