Factors Affecting Consumer Purchases of Fall Nursery Products:
Fall 1997 consumer Survey

ARE Report No. 19

Charles D. Safley
Michael K. Wohlgenant
Cassandra DiRienzo

Introduction

A consumer survey was conducted during the 1996 fall marketing season to assess the effectiveness of advertising programs conducted by retail nursery operators (Safley, Wohlgenant and Rezitis, 1998). Prior to the survey, few, if any, research studies focused on garden center promotion efforts. The specific focus of the 1996 survey and the lack of comparable published findings made it difficult to verify the survey results. The primary goal of this study was to validate the conclusions and recommendations obtained from the 1996 consumer survey by conducting a follow-up survey in the fall of 1997. In particular, the intent of the study was to corroborate findings and conclusions concerning the effectiveness of advertising and promotional programs conducted by independent garden centers. A second goal was to collect selected data omitted from the earlier survey. For example, several managers asked for recommendations concerning the type of radio station that should be used to promote their business while other operators wanted to know additional information concerning the composition of typical shopping parties. To achieve these goals, three specific study objectives were identified: 1. Determine if repetitive advertising would improve the effectiveness of a garden center's promotional program on influencing customers to shop at a garden center and to pur- chase specific products. 2. Discover the proportion of garden center customers that subscribe to Raleigh's local newspaper and identify their favorite radio stations. 3. Identify and characterize garden center customers, their purchase intentions and actual purchases

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