Garden center retailers are always trying to get to know the consumer better. One way to become more market savvy is to frequent the places your customers visit -- including those online.
For instance, the website garden.com features just about everything attached to gardening, from "how to" articles to practically any product you could imagine. The sum of the parts is a one-stop virtual garden shop that more and more consumers are discovering -- and using to the hilt. The site is attractive and organized in a user-friendly manner. But where it's really strong is in its ability to market "the garden."
Recently, the site sent a promotional piece to the media regarding how the site can enhance "Outdoor Living" for consumers. Here's a snippet:
Late summer is the best time to take action to extend enjoyment of your home’s outdoor areas through the fall and winter, and to tackle those outdoor structure projects that you’ve been considering for years. For many, designing outdoor structures seems a daunting, costly and time-consuming task. Why tackle outdoor design in the first place? In various ways, Garden.com stresses the importance of how anyone can implement outdoor design to “Structure Your Outdoor Life.” The outside of a home not only says a lot about your personal style but shapes the environment your family lives in every day.
According to Garden.com’s Vice President and gardening expert Paul Ambrose, “While the trend in the last few years is that people have invested a lot more of their hard-earned dollars in landscaping and outdoor maintenance, statistics also reveal that families, particularly kids, have been spending less and less time in their backyards. Adding structure to your outdoor life can help erase the boundaries between the outside and inside of your home and make your outdoor areas the family’s favorite – and healthiest - place to be together.”
Outdoor structures provide an attractive outdoor focal point while making a personal statement. Gazebos, patio pergolas and children’s playhouses or even upscale dog houses provide outdoor rooms as an exciting space for loved ones to enjoy. Hammocks, awnings and canopies additionally provide relaxation and protection from the sun. Thus outdoors structures dually provide common practicality and usefulness to anyone’s needs in your household.
Ambrose continues, “An outdoor structure provides a meaningful and personal experience that encourages living a life with nature, freedom, individuality and expression.”
At a time when people are looking to spend less money and time dealing with outdoor maintenance, Garden.com encourages those who are looking for direction and help. Ambrose continues, “Garden.com strives to be a place where people can turn to for advice, instructions on installation, diverse product in easy to maintain materials such as decay-resistant cedar and vinyl and promotions that make them affordable. We have a passion for helping people structure their home life like never before.”
The release goes on to tout products the website provides through its e-commerce program, from structures to tools to ancillary items that can make outdoor living special. It's an excellent study in how one commercial enterprise ties a number of elements together to point the consumer toward their products -- and toward their overall product.