BURPEE CUSTOMER PREFERENCE COMPARISONS
By. George Ball, President & CEO - W.Atlee Burpee
We ran a comparison of our winter and spring 2008 "Top Ten" in internet and non-internet sales, for both flowers and vegetables. I'll present the non-internet first, because it comprises a majority of our sales. However, internet sales (items offered and fulfilled entirely from our website) are growing rapidly.
The non-internet (via the Burpee catalogue and color packet store sales) is on the left and is our traditional business, originating 133 years ago. On the right are the internet only figures.
Top 10 Flowers
| (Traditional) | (Internet) |
| 1. Zinnia | 1. Petunia |
| 2. Morning Glory | 2. Impatiens |
| 3. Sunflower | 3. Begonia |
| 4. Nasturtium | 4. Columbine |
| 5. Alyssum | 5. Sunflower |
| 6. Petunia | 6. Marigold |
| 7. Marigold | 7. Zinnia |
| 8. Cosmos | 8. Coleus |
| 9. Moonflower | 9. Snapdragon |
| 10. Poppy | 10. Salvia |
Comment
The traditional flower top ten is fairly predictable with two exceptions: first, nasturtium - a big surprise at #4, beating marigold for the first time in 17 years. Second is marigold dropping out of the top five during the same period. The refreshing charm of nasturtiums has perhaps lodged permanently in our customers' hearts. Also, its unique and distinctive shades of clear, cool orange are a big deal in the fashion world at the moment. Plus, it should be noted that marigolds are common at garden centers, while nasturtiums are not. Also, the important feature of our traditional top tens is their ease of growing. Our longstanding customers prefer direct-sow seeds that sprout outdoors. Keep it simple and they'll buy.
The internet flower top ten has some big surprises. Granted, we sell a wide range of petunias, but this fooled me. Also, columbine-or aquilegia-at #4 is astonishing. It actually beat sunflower. It has always been popular with the collector, but this high a ranking is astonishing. Therefore, it seems collectors prefer the web. That is very significant. Begonia has always been in the top ten, but its high showing is also remarkable. Note snapdragons, coleus and salvia-all indoor sown, as are impatiens and petunias. In contrast, only petunia showed up on the traditional list. Web customers hunt for the difficult-to-find, challenging items. Finally, sunflowers remain a consistent classic. They are the only plant that has hardly fluctuated on both lists over the 12 years.
A notable absence is the seed geranium, or Pelagonium, which used to be hugely popular in the 60s and 70s. Perhaps the old-fashioned types will make a comeback some day. They are superior to the cutting types for garden performance, since they branch much lower to the ground, have better vigor, and thus grow tall with a bushy habit. But they've been out of favor for 25 years, probably due to the availability of cheap vegetative clones at garden centers. Too bad-the old Carefree series were stunning in the garden, especially Carefree Red with its pretty mid-green foliage. Only customers in France still love them.
Top 10 Vegetables
| (Traditional) | (Internet) |
| 1. Green Bean | 1. Tomato |
| 2. Summer Squash | 2. Pepper |
| 3. Cucumber | 3. Lettuce |
| 4. Lettuce | 4. Sweet Corn |
| 5. Tomato | 5. Carrot |
| 6. Peas | 6. Green Bean |
| 7. Sweet Corn | 7. Eggplant |
| 8. Radish | 8. Cucumber |
| 9. Carrot | 9. Pea |
| 10. Melon | 10. Melon |
Few surprises here, except that peppers still score very high on the web. Sweet and hot peppers are a cult item with many gardeners and market growers. Also, sweet corn scored surprisingly high on the internet, which is due to the wide range we offer compared to both the traditional channel (although #8 isn't bad) and all of our web competition. We're known nationwide for our sweet corn varieties. Also note the relative ranking of cukes, which are extremely popular with our traditional customers. Similarly notice the drop off of summer squash on the net list. Frankly, we sell so much zucchini that the net customers have already bought them by the time they turn on their computers. Green beans are like the sunflowers of the vegetable world. After summer squash, they're the most widely grown both in demographics and geography. However, it is obvious that tomatoes reign supreme in sheer volume of dollars, and this is our number one specialty. Our tomato sales on the web are a runaway number one most likely due to the wide range of superior, time-tested varieties. And note that tomatoes are the only indoor sown item on the traditional list.
As with flowers, the relative weight goes to direct row items with the traditional customers (summer squash and radish), and with peppers and eggplants, both a bit fickle in the germination stage, with the web list.
Finally, on both the flower and vegetable internet lists, the preferences tend toward the more expensive. Most experts tell us that the web is dominated by price shoppers. However, our customers don't always follow this rule, and perhaps gardeners in general do not. They are willing to search out the unusual. Plus, they know a good value-seeds in general-when they find it. In gardening, the price shoppers tend to go to the more limited range in the stores and the traditional print catalogues.
