Consumers are increasingly going online to rant and rave about garden retailers. Internet communities offer forums where gardeners can rate and review garden centers and mail-order companies.
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is assistant editor, Garden Center Magazine, and contributor to the Open Register and Project: Green Industry blogs.
Business directories -- like online business listings -- often allow users to rate and comment about local retailers. And bloggers are giving comprehensive reviews of their garden center visits.
“Now the Internet empowers people to have their point-of-view expressed,” said Dave Whitinger, vice president of communities at Dave’s Garden, an online gardening forum.
Five-star service?
Members of Dave’s Garden can post reviews of mail-order companies in the Garden Watchdog forum. More than 5,000 vendor profiles are available on the site. Gardeners rate their experiences as positive, negative or neutral and often provide lengthy comments describing their transactions.
Vendors can also have their say. Many mail-order companies closely monitor the site and post rebuttals or clarifications.
“Rebuttals are important,” Whitinger said. “Other people read the reviews and when they see no response they think it must be true. I tell companies, ‘I can’t delete this thing, but I encourage you to write a rebuttal.’ It’s an opportunity to show how they respond to complaints.”
Mail-order firms frequently use reviews -- positive or otherwise -- for their own benefit. Whitinger said one top-rated company prints out every customer review and posts them on a bulletin board where they’re seen by customer service representatives. Reviews on Garden Watchdog have helped the company home in on problems and make changes accordingly.
Dave’s Garden users are now dishing dirt about local garden centers. Whitinger launched Go Gardening, a forum rating local retail outlets, in December 2006. The Web site has more than 4,000 reviews of retailers, public gardens and other businesses that deal directly with the public. The forum is the fastest-growing segment of Dave’s Garden.
“It shows how thirsty the world is for empowerment,” Whitinger said.
Check your local listings
Consumers are also flocking to online directories, like Citysearch, where they can peruse user ratings and reviews.
“We’ve seen a steady increase of user content since we launched our product in 2002,” said Nancy Hunter, Citysearch senior network editor. “In fact, in 2006 our user content grew by 60 percent to more than 575,000 reviews across 142 markets.”
Hunter also urges retailers to review what’s being said about them online and post responses, if needed.
“At Citysearch, we actually give users a step beyond monitoring,” she said. “We allow them to post a response to specific user reviews. This mimics the same customer service approach a manager at a garden center would take if there was a complaint.”
Directories like Citysearch allow business owners to tailor their online messages -- for a monthly fee. Paid listings offer an enhanced business profile and lead generation. But there’s no wiggle room when it comes to online ratings. Retailers can respond to unfavorable comments but they can’t be deleted entirely.
Blog chatter
Garden bloggers seem to have two favorite topics: plants and the places they get them. Many blogs give detailed information on the retailers the authors like and loathe.
Dave’s Garden offers a blog application where users can post journal and diary entries. Whitinger said one blogger who’s a big mail-order customer gives blow-by-blow accounts of purchases. He even posts photos of the product packaging and how the plant looks the moment it’s removed from the box.
Garden centers are a hot topic in other forums, too. The author of Gotta Garden (http://gottagarden.blogspot.com) chronicled an early-spring trip to Merrifield Garden Center in Merrifield, Va. The store’s display gardens got rave reviews. But the author bemoaned the fact some specialty pansies could only be purchased as part of a mixed container.
Meanwhile, Mr. Brown Thumb (http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com), a blog popular among Chicago-area residents, offers advice for budget-conscious gardeners. The author frequently lauds the deals that can be found at big boxes and casts doubt on the supposed superior quality and service of independent garden centers.
Unvarnished reviews like these are just part of the new world order on the Web, Whitinger said.
“You’re using your keyboard more and actually typing things,” he said. “You write reviews about your experience at a garden center. We know this is a trend that’s definitely here to stay.”
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