Week 5, Post 1 - Defining a Target Market

For my Week 5 Post 1 blog I reviewed the first set of websites that belonged to Armstrong Garden Centers and Myrtle Creek Gardens.

My initial observation of the Armstrong Garden Center (AGC) website indicated that I was about to delve deeper into a well-executed and very modern platform.  The AGC website is commensurate with formatting associated with Instagram® with its bright and colorful picture-laden display.  There appears to be careful and deliberate determination of prioritizing frequently used links within the website.  It is immediately clear that this website supports an organization that has multiple outlets to sell their products.

AGC emphasizes growing the capabilities of their customer base in a manner that should lead to additional business.  It appears to me that their defined customer base are home owners interested in DIY landscape projects.  The website indicates that AGC wants to ensure that their customers are in the best position be successful with their respective landscape ideals.  There are numerous calls for action that focus more on building confidence than pushing for sales.  Everything about the website indicates an extremely high level of technical acumen in its execution.

The website for Myrtle Creek Gardens (MCG) is commensurate with the community in which this business resides.  Fallbrook, California is something of a “throwback” to yesteryear town that shuns the big box stores routinely found in more urban municipalities.  MCG’s website appears to be dated but it is functional enough that the user will not have difficulty finding what they are looking for.  MCG emphasizes the experience of the surroundings over support for DIY projects.  There is a scarcity of calls for action, no pressure here, as MCG is whispering an invitation to you drop in, take a little walk, smell the roses, and when you’re done with all of that, drop into one of their little cafes and talk with us about your experience.

The website for MCG dances to the drumbeat of the Fallbrook community.  It’s slow, charming in its simplicity, and functional in its intended purpose.

Although both businesses sell gardening products there isn’t likely to be much crossover between their customers.  I would consider AGC to be a big box store that competes indirectly with Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other businesses in that genre.  MCG has a target audience that is focused on a more intimate experience that enables them to encounter old acquaintances, occasionally meet new ones, drink a glass of chi tea, and perhaps purchase a rake and some grass seed before leaving.