 Horticulture Online
First Published: April 2000
Last Update: April 2002
Author: Computer Partners
This year online gardening sites are expected to flourish.
There are several reasons for the prediction. One factor is that a lot of women
like to garden and women are finally making their presence felt on the Internet.
Emarketer reported that 42 percent of women and 58 percent of
men shopped online during the 99 Holiday season. This is expected to change this
year. Besides gardening sites, the increase in the number of women shopping
online is also supposed to increase sales of products like toys and household
goods.
Another more obvious reason for the increase in sales for
online gardening sites is the fact that baby boomers are set to retire. This and
the fact that gardening is said to relieve stress is also helping to drive the
market.
In a recent article in Internet Wire, it was reported that
University of Florida horticultural researchers found that botanic gardens
relieved stress. Professor Jennifer Bradley was quoted as saying, `"As a
society, we have less and less exposure to agriculture, nature and the outdoors.
As we move into apartments and cities and commute to work every day, we have
limited access to the outdoors. So we see gardens filling a niche by providing a
place where people can go to be around trees, be outdoors, be around
nature."'
Avid gardeners have always maintained that working in the
garden relieves stress and now this horticultural research study conducted by
Bradley and graduate researcher Tammy Kohlleppel may prove them right. In the
article, Bradly also said, `"We know that there is something about being in
nature, being in the outdoors that has a positive effect on people, but we have
not quantified that so we wanted to look into it." '
Quoting a Forrester Research study, David Lake of the
Standard recently reported that online garden and tool purchases are predicted
to jump 433 per cent this year.
In February Shawn Sell of USA today reported the findings of
a 1998 Gallup poll survey, commissioned by Mailorder Gardening Association, that
said in 1998, Americans parted with $2.1 billion for mail-order plants, bulbs,
seeds and garden supplies. Also in 1998 over 15 million American households
placed orders with mail-order garden catalogs and Web sites, which averaged out
to about $140 per household.
Larry Dignan of Intera@ctive Investor reported that
,`"According to the National Gardening Association (NGA), U.S. households
spent $46.8 billion on garden and lawn products and landscaping services in
1998. Garden.com's site had 645,000 registered users and 1.5 million unique
users in May."'
Dignan also reported that Garden.com, which began publicly
trading in September, reported June year end sales of $5.4 million and a loss of
$19 million. A year earlier, it reported revenue of $1.3 million, and a loss of
$4.7 million.
In an article about the best sites of 1999 for InfoWorld,
Sean M. Dugan said that "Garden.com is one of the best I-commerce sites
you'll find on the Net." Besides hosting online chats there are gardening
experts on the site to give advice and answer questions. Dugan reported that it
also sends out e-mail messages reminding gardeners when it's time to plant. It
also helps to guide you through your choice of plants based on your location,
weather conditions, and color scheme.
A competitor of Garden.com is 1-800- flowers.com. Internet
Wire reported in September that 1-800- flowers.com. launched its Web site in
1995 and maintains online relationships with such Internet heavies as America
Online, Microsoft Network, and Excite.
The company announced in February that it had become the
exclusive marketer of fresh-cut flowers and gardening products on Netscape
Netcenter. The 1-800- flowers.com site, which has made headlines as a top flower
and gift seller also, sells plants, floral arrangements, gift baskets, gourmet
foods, garden accessories, and casual lifestyle furnishings.
A new but powerful player in the online gardening business is
myseasons.com. PRNewswire announced in January that the recently launched
myseasons.com had completed its first round of financing representing $10.5
million in capital funds.
One of the investors in the new gardening site is Foster
& Gallagher, Inc. the largest direct marketer and distributor of
horticultural products in North America.
Myseasons.com has the exclusive online distribution rights to
Breck's of Holland, The Garden Store, Spring Hill Nurseries, Stark Brothers
Nurseries, Gurney's Seed and Nursery Company, Henry Field's Seed and Nursery
Company, and The Vermont Wildflower Farm.
A Canadian site that has been making its presence known is
Eseeds.com. Connie Guglielmo of Inter@ctive Week reported last March that the
company had 100,000 unique hits per week. Based in British Columbia the online
store distributes unique seeds and plants.
Gardening catalogs found at gardening sites Jackson and
Perkins and Smith and Hawken were identified by Emarketer as being in a category
of some of the best online catalogs for 1999.
Although these online gardening catalogs are well designed
and user friendly the questions remains as to whether gardeners will ever give
up on the touch and feel of their hard copy gardening catalogues?
Shawn Sell addressed this issue in USA Today in February. He
interviewed Randall Schultz spokesman for Mailorder Gardening Association who
said that the advantage of the website catalog is that, `"When you're out
of stock, you can pull the item"....''Catalogs don't work like that.'''
Schultz added that, `"As exciting as the Internet can
be, there is still a place for catalogs in this World....You can curl up next to
the fire with a hot drink and your garden catalog. You can put little Post- it
Notes on something you want."'
How far the Internet will go in replacing the hand held
gardening catalogue remains to be seen but if last years figures are any
indication, online gardening sites have definitely taken root and if predictions
are accurate, they are about to blossom.
Schultz also predicted that this year would be the biggest
yet for online gardening sales. He said that because of the relationships that
gardening sites have with other companies, it makes the online gardening
experience a one time shopping experience.
Below are some books that you may find interesting. Click on
the title to purchase it.
Below are a host of other gardening sites that you may find interesting.
| 
