A Wall Street Journal (April 27, 2011) article describes exclusive plants offered by Lowe’s and Home Depot as they compete for customer spend. For every $ 1 spent on plants, customers are reported to spend an additional $ 3 on shovels, hose etc, thus increasing the importance of plat sales.  At Lowe’s horticulturists are reported to winnow 1,000 potential plants down to the 10 hardiest and then offer them as exclusive varieties for a year or more.   Getting customers to focus on exclusive plants thus is key to retail competitiveness.  Should the result of retail competition be expected to produce such exclusive offerings instead of price competition based on similar items ?  Do exclusive plant offerings increase retail demand risk or is this the prisoners dilemma outcome of competition ?