Gardener's Supply

Full review
I enjoy surfing through the Gardener’s Supply online store and have purchased from them before. This time, however, I was on a specific mission. I was hunting for the perfect composter!


Navigating the Website

http://www.gardeners.com

This is a well presented website with a clean home page featuring lots of navigation and a few graphics that show merchandise.


At the Top

Along the very top of the website is a scrolling bar that offers special announcements, a link to request a catalog and a link to the outlet shop. Beneath this is an area to the right of the Gardener’s Supply logo that offers links to check order status, the shopping basket, and checkout. Underneath this area are buttons that lead to: Shopping, Learning (how-to articles), Community (gardening success stories), Customer Service.

There is also a Search Box. Typing in the word “compost” yielded 61 results. Six results with photos appeared on each page. Along the right side was a list of links to refine the search. A sampling includes: Compost Accessories (24 results), Compost Systems (13 results), Kitchen Gear (5 results).


To the Left

Along the left margin are a host of categories to choose from. These categories include:

Pots and Planters (indoor, outdoor, soil & accessories)

Outdoor Gardening (compost, flowers, vegetables, pest control, tools, watering, greenhouses & essentials)

Yard & Landscaping (solar lights, landscape accents, attracting birds, footwear & apparel, weather, pest controls, pond maintenance)

For the Home (outdoor furniture, indoor living, in the kitchen, wellness & comfort)

Indoor Gardening (seed starting, light gardens, houseplants)

Outlet (gardening sale, landscape sale, for the home sale)

Other Ways to Shop (seasonal gifts, gift cards, exclusive products)


To the Right

The right side of the home page is devoted to new product with photos and brief descriptions.


At the Bottom

The first offering at the bottom of the page is an area to sign up (provide your email address) for Gardener’s Supply gardening tips and special offers. There are also links to: request a catalog, About Us, Privacy, Jobs, Site Map, and Contact Us. A notice says 𣺜% Satisfaction Guaranteed” and their toll-free phone number is prominently displayed.


Shopping the Site

I was searching for the perfect composter. I had a list of what I wanted in a composter and couldn’t believe it when I actually found it here! It seemed that I had searched just about every garden catalog that crossed my path ... and then I found the composter online.

Each product page on Gardener’s Supply contains a good-size photo of the product. In many instances, there are additional photos to gain a good visual of the item. Beneath the photo area are product specifications and material details. For instance, my composter is made from 100% recycled plastic and is also exclusive to Gardener’s Supply. To the right of the photo is a write-up of the item with more product information. Lower on the page is the price and an area to choose quantity and whether to add it to the shopping basket. In this instance was also a note saying that an additional shipping charge of $10.00 applied to this item. You can also email the item listing to a friend.

The page for my composter also included a link to “Composting Made Easy” as well as a link to the composter’s assembly instructions in pdf format. There is also a selection of photos pertaining to related items. In this instance was a Rodent Screen, Compost Aerator, Super Hot Compost Starter, and a Back Porch Compost Tumbler.

I added the Deluxe Pyramid Composter to my shopping basket. The screen changed to show my item in the basket as well as a subtotal of the order, which included the “processing and home delivery” charge ... and fancy way of saying shipping and handling. You can edit, remove or add more items from this page.

Wait a moment ... I want one of those Rodent Screens! I pressed my browser’s Back button to go return to the product page and clicked on the Rodent Screen. I read the information, decided it was a good purchase, and added it to my cart. The screen changed again to show the two items in my cart with a revised shipping fee and dollar total.


Checking Out

On the Shopping Basket page is a check box to select if shipping the items to more than one address. Both of my items were shipping to me. Next I clicked the Continue to Checkout button. The next page requests the typical billing and ship-to information. An email address is required. There is a space to type a personal message if the item is shipping as a gift. At the bottom of the page is an area that lists the shipping information. In this case it said, “This order will ship using: Standard Shipping (6-12 business days)”. There is also a link to select a faster shipping option.

Select “continue” to review the order. Then it’s time to supply credit card information. Credit cards accepted include: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover. This website not only requests the credit card number and expiration date ... but also asks for the credit cardholder name. You can also redeem a gift certificate by typing in the gift card number.

There is also an area to enter a coupon code. This code can come from a catalog or an online source. The code provides a discount on the order. I was fortunate to have a code that provided 50% off my order.

You can also select (or not select) to receive additional emails from Gardener’s Supply.

Once all the information is provided, click the Purchase button. It wasn’t long after I finalized my order that I received an email confirmation. I also received emails to let me know when my order shipped. In this case, the composter was shipped separate from the Rodent Screen.


Shipping & Arrival

Gardener’s Supply uses both the U.S. post office and FedEx for their shipments. Choices include Standard Shipping, FedEx 2-Day and FedEx Overnight. International orders are not accepted, however they will ship to APO and FPO addresses.

Here is a rundown of shipping charges:

Under $10 – $5.25
$10.01 to $20 – $7.25
$20.01 to $35 – $9.25
$35.01 to $50 – $10.50
$50.01 to $75 – $12.75
$75.01 to $100 – $13.50
$100.01 to $125 – $15.50
$125.01 to $250 – 12% of merchandise total
Over $250.01 – 11% of merchandise total

My order quickly arrived within five days. The composter arrived one day before the Rodent Screen. The composter had a piece in the shipping carton that had a point on it, and the pointy piece had put a good-size hole in the carton side. The item was fine, though. The Rodent Screen was packaged very well in a flat cardboard box with protective styrofoam on the screen’s corners. It was in excellent condition.


Summary

I’m very pleased with my purchases from Gardener’s Supply. This gardening retailer offers some unique items as well as familiar gardening supplies. While you will find many methods of gardening (composting, water gardens, greenhouse, etc.) ... you will not find flower or vegetable seeds unless they come as part of a kit or are in a seed-ball mix (like the herb seed balls). That is fine with me, though, since I have other online resources for my seeds and plants.

I hope you found this review useful.

Enjoy the day,
Dawn
http://dlstewart.com


Please read my other reviews:

Deluxe Pyramid Composter

Rodent Screen for compost bin

Johnny’s Selected Seeds (online store)

Park Seed (online store)

Burpee (online store)

The Cook's Garden (online store)

Dutch Gardens (online store)

Cooking.com (online store)

Upside-Down Tomato Garden

Earth Box Garden

The Garden Claw

Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Soil

Jiffy Square Peat Pots

Rubbermaid Big Max Storage Shed

Black & Decker Cordless Battery Mulching Lawnmower


Copyright 2007 Dawn L. Stewart