One of the challenges facing garden centre operators and trainers is providing consistent, interactive training wherever the trainee lives or the store is located. It was with this challenge in mind that John Stanley Associates and Select Multimedia joined forces to produce the first virtual reality garden centre training module to help garden centre team members hone their merchandising skills.

     This highly interactive training tool was launched in January 2001 in the U.S. Included is a Virtual Reality CD-ROM training module and workbook. The Virtual Reality allows the trainee to take a tour around a working garden centre and then click on ‘hot spots’ at specific points in the garden centre. At the hot spots either a video on how to position, build and manage displays will appear or an audio script will play on the relevant issues.

     Although this tool is brand new, it has already been taken up by leading garden centres in France, South Africa, the U.K., New Zealand and the U.S. And, because the module is learner friendly and provides a consistent approach to merchandise training, John Stanley Associates and Select Multimedia have been approached to produce “in-house” versions for leading horticultural retailers.

     This form of training will become the preferred means of training in the future, and both companies believe every horticultural training establishment and garden centre will see this tool as a vital investment in the growth and prosperity of their business.

     The Virtual Reality training module is valued at U.S.$199, plus $10 air mail postage, packaging and insurance. It is available from:

John Stanley Associates, 142 Hummerston Road, KALAMUNDA WA 6076, Western Australia
Telephone: +61 8 9293 4533
Facsimile: +61 8 9293 4561
E-mail: jstanley@iinet.net.au Web: www.jstanley.com.au