Tossing in the ground and look what it is; Mowing, watering, fertilizing - those who have a garden feel the work with flowers, grass and earth mostly as a relaxation and change to the office job. It is annoying, however, to go through half the city to buy a sack of flowers or equipment for the green island. But it also goes easier, after all, there are special online retailers for products around the garden. In addition, all major DIY stores have their own internet shops, where the customer can order all the required products at the click of a mouse. In theory, therefore, everything is quite simple.
Garden professional or Amazon?
But what does it look like in practice? Are the online shops of DIY stores and garden professionals really the first choice for amateur gardeners, or are there also these products most comfortable at Amazon ? To clarify these questions, five well-known DIY stores and two garden specialists came up against the shopping giant Amazon.
Gaps in the assortment
Of garden specialists and hardware stores the customer of course expects a much wider range than with the generalist Amazon, but the reality looks different , the example shows Hagebaumarkt : Although the online shop with "a huge selection of products" advertises, there is there Neither garden tubs, watering cans nor blaukorn fertilizer. Amazon.de offers in comparison 466 garden hoses, 139 watering cans and four blaukorn variants - without the "volume", ie without all other dealers, which offer their goods on the Amazon website. Also with the other specialists, the offer is smaller compared to Amazon.
Grounding of flowers by mail would be nice ...
Example: Ground of the earth. The heavy sacks no one likes to drag, Amazon supplies the brown basic material for every amateur gardener in 92 product variants and all sizes jagged by mail. And the specialists? Bauhaus and Hellweg have no flower bulbs online at all, Hagebaumarkt leads mickrige two products. At the time of testing, GartenXXL had only one variety with a maximum of 20 liters, while Dehner delivered a maximum of 10 liter bags. Hornbach scores with an orderly earth assortment, but shipped - but unmarked - by freight forwarder and on pallet. Obi alone can keep up with Amazon.
Available in the market, online not
Apparently, DIY stores with branch network keep the goods offer in their online shops deliberately scarce. Customers can see a lot of products on the colorful pages, but many products can not be ordered online. For instance, Hagebaumarkt offers a vast selection of 957 products for "Lawns and Seeds". There are just ten mouse clicks. And Bauhaus has 64 pesticides in the program, but not one is available online. Compared to the huge selection of Amazon.de, this is simply miserable.
Price comparison with obstacles
And what about prices? Because the comparison is difficult, because of the low selection in the online shops of the garden specialists there were few products in all the tested shops. All the more frequent are private labels, special offers and special sizes for gardeners. But if price comparisons were possible, Amazon had the nose ahead. Apart from a few outliers, the Internetriese scores with consistently fair prices and acceptable shipping charges. Quite the contrary to Hagebaumarkt and Hellweg, because customers often pay prices that are close to the manufacturer's recommended retail price (RRP) - and in some cases even higher.
Further recognition of the test: If you shop with gardeners at the click of a mouse, you will not save a cent, because in the market on the spot cost the products exactly the same. Nevertheless, bargain-hunters can look more closely at the prices: Amazon is not always cheap, and some DIY market always lures with low prices. Hornbach offered an article even more favorably than Idealo . This construction market generally offers a low price level, as well as a price guarantee, which applies even to advertising and discount campaigns as well as Internet prices.
Shipping costs
Do you want to order fertilizer or a garden shears? This is an expensive pleasure for the gardeners: Hagebaumarkt, Hellweg, Hornbach and Obi demand from 4,90 to 5,95 Euro regardless of order value and product. Bauhaus proves that it is also different. Orders with the exception of forwarding goods are always free of shipping costs. Annoying: At Obi, Hagebaumarkt, Hellweg and GartenXXL, customers will only be aware of the shipping costs incurred during the ordering process.
Conclusion: garden shipper in the test
Most of the Internet shops tested look tidy, provide good search filters and informative product descriptions. With the exception of Hagebaumarkt, the test orders were generally fast at the receiver, and returns were easy. Nevertheless, this test also clearly shows why Amazon dominates the online shopping world: Garden specialists and DIY stores have no chance against the online giant - and this in their specialty. At the prices, if possible, Hornbach, but here the high shipping costs a better evaluation. Bauhaus always delivers free shipping, but the prices are on average higher. The other shops are more expensive by the bank.
Especially with its gigantic product selection, Amazon hangs the competition mercilessly. In the test was only Amazon.de examined and not even the huge volume. Many DIY stores, on the other hand, seem to be artificially short of their Internet goods offer - do they want to lure customers to their markets? After all, there are many products on the shop pages, but they are not available "online", but only in the market.
Also, the specialists hardly offer advantages compared to Amazon. At all events the possibility of returning or picking up products in local markets can be an advantage if the market is close to you. If you simply want to take tools in your hand and buy beautiful plants, you can still browse the local hardware store. But for orders on the fast, Amazon is the best address.