Plant Benefit Information for Marketing Herbs, Fruit and Vegetable Plants
Customers receive many benefits from interacting with plants
and nature. Many of these benefits have been recognized by the scientific
community and plants are used to alleviate stress and improve healing (e.g.,
horticulture therapy). When considering plants that are edible or produce food
crops, informing customers about the benefits of planting and interacting with
plants could generate additional value. For instance, vegetable transplants can
provide aesthetic benefits, yield delicious produce, and improve one’s health
through the act of gardening and interacting with nature. Highlighting
different benefits through imagery, graphics, demonstrations, and online posts
is a way to gain additional traction and engage customers. Linking online
platforms to share similar content aids in educating customers about the
additional benefits of plants. Below is a list of plant benefits. Some may
align better with your business and the types of plants grown. Select the
benefits that work best with your product offerings and help the customer
realize the potential gains they would receive from buying and interacting with
your products.
Plant benefits include:
- Economic benefits (e.g., increased property value (Fetchel & Hall, 2023))
- Emotional and mental health benefits (e.g., reduced anxiety and stress, attention deficit recovery, fractals and visual responses, decreased depression, enhanced memory, greater happiness/life satisfaction, mitigation of PTSD, increased creativity, enhanced productivity and attention, lessened effects of dementia, improved self-esteem; Hall & Knuth, 2019a).
- Physiological health benefits (e.g., better sleep, healthy birth weights, decreased diabetes, decreased ocular discomfort, enhanced immunity, improved autonomic nervous system function, improved rehabilitation, lower cardiovascular disease risk and blood pressure, decreased mortality, better pain control, reduced obesity, lower allergies, improved physical activity; Hall & Knuth, 2019b).
- Social benefits (e.g., place/community attachment, reduced crime, disaster resilience, improved healthy/affordable food, children socialization, better school performance, community-wide therapeutic impacts; Hall & Knuth, 2019c).
The cited literature are a set of review articles focusing
on the different benefits of plants and nature. Reach out if you would like copies.
Alicia L. Rihn
Assistant Professor, University of TennesseeAlicia has been at the University of Tennessee since July 2020. Her area of expertise is in marketing and consumer behavior with an emphasis on ornamental horticulture products. She also addresses niche markets, value-added ag, willingness-to-pay, and promotional strategies to encourage plant purchasing behavior.
