We first launched our pioneering Hall's website in November 1999, when buying from internet sites was in its infancy. Subsequently, the re-named Gardensite.co.uk has grown from half a dozen pages to over 12,000 pages in 2016.  There's been a continual increase in the number and type of products we offer and also many updates to consumer functionality.

Continuous development has always been vital to attract and retain our many thousands of customers worldwide. This has always been underpinned by our philosophy to offer the price and ease that's demanded when purchasing from a website with the service you would expect in a garden centre.

Building the GardenSite brand

Although performing well, I thought we needed to consolidate the GardenSite brand. After looking at the company’s strengths and weaknesses, counselling business associates and also family and friends, I came to the conclusion that national TV advertising was the best way to achieve this aim.

Getting to page 1 of Google is what many internet companies believe is the Holy Grail but it is only part of the story.  Our online competition often comes from household names such as Amazon, eBay, B&Q, Homebase, John Lewis, Argos and other well respected companies.

Although we have a proven track record of offering a first class service over many years, among these giant retailers the GardenSite brand is simply often not recognised. This is the problem we hoped that TV advertising would address.

We have chosen to use Sky Adsmart so that potential customers can be better targeted, traditional TV regions have a wider potential audience but do not offer any such selectivity. Using data mined from the GardenSite records, the TV strategists can target not only post codes but customers within those post codes who fit the required criteria.

Create your perfect space

There were three versions of the advertisement, all with the strapline 'Create Your Perfect Space'. As within the gardening sector many internet companies work very closely with manufacturers, we showcased one particular product in each version. These were the featured products:

Halls Greenhouses, an obvious choice as they are one of the best known greenhouse manufacturers in the UK. The quality of their product, the quick shipping and the after-sales service, are all fantastic selling points for our customers. As a special offer, each greenhouse comes with a staging and top tier extension kit together with Thompson & Morgan seeds.

Konstsmide is a Swedish manufacturer of outdoor garden lighting who pride themselves on quality, design and value for money. The range is vast and dispatched from the UK base, so when you buy Konstsmide lighting you are investing in an established  and trusted brand

Alexander Rose is an extensive range of superb quality garden furniture to suit all pockets. Their Monte Carlo deep seating and dining range is fully weatherproof, and new for 2016 is the stylish Cologne range in stainless steel.

Starting on  27th January, the GardenSite TV campaign, that consisted of three 30 second adverts, ran for 10 weeks until the last week of March on various Sky channels including Sky 1, 2, News, Living, Arts, in addition to National Geographic and Discovery. There was also extensive social media activity to reinforce the message.

Watch our adverts -