Shop at the garden center? This is easier if you cover your needs in the garden online shop. But how do you recognize good online shops?
Online garden shops are becoming increasingly popular. And that's not surprising, because they attract customers with great offers in all seasons, have a wide range of products and are increasingly able to convince with excellent quality. In addition, a garden online shop is always open! You can conveniently shop at any time of the day or night, including on Sundays and public holidays. Ultimately, the plants are delivered directly to your home and you no longer have to organize the sometimes difficult transport of large plants yourself.
But as with so many online shops, there are also some "black sheep" in the garden online shops category. Therefore, before you order something from an online garden shop, you should check whether it meets the following criteria.
Distinguishing features of a good online garden shop
1. Variety description & care instructions:
Good online shops also have their own variety description and associated care instructions for each individual plant offer. You can then already see on the computer whether you can also provide the right location for the desired plant.
» Tip: When shopping, you should make sure that the selected garden shop has an expert telephone hotline that will answer any additional questions about the individual plants at any time - even after the purchase of the goods .
2. Terms of delivery:The delivery period for garden plants is usually between early spring and autumn. Garden decorations and accessories, seeds and other accessories can usually be ordered and delivered all year round.
Good providers also guarantee their customers delivery on a desired date. A great service, but you have to keep in mind that this often comes with additional costs. However, this service offers the advantage that you are on site on the day of delivery and on the one hand receive the plants personally and on the other hand can also optimally care for them.
Important: After receiving the goods, you should check them immediately. If damage occurred during transport, you should immediately submit a complaint to the respective garden shop by e-mail or telephone. The same applies to wilted plants, broken root balls, broken branches and the like.
3. Exchange & Growth Guarantee:
Normally, plants that have arrived at the customer in poor condition or have suffered damage in transit are always exchanged. If you don't like the plant in question, you can exchange it at well-known garden shops within the first 14 days. In special cases, however, undamaged plants may still be exchanged afterwards as a gesture of goodwill.
Many garden shops also give their customers a so-called growth guarantee, which is usually granted for a period of 2 years. During this time, you can easily exchange plants that do not grow or bloom or do not bear fruit after following the care instructions.
» Tip: Before shopping in an online garden shop, you should definitely pay attention to this additional service! If it is not explicitly stated on the website, you can ask for it again by e-mail.
4. Test certificates & quality seals:Several seals of approval are now being awarded for safe online shopping, which can certainly be useful as a decision-making aid for a purchase from the respective online retailer. However, you should always question the quality seals shown on the individual websites if they are not known in detail. Simply use a search engine to research the origin and meaning of the respective test certificate or seal of quality.
5. Price comparison:
Nowhere is it easier to be able to directly compare the wide range of goods on offer than on the Internet. Of course, the many garden shops on the Internet also bow to this fact and usually even offer seasonal bargains on their websites. Good online garden shops also offer their customers a regular newsletter in which discount campaigns and special prices are published as well as new plants, gardening tips and much more.
Our tip: prefer local nurseries!
Behind many online offers there is often a large nursery close to where you live that offers its own range of products. These offers have the advantage that a supplier who is as close to the location as possible can come up with plants,whose location requirements have already been tailored to the local conditions and the plants then grow much more easily in their own garden and thrive better. That's why you should always check whether the garden online shop of your choice is based on a large nearby nursery. If so, you should rather buy the plants directly there than in the online shop.