Monthly Archives: July 2009

Building Customer Engagement: Some Novel Approaches

July 31, 2009 – 4:15 am

In my last post, I mentioned some of the ways Terrain at Styer’s, the Philadelphia nursery owned by Urban Outfitters, is expanding their market. One of the key elements in their program is events, including those that reach far beyond the traditional gardening how-to offerings. Their July calendar includes the following: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Events, Marketing | Leave a Comment

Lessons From Terrain in Attracting Younger Gardeners

July 29, 2009 – 4:15 am

At the recent Mailorder Gardening Association conference, I had the pleasure of hearing a presentation by John Kinsella, Managing Director of Terrain at Styer’s, the much-ballyhooed new garden center owned by Urban Oufitters.

I have not visited Terrain, so I have no basis on which to form a personal opinion of it. I’ve heard it touted as brilliant marketing to younger, newbie gardeners, and I’ve heard it panned as overpriced and overmerchandised. Terrain has expanded the traditional garden center and landscaping services to include (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Garden industry trends, Marketing | Leave a Comment

Tips for Creating More Useful Financial Reports

July 27, 2009 – 4:15 am

At this month’s Mailorder Gardening Association conference, Al Bessin of Lenser gave an excellent presentation entitled Managing Your Way to Higher Profits: How to Turn Financial Reporting into a Useful Tool for Managers. He made a potentially deadly dry topic both interesting and actionable.

Al suggested creating a separate management P&L, reorganized to make it more useful. Among his suggestions: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Make Your Packing Slips User-Friendly

July 24, 2009 – 4:15 am

As part of the Secret Shopper Survey that Tom Beddows of THB Direct recently performed for the Mailorder Gardening Association, he focused on packing slips. Among his findings: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Secret Shopper Survey Reveals Missed Opportunities

July 22, 2009 – 4:15 am

Twenty-six Mailorder Gardening Association members recently participated in a Secret Shopper Survey to evaluate and benchmark their ordering systems. Tom Beddows of THB Direct performed the survey and reported the results at last week’s Mailorder Gardening Association conference. Boy, do we as an industry have some work to do!

A number of Tom’s findings represent significant missed income opportunities. For instance, for the telephone orders placed: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Customer service, Marketing | Comments (2)

Some Great Gardening Databases

July 20, 2009 – 4:15 am

At last week’s Mailorder Gardening Association conference, I learned of a resource of great interest to anyone in the gardening industry. Called Plant Information Online, it’s a tremendous database compiled by the University of Minnesota Libraries. Once a subscription-only service, it’s now available free, and includes, among other things: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Resources | Comments (2)

Speedy Growth From Website Enhancements

July 17, 2009 – 4:15 am

Last month’s issue of Internet Retailer included a feature on GourmetGiftBaskets.com, which ranked as the fastest-growing web-only merchant in the annual listing of the 500 largest online retailers. GourmetGiftBaskets grew 172%, from $4.4 million in 2007 to $12 million in 2008 – pretty impressive for what was a tough year for most companies. Interestingly, they […]

By Val Gosset | Posted in Ecommerce, Online marketing, Website design | Comments (2)

More On Email Marketing Benchmarks

July 15, 2009 – 4:15 am

One of our most popular blog posts was on the topic of What’s a Good Email Open Rate? Email marketing service provider MailChimp offers (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Email marketing | Leave a Comment

A Facebook Advertising Primer

July 13, 2009 – 4:15 am

Ever wonder what’s involved with advertising on Facebook? Here you go, in five easy steps: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Advertising, Social media | Leave a Comment

Our Designer’s Favorite Image Source

July 10, 2009 – 4:15 am

There are loads of sources for clip and and other images, but many of them are pretty limited and/or amateurish. Our designer reports that her hands down favorite source, based on both quality and quantity, is ClipArt.com. In addition to clip art, they offer photos, illustrations, fonts, web graphics and sounds. And what’s more, it’s all royalty-free. With 10 million files to choose from, they’re likely to have what you’re looking for.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Resources | Tagged , | Leave a Comment
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