Surfin' the Internet for The Green Industry: retail nurseries

by Hans C. Groot, Ph.D.

While wholesale nurseries try to sell plants directly over the internet, many retail nurseries and garden centers use their websites to try to entice customers to come to their place of business.

Some make gift certificates available through their website, others use coupons that can be downloaded and printed for in-store discounts, and some feature "weekly specials" - all designed to attract business. Generally, the sites also include information on store hours and include a geographic map to show the location.

One center that uses most of these features is the East Bay Nursery [http://www.eastbaynursery.com/]. It's a comprehensive site that offers monthly plant features and discounts coupons for plant delivery and plant purchases ("valid for in-store-purchases" and with expiration dates), and you can order gift certificates to be delivered to the person of your choice.

In addition, this website has gardening tips, access to a gardening tutorial, and plant encyclopedia. It also has a 'specialty use plant list' -- plants that attract butterflies or hummingbirds, are resistant to deer or oak root fungus, or are good for containers or make good cut flowers.

Roger's Garden [http://www.rogersgardens.com/] also has some interesting features on its website. You can go on a pictorial tour of the nursery, check out a calendar of plant-related information seminars conducted at the nursery, or visit a bulletin board/forum where website visitors can ask questions or review previously asked gardening questions with their answers. There are also several pages of gift suggestions.

Amstrong Garden Centers [http://www.armstronggarden.com/] with its many locations throughout Southern California includes a map on its website showing the different towns where they have outlets; you can click again and will be shown a detailed list of centers and their addresses. The site also is used to explain the firm's plant guarantee, delivery rules, and some other services offered - senior savings, a potting service, design consultation and a free (e-mail) gardening newsletter that viewers can subscribe to. The website also includes a page advertising job opportunities with Armstrong, and a link to "current advertising" - weekly specials promoted through newspapers.

Surfing the net can bring some interesting twists and turns. A visit to the Marina Del Rey Garden Center brought on a feeling of déjà vu. "Hey, I think I've been here before." I checked both my computer and notes and had not visited that site - so why did everything look so familiar? I clicked on this nursery's website and again saw the same thing. What was going on? This time, though, I also happened to look at my computer's menu bar to verify the URL location I was visiting and instead of the expected website [http://www.marinagardens.com] I noticed a different location [http://www.etera.com/signpost.asp?sp=1&DlrCustID=4746&SrcID=1206830]. I looked at this URL a bit more and decided to visit http://etera.com, and then everything became clear. What had happened is that the internet had automatically redirected me to the garden center's website hosted by Etera.

Etera, set up in 1998, claims to be "your gateway to fine independent garden centers." Nurseries can sign up to become a "E-Certified Dealer" and, in return become an on-line store with "products you don't have to stock, process or ship." You're also provided with an "Etera-Powered Website" and that's where the 'same look' comes from. All Etera sites look pretty much the same, the only real difference is the upper righthand side of the screen where you see a picture of the nursery and it's street address.

The main Etera site also lets you fill in your zip code and the firm's computer then yields a list of (member or dealer) nurseries in that area. I plugged in the Glendora zip code for PCN magazine (91740) and the computer came up with four nurseries - in Pomona, Los Angeles, Riverside and Seal Beach - not too helpful if you just want to pick up a couple of plants.

Whether or not the Etera marketing and webdesign approach works is an open question. By the time you read this column, the Etera websites may no longer be there as the company, facing financial difficulties, recently announced it was shutting down operations and it's not sure a buyer will come to the rescue. The reason the 'Etera model' is included in this review is that their approach results in a loss of uniqueness. After all, why talk about serving "fine independent garden centers" when all their websites look the same?