Nadia A. Yi-Hsin C.

Emily C.

Ishmael B.

The Online Botanical Gardens

Online Botanical Gardens Basics

• Virtual Tours - NYBG, PHIPPS, FAIRCHILD, DBG• Community Links- Missouri, Longwood • Educational Experience

– Wide range of educational offerings, for adults, children, students, etc.

– Example: Splitting a Persimmon seed to forecast winter (NYBG)

• Functions– Corporate Cocktails – NYBG, Minter Botanical– Weddings, Automobile shows

A Sample Front Page

Players in Online Botanical Gardens

Garden Location Type

Fairchild Tropical Gardens Florida Tropical

Desert Botanical Gardens Arizona Desert

Phipps Conservatory Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Horticulture and Art

Minter Gardens Vancouver Theme Garden

Longwood Gardens Pennsylvania Woodlands and Meadows

Missouri Botanical Gardens

Missouri Educational/Research

New York Botanical Gardens

New York General

Website Comparisons

Phipps Conservatory

Desert Gardens

Customer Base

• Student• Corporations• Wildlife adventurers• Retirees • People who are

• Regular visitors to botanical gardens • Love gardening but don’t have time• Need to search for information about plants

Fundraising• Donations

– Non-members (Desert Botanical Gardens)

• Sponsorship– Corporate (NYBG)

• Membership• General and Corporate (sample from Missouri BG)

– Contributing Plus Member($100)– Sustaining Member($175)– Sponsoring Member($250)– Director’s associate($500)– Garden Fellows($2,500)– Garden Ambassador($5,000)

How They Attract Customers

• Link to other botanical gardens websites(majority)• Memberships(majority)• Visitor information(majority)• Online research resources• Volunteer opportunities to get people involved• Special events and activities• Shoppers at Garden Shop• Garden Clinics• Tourist Bureaus

Value Added

• The basic value added is the memberships– 10% discount at Garden Shop

– Special member rates for educational courses

– Special member-only parties, sales and events• Opening night previews of flower shows

– Trips designed especially for members

• Weekend bus trips from city to garden (NYBG)• Opportunities to participate in special events –

cocktails, dinners, guest speakers, etc.

Strategies to Lock-in Customers

• Paycheck contribution– Deduction from paycheck through corporate

participants

• Give rewards to the contributor– Discounts for family ceremonies– Plant adoption programs– Personalization of garden section by families

through the adoption of a small plot.

Strategies to Increase Traffic• Partnership with other botanical gardens• Improve the contents of the websites

– Interactive game with the children

• Public announcements on related websites or other media.

• Partnership with travel agencies, example Expedia, etc.

• Add a Virtual Tour feature.

What Can They Do?

Missouri BG – delayed online registration

Peapod – instant onlineregistration

Suggestions• Improve site conditions. Some sites were having

technical difficulties– unable to process credit card transactions for online

shopping & membership fees

• Utilize targeted marketing:– Send email to members about upcoming events of

interest.

• Create an online community for information exchange, compared to just communicating via email.

• Creative e-cards with garden snapshots to be sent to friends and loved ones.