Frequently Asked Questionsabout the STEPABLES® Program

Q. Why should I sell STEPABLES®?

A. STEPABLES® is a nationally recognizable brand. Our unique foot-shaped tag is the most easily identifiable tag on the market. Our selection of over 200 varieties of unique and durable plants, combined with fun and creative Point-of Purchase (POP) material, make STEPABLES® one of the fastest sell-through areas in the garden center. The STEPABLES® Product Line has the tools, helpful hints, ideas and solutions to help the homeowner become a successful gardener. STEPABLES® are currently available in over 3,000 garden centers (and growing) from over 15 Authorized Distributors in the United States and Canada.

Q. Will consumers ask for STEPABLES® by name?

A. Yes! We make sure of it! We have built a brand that is easy for the consumer to recognize and simple to remember…LOOK FOR THE FOOT® says it all. Every year our brand grows stronger and stronger with consumers. They love our product and trust the STEPABLES® name. In addition, we drive our product strong with garden writers across North America. Every year our product is featured heavily in consumer magazines and every year our customer base grows bigger and bigger as consumers get hooked on our product and know to look for the genuine STEPABLES® plant with the foot shaped tag and purple pot at retailers nationwide.

Q. Why will our customers choose STEPABLES® over other plants?

A. First…our marketing grabs the consumer right from the start. People cannot help but stop and shop when they see our STEPABLES® tag and purple pot. It is quite an eye catcher! These plants can be sold all year and they don’t need to be in color to sell. The tag does all the work. The front of every tag has been designed to be a color blast to the eye, while the back of the tag is jam-packed full of helpful care instructions and maintenance. Our Match The Dot to Your Spot system is on all of our tags and helps consumers “Plant the Right Plant for the Right Spot™” each and every time. So whether they need a plant for pathways or borders, sun or shade…they simply Match The Dot To Their Spot and they will know they have chosen wisely.

Second…the STEPABLES® program was shaped around the consumer’s needs. It was developed to engage the consumer’s senses, solve their landscape problems and create a sense of Ahhhhh on their garden floor. Color, texture, line and form are the framework for the diversity of this plant line. Finally…as the originator of STEPABLES®, Under a Foot Plant Company created the first model to gauge foot traffic, started a national testing program to correctly re-zone many of the plants in the program and continues to strengthen the brand with unique ideas and P.O.P that helps the consumer succeed. UAFPC will continue to be the leading authority in this “new” category of plant material and will always strive to create fun and unusual ways to promote the STEPABLES® Product Line.

Q. What are the advantages of STEPABLES® over other “look- a-like” products now on the marketplace?

2014 will mark the 15th year as innovators of the world’s first plant program designed to help gardeners cover their yard with plants that can be walked on, trampled on, ran across, jumped on, rolled over, tackled on, etc.

You may see “look a-likes” out there on the market place but they can only copy us. They don’t do the R&D it takes to know how to guide consumers in the world of foot traffic plants. We do. To these copy cats, they are merely producing a tag for a plant and copying a good idea. To us, it’s an extension of someone’s home and careful thought ought to go into each and every bit of advice we give people, not to mention the R&D it takes to give that advice correctlyto someone. Years of trial and error, years of testing and years of consumer feedback have made Under A Foot Plant Company the authority on foot traffic perennials. No one in the world knows more about these plants than we do! Combine that with an extensive, consumer enriched website, and the passion to make groundcovers the most ecologically sound decision a homeowner can make…and the choice is obvious. Generics can’t sell passion and they can’t sell expertise. Those “other copy cat products” can’t reach consumers personally the way we do. Why? They simply have zero interest in the helping the homeowner. They are interested in selling you a plant at the wholesale level and that is where they stop. That is where their product stops. That is what makes us different. We sell an answer to a problem. But first, one must take the time to find out what the problem is. Then you must know what plant would be the right answer for each problem. That’s hard! That takes time and patience and a LOT of perseverance to test over and over again to be able to give the right advice. These ”other guys” just think that by adding a cute phrase to a tag, the plant will mysteriously sell. Well…it doesn’t. Our plants sell…and they sell well because we are on the other end of this equation making the commitment all the way through to someone’s yard. STEPABLES® is one of the strongest brands in the marketplace because we deliver a powerful message to consumers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. We do our homework so you don’t have to.

Q. What are the advantages of using the STEPABLE® POP signage with our plant displays?

A. Traditionally, people shopping for plants do not “seek out” groundcover. They only go to the groundcover section If they know what they need (and that is a big If). However, in order to reach that homeowner who didn’t think at all about the multitude of problems lurking in their garden before they left home, our signage is a super important tool in “grabbing” their attention and reminding them of that certain issue that still needs attention.

STEPABLES® is the answer to their landscaping problems…but without signage, they may never get that cue as a reminder, turning that nagging gardening problem into an additional sale for your store.

STEPABLES® is an entire program geared towards fun, creativity and success. When tables are striped with the colors, textures and, of course, the foot-shaped tags with the purple pots, something remarkable happens. Add to it our catchy signage, and you’ve just created the most shopped area in the store. The POP brings them over with a smile. “What’s that?” and they immediately walk over to check out the display area. Plants you can walk…cool!!!! “Honey we have that spot…remember? This would work perfectly! I think these would be great!" People get down-right giddy over these plants. They will shop and shop, all the while rubbing and feeling every one of those little plants…and smiling as they do it!

Without that POP…they may never have seen the display from across the aisle, and an opportunity for additional sales would have been lost. POP is designed to get the consumer’s attention - use our POP and you will definitely see an increase in the amount of STEPABLES® products you sell.

Q. What if I run out of STEPABLES® Plants for my display? Can’t I just fill in with other plants for the rest of the season and still use my STEPABLES® sign?

A. Sorry, you can’t! STEPABLE® Plants are a federally trademark products. STEPABLE® and the STEPABLES® Product Lines are trademarked and copyrighted materials that are protected by state, U.S., Canadian and international trademark laws. We have rules that must be followed by law to ensure that the consumer is purchasing a true and genuine STEPABLE® plant. That ® is there to guide the consumer. They know that if it says STEPABLES®, it is going to be a plant grown by the best growers; a plant grown to high quality, brand standards and backed by a company they can trust. To fill in a display of STEPABLES® plants with other vendors’ plants would be just like filling in a Coca-Cola® end cap with Pepsi® products or generic cola, but still trying to sell them as Coke®. You can’t blur the consumer’s vision of what they are buying, whether unintentional or not. So, just as you can’t sell Pepsi® as Coke®, you can’t sell just any plant as a STEPABLES® Plant. They only plants that are true and genuine STEPABLES® plants are grown with the foot shaped tag and purple pots and come from an Authorized STEPABLES® Distributor.

Q. How long has STEPABLES® been in the market place?

A. STEPABLES® has been in the marketplace since 1999.

Q. Will my garden center see a sales increase if we carry STEPABLES®?

A. Absolutely!! With our helpful Point-of-Purchase tools, customers learn to “Plant The Right Plant In the Right Spot™” and how to maintain them once they have the plants in the ground; thus increasing their success in the garden. This will have them coming back to your store over and over again for more STEPABLE® projects! Your STEPABLES® section will have the most foot traffic over any other area in your store!

Q. How do I get STEPABLES® POP and what will it cost?

A. All of our signage is now FREE OF CHARGE and completely downloadable from our site. Simply order a minimum purchase from any one of our Authorized STEPABLES® Distributors and you will be able to access downloadable STEPABLES® photos, clip art and POP—for Free!

Q. Do I have to be certified to carry STEPABLES®?

A. No. The only requirement is that you purchase a minimum order of STEPABLES® Plants and Products from one of our Authorized STEPABLES® Distributors. If you wish to become an Authorized STEPABLES® Dealer, we simply ask that you uphold and support the STEPABLES® Product Line by using our trademarks and copyrights in a correct and professional manner and that you make the pledge to the STEPABLES® consumer that you will carry high quality, true and genuine STEPABLES® plants with the foot shaped tag and purple pot.

Q. What kind of on-line support do you have for the program?

A. First and foremost is our consumer support. UAFPC has built an amazing bond with the consumer. At WWW.STEPABLES.com, we receive anywhere from 100 to 1000 (or more!) e-mails weekly (depending on the circulation of publications or the airing of television shows featuring our product). This amount of consumer contact enables us to understand and establish special relationships with many of our STEPABLES® customers. We hear personally what works and what doesn’t directly from them. You cannot get better product research than the feedback we get from our homeowners. We are consistently told what an awesome website we have and how “thankful” they are for finding such a great product. They also tell us what we can do better to help them, which inspires us to find more solutions for their many landscape and gardening dilemmas. We will continue to expand our website with more ideas, creative projects and helpful hints to keep the homeowner project-oriented and coming to your garden center for product.

Secondly, we appreciate those people dedicated to promoting a quality brand and have recently added many new tools to help garden centers sell STEPABLES® Products. By becoming an Authorized STEPABLES® Dealer, we will load your store profile and website link into our database. By adding your garden center’s information, we can then put your store(s) on our Store Locator Map. So when the consumer searches the WWW.STEPABLES.com website and comes up with the perfect match, they can easily find out which dealer is closest to them and call for availability. This saves the consumer from driving all over town to find their desired STEPABLES® Plant. (It is also a perfect opportunity to encourage the consumer to visit your garden center!)