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What Big Brands Know About Apps That Independent Garden Centers Often Miss

Posted on by Kurt Fromherz

Walk through almost any big retail brand today and you’ll notice something consistent:
they all have an app—and customers actually use it.

Starbucks. Target. Home Depot. Lowe’s. Amazon. Costco. Even quick-service restaurants.

This isn’t coincidence, and it’s not about being trendy. Big brands aren’t building apps because they like technology. They’re building them because apps solve problems that social media no longer can.

Big Brands Understand That Social Media Is Not a Relationship Channel

Social media is powerful—but it’s unstable.

Algorithms decide reach. Feeds move fast. Attention is rented, not owned. Big brands learned this lesson years ago, which is why social media is no longer where they try to maintain customer relationships.

Instead, social media is used for:

  • awareness

  • discovery

  • storytelling

It feeds the funnel—but it doesn’t anchor it.

Apps do.

They Optimize for Habit, Not Reach

Independent garden centers are often encouraged to chase visibility: more followers, more likes, more impressions.

Big brands chase something else entirely: frequency.

Apps create:

  • routine (checking points, rewards, updates)

  • recognition (personalized offers, loyalty status)

  • frictionless return visits

An app doesn’t need to “go viral.” It just needs to be opened again.

That’s a fundamentally different success metric.

They Know First-Party Data Is the Real Asset

Big brands assume that any customer data living on third-party platforms is temporary.

Apps allow them to:

  • know who their customers are

  • understand buying patterns

  • communicate directly without intermediaries

  • plan promotions with confidence

This data isn’t about surveillance—it’s about continuity. When brands own the relationship, they’re not starting over every season.

They’ve Accepted That Apps Are Infrastructure, Not Marketing

Here’s a critical distinction:
Big brands don’t think of apps as a campaign.

They think of apps as:

  • digital loyalty cards

  • communication hubs

  • education platforms

  • retention engines

In other words, infrastructure.

Marketing plugs into the app—not the other way around.

Independent garden centers often ask, “What would we put in an app?”
Big brands ask, “What part of the customer relationship should we stop outsourcing?”

Apps Aren’t Replacing Social Media—They’re Replacing What Social Media Used to Be

Social media once promised:

  • direct connection

  • organic reach

  • owned audiences

That promise has faded.

Apps now deliver what social media used to:

  • predictable communication

  • repeat engagement

  • customer recognition

  • long-term value

Social media still matters—but its role has changed.

The Strategic Gap

The biggest difference isn’t budget or scale.

It’s mindset.

Big brands design systems to reduce dependence on platforms they don’t control.
Independent garden centers are often still trying to win inside them.

The opportunity ahead isn’t about copying big brands.
It’s about learning from what they’ve already figured out.

And the garden centers that do will spend less time chasing attention—and more time building relationships that actually last.

Kurt Fromherz