"Would you purchase more products if they were priced less? Priced higher?"

I have always tended not to impulse buy, nor buy simply to be spending money. "Shopping", meaning going out to wander stores and just purchasing something has never been one of my "entertainments". Probably due to having worked in retail for many decades. When I need/want something and the expenditure is comfortable, I do shop for the best price, including on line with shipping, and make my purchase based upon what is the most cost effective transaction. If it's something I need/want immediately, I will purchase it locally whether it's the most cost effective or not. I do try to spend as much money locally as possible to support my local businesses and taxes. Not everything is available locally, unfortunately and when I can purchase what I am looking for on line at significant savings, that will usually skew my purchase toward the online source.

"What makes a company better than others?"

Depends upon what type of company. Company integrity/honesty. Putting customers ahead of profits, or at least allowing that impression. Service. Selection. There are automobile manufacturers I grew up driving who have made such outrageous moral choices, resulting in loss of their customers' lives, which have been documented in court proceedings and the media, which I will forever avoid. There are other products whose manufacturers have also made outrageously poor moral choices regarding their customers' safety, which I will never financially support again, either.

"Is ease of access important?"

Absolutely! There are stores I frequent because they are on the "right" side of the street. Lazy? Yup. It's my right to be, just as it is everyone else's. There are stores whose parking lots are so inconvenient and whose layouts are so irritating; whose public address systems are so irritatingly shrill and loud, I don't go into them, period. Until Costco got their new gas islands in the new facility, the station with the best price on gas in town was the hardest to get in and out of. It's laid out awfully and a real pain to deal with. It was worth paying a bit more for gas simply not to have to deal with the irritation, congestion and constant foot traffic in their access lanes. Costco has eliminated all of those negatives. Now, it's the ONLY place I will go for fuel. It has everything going for it. Integrity, convenience, THOUGHT put into everything they do, putting customers first...they make everything EASY, so I WANT to shop there. I am likely their anomaly. Usually, I get out of there for less than $40, unless I need paper products and dog food. Then, I'll likely spend $100. But, as I wrote, I don't "shop" for entertainment. I go where I find what I need/want, at the price I am most willing to pay, where it is most comfortable and convenient to go and where the company at least makes me feel they put my convenience and budget first.

Pretty much what roseseek said. When I rose shop, I do look for the best price, shipping, variety. ECT. I do buy more If the price is right and only if it's something I have been wanting, not just for the sake of buying. You have to take into consideration, room, taking care of it until a proper root system is in place, ECT, ECT. Ease of access is very important, as well as how they treat their customers. Integrity is the key.

I have come to accept that plant shopping in Crete is hit and miss. If I want the true named plant, I have to go on-line. However, the main reason whether I buy the plant or not comes down to the price of the shipping. Some shipping prices are ridiculous and can vary wildly. Nearly always the best price and service is with the original Post Office of the country of origin to the local Post Office. The service and cost with the courier companies varies from good to terrible. None are excellent. The nurseries I have bought from, have been good, with the exception of two, neither of them were rose nurseries.

David Austin Roses UK have the highest priced roses, but the best shipping cost, which makes their prices more competitive.

Daisy

I do most of my shopping online. I'm more likely to shop at places without gimmicks. For example free shipping if you spend 25$, but everything is 24.99, and overpriced. I add up cost between places including shipping, and go with the best price. I will pay a little more if I really want something, and I like the place. However, I would buy something similar from a place with fair prices, before I'd give one shiny penny to any place I thought was ripping people off, even if they had a sale.

What do you mean by good access? Parking? user friendly website?

a novel gardener will buy more at lower prices, as long as eyes are bigger than their stomach, so to speak.

An experienced gardener will pay more for a hard to find cultivar but will only buy what they need.

a good website is a must. The now defunct Vintage Rosery got most of my money b/c of their website. You could search by rose class, color, hybridizer, type (large or small shrub, vine, once bloomer, rebloomer, etc.).

a better company is one with healthy stock, good website, good shipping, price, in that order. I didn’t include large inventory b/c they could be a specialty store like OGRs only, own root only, or miniatures only. They don’t have to sell anything and everything to be the best.

Reliability, and accurate labeling is really important to me.

My answer to the last question very much influences my response to the first one. If someone offered a decent quality plant of a rose that was otherwise inaccessible (unavailable in the US), like my dearly departed Bella Renaissance, I'd pay a premium price to replace it. I'd consider the higher cost a return for the rarity of that particular variety. What I steadfastly refuse to pay premium price for is a run of the mill rose, like the "new" introductions that have either been around forever or are offered by multiple companies for a fraction of the price by the nursery in question.

In general, here are the rest of the responses to your questions:

- Would you purchase more products if they were priced less? Priced higher?

At 1000+ roses in my yard, and buying 200 or so roses a year for replacement of winterkilled varieties, I sure hope there isn't a factor that would make me buy substantially more roses than this (smile). For me, the factor that far outweighs the price is the unusual nature of the rose. Some companies that I've bought from for years I haven't ordered from at all this year because they haven't replaced offerings of their more unusual roses and there's nothing I'd want in their lines that I don't already have.

When I start rose buying season, I start with companies that I know have great quality plants and prices (like Chamblee's, Long Ago Roses and Burlington) and buy most of what I want that they offer, add any roses I want from the companies that specialize in more unusual roses not offered elsewhere (like Palatine, ARE and Hortico), then fill in with a variety of roses that I want from companies that offer everything, and I'll never have all the roses I'd potentially want from them (like Roses Unlimited). If I run across something common but cheap locally or in sales like Springhill/Brecks, the price is a factor in that decision, but I often give most of those roses away because it's a cheap way to get others hooked on roses. So the "want" for roses trumps by far the price of the rose, but I only do this with the companies that I know have fair prices for their merchandise. The only time I buy anything from the relatively overpriced companies (e.g. David Austin, Jackson & Perkins, Heirloom) is if they have something unusual or host a sale that brings their product into a reasonable range).

What makes a company better than others?

I agree with Kim - company integrity and honesty is critical. If they say they have the rose, they have it, and they've done their best attempt to make sure they are finding and selling the rose that is accurate as labeled, without diseases affecting that plant. Closely allied with this quality is communication. I'm fine if a rose doesn't make it to spring as long as the company contacts me as soon as they knows this and asks for my preference in how to handle it (replacement or refund). What really steams me is having to wonder what in the heck happened to a rose that I ordered that just is missing from the order when it arrives with no indication if it's back ordered or just unavailable. There are two companies I deal with that routinely do this and it's getting frustrating, particularly if they don't respond to queries well. I no longer offer any replacement rose suggestions except to companies I trust to honor those intents, since a "surprise" replacement also is poor communication and very unwelcome. The quality of the rose, particularly a solid root system and healthy cane on arrival, is also critical for continuing to buy from a company.

Is ease of access important?

Beyond the ease of accessing the rose in terms of availability, the ease of accessing the rose lists and communicating with the company can also make or break a rose purchase for me. There's a company I ordered from last year that had exciting roses unavailable elsewhere in the US, but not only was the communication difficult in the extreme, when I tried to find their availability this year I couldn't pull up anything in several varieties of Google searches or past emails. The only thing that worked was going through a posting of a newspaper article online, oddly enough, which brought me to the company webpage. Most smaller independent rose sellers excel at communication, but there's one that was so frustrating to deal with in email conversations and other transactions that I'm a bit reluctant to try that one again.

I consider mail order roses easy to access, but I'd love to see a wider variety of roses accessible locally for the sake of more casual rose buyers. The ease of access for them beats any other factor in their rose buying, even price. I see folks paying $50 for a very common rose locally because it's right there in the middle of the garden section and they can touch the merchandise and visualize it in their garden easily.

Cynthia

Definitely. Knowing a threshold for shipping, whether it's quantity of units or a price level, will often increase what I order if on line. I agree the threshold of something like $25 and everything is priced just UNDER that threshold, is off putting and usually means that isn't a business from whom I will buy, unless it is something I genuinely MUST have and is otherwise not obtainable, but I won't often return to them for most purchases. They have to make it convenient. Knowing Burling used standard Flat Rate shipping, I knew how many plants fit in the standard boxes, so I would order to maximize that economy. Vintage's requirement that the shipping be figured individually depending upon Zone and quantity of plants was off putting because it was virtually impossible to figure what the shipping was going to cost when placing the order, so they weren't ordered from as frequently.

Needmoremulch I know what you mean about having to call. I would have ordered from RU a long time ago, if they had an online shopping cart. I got my husband to call for me. I'm glad I'm not the only weirdo that hates calling to order. I hate calling any store for any reason. Sometimes when I have to call a place (more often than not) I get people that are less than helpful. :-)

Hidden fees really bug me. There is one online rose company that had a reasonable price for a rose I wanted, but then added packing and handling fees, another fee for being in a particular zone and another fee because I was ordering less than 6 plants. The total they quoted was almost $80 for one rose. Naturally, I told them I didn't want the order, but I was sorely disappointed. It should be part of the business to provide packing and handling services to customers. However, there are people on the gardenweb that praise this company. I can only assume they are in a zone where extra charges aren't added.

I like Northland Rosarium's shipping policy. They explain that you are free to order one rose, but there is no additional shipping cost if you order two roses, because the price of the box is the same with priority mail. The customer is free to choose and feels like they are getting a deal if they order two roses.

I think it is because I really like to mull stuff over, and I often feel rushed by people on the phone and it unnerves me. If something I want is out of stock then I have to decide whether to add something else or just drop it, and I have to figure the shipping again. Plus, as you say, talking to an abrupt or rude person can ruin my day (I should clarify that the young lady I talked to the one time I ordered from RU was perfectly polite, but they are still my last resort.) I prefer to be able to add and drop things from my online cart ad infinitum until I am finally decided and satisfied.

witchygirrl.....I feel the same way!

The only time I ever ordered from RU, the girl I talked to was rude, said she would call me back the next day and didn't, and when I called her, she was mad at me for calling! Then the plants they sent me were badly packaged and tiny.

I've wanted to get that off my chest for a looooong time. I don't want to be negative, so I try not to bring up the few bad experiences I've had with rose vendors. But this particular transaction was really off putting. I've heard that the owner Pat is a lovely person. If I knew she would answer the phone, I might order from them again.

Anyway, a well functioning website that's regularly updated, with clear shipping policies is very important to me!

I also like larger plants if I can get them.

For these reasons, Antique Rose Emporium has been my favorite rose vendor.

I hate calling to order as well. I love to just put my order online and if I need to communicate, just do it through email. I would text too.. I just hate talking to businesses on the phone. I don't mind talking to regular people. I guess I'm just in the habit of texting now though. I must be becoming anti social lol. I think the businesses that only use the call-in method are probably missing a lot of potential customers now days, especially with the younger generation.

I refuse to put up with any snottiness or drama from a business. The customer is always right (okay I know that's not always true and that some can be real a$$*$) but they really need to not be snooty to customers who haven't even done anything to them. They should know who butters their bread.

I mostly shop online unless I can find it locally. I don't find a lot of plants locally that I don't already have. I collect plants and grow a lot of stuff "not for my zone" I look for the cheapest price and shipping. I don't really mind small plants because they can catch up quick in my zone. If I was in a colder zone I might re think that. I hate places that over charge for the same item that everyone else is charging a lower price for. I would only buy from a place like that if no one else had that item at all and I really wanted it.

One more thing, make the websites mobile friendly. A lot of people are ordering from phones or tablets now and I hate having to hit the *desktop version* that does not always translate over correctly. I think a lot more people are shopping on the go now.

~Sjn

For those who don't like calling Roses Unlimited, you can email her your order instead. That's what I typically do and it works well.

They have some roses at RU I couldn't find anywhere, like General Gallieni.

I still had to call to give them my credit card, though. I think they are a great business and often have things in stock that no one else does. I just wish they had an online ordering system. I agree with SJN that they are probably missing out on on some business because of it.

I guess I'm the outlier in this regard: I (almost) always prefer to call and talk to a human being when making a purchase. Why? Because its an opportunity to learn something new. (I'm talking about my experiences with any business, not just rose nurseries) Its a unique opportunity to ask questions and exchange ideas/opinions. I value that opportunity.

Almost every time I have called and talked to someone in person, I got personalized advice or recommendations I would not get if I just press the "buy now" button. The last time I called Bostick & Sullivan to order wet plate photo supplies, I was treated to an avalanche of advice and tips I would never have otherwise gotten, and it was a valuable experience. I've had similar experiences when calling nurseries - often leading to a change in my plans or trying something I wouldn't have done otherwise. Sure, you can sometimes have a bad experience with a particular person, or encounter someone having a bad day, making them cranky (tell me none of you has had a bad day and acted out of character), but so what? One data point does not model the entire business.

Paul, my husband would prefer to speak to a real live human over the phone, too. He thinks I'm the wierdo, and I probably am. :)

As Paul suggests, when you can find that knowledgeable, interested person, it's gold! Much, otherwise difficult to nearly impossible knowledge can quickly and inexpensively be provided. I wish that wasn't increasingly a rare experience. "Buy now" buttons eliminate that interaction. But, they do provide the business with precisely what they are looking for...round the clock mass sales without the expense of that skilled, knowledgeable person.

Cynthia, thank you for bringing up the subject of "replacements" usually referred to as "substitutions" by the vendors. I, too, have been burned by agreeing to substitutions. Most nurseries do not do this but a few have viewed an agreement to accept "substitutions" as carte blanche for giving us whatever they feel like. I sometimes wonder whether they were really out of the desired plant after all. In any case I always write "no substitutions" whether there is a place on the form for it or not. One nursery called and asked if they could substitute anyway (to their credit they did ask) and when I said no they said in an incredulous voice, "but you will have to get money back", as though it were a fate worse than death. My response was along the lines of, "I can handle it".

Cath

Thank you everyone for your generosity and answers.

I prefer to phone in my orders. I don't totally trust doing it on the computer (hacking and stolen IDs) and being inexperienced I often cannot do it unless the site is very user friendly. I appreciate alphabetical lists of roses but not all nurseries do this on the web. I like Roses Unlimited very much, next after ARE, but cannot get much out of their website, no alphabetical list among other things. I have to wait until they send me a hard copy. This is frustrating for me and wasteful for them. Also 2 years in a row now when I have called, The receptionist has asked if she could call me back in a few minutes. She is obviously very busy. In both cases I ended up calling her back in a few days. Last year she even tried to get me to wait a second time. This year I left the order on the answering machine. She had to call me back to get one piece of information that I had omitted. This was probably just as well for security reasons. But overall leaving the order on the machine worked well. I liked Reverence for Roses very much when I talked to the owner but they require registering to contact them. I avoid registering with all businesses to the point that it can be a deal breaker. So I write but we all know how long that takes to get around to. So sometimes those orders never get placed.

Cath

I don't blame you for not registering, Cath. I hate the targeted advertising which appears after every search and the incessant spam which accompanies any registration. I do expect a vendor who requires on line orders without any human interaction, to provide their products at lower prices than those who provide a PERSON with whom to interact. While they are providing me the convenience of ordering any time, any day I want, I am also providing them with a significantly less expensive transaction by NOT requiring a person to be available and permit me their time to place the order or decide on what to order. IF I can encounter someone who knows at least as much about the product as I do, and hopefully, even more, I'm good. Too often, that isn't the case. It's wonderful when it is, though.

K S I had tried emailing RU, I don't know if I went to spam, or what happened, but I never got a response. That's why I talked the hubby into calling. He said they were very nice. I have anxiety on the phone, so I might have never ordered if I had to do it myself. They had everything I wanted, and more I want, but can't get yet. lol I'm looking forward to picking them up.

Paul I understand what you mean, but I have panic attacks. I just really prefer not to call. I'm not saying every person is bad, or even most, I just avoid it.

What I do like is whole number prices. It is a lot easier to add them up, especially with a large order. I can think of only one nursery that does this, Plant Delights. For almost every vendor to demonstrate that they think we are too stupid to notice the .99 or .95 after a dollar number is insulting. This is a very very old ploy, everyone is on to it. And it is wasteful of our time and theirs.

Cath

P.S. And I initially thought I had nothing to say on this thread.