Kitchen gardening systems marketer AeroGrow International has launched its first catalog. The 16-page book sells AeroGrow’s signature aeroponic growing systems, seeds and accessories.
The five-year-old company mailed more than 50,000 catalogs in June to targeted lists and names on AeroGrow’s house list. “A catalog makes it easy for existing customers to re-order product and grow our recurring revenue,” AeroGrow International’s marketing director John Thompson. With its signature AeroGarden product, the company sells seed kits that customers buy every four months or so, he says.
What exactly is the AeroGarden? The company’s dirt-free aeroponic technology creates a “near-perfect rain forest growing environment.” Plants in are suspended in air in a 100% humidity, highly-oxygenated aeroponic growing chamber that fits on a kitchen counter. Because the plants are soaked with ideal levels of nutrients and water, they grow twice as fast as in dirt, AeroGrow says.
The company sells its products in stores, Websites, and catalogs such as Frontgate, and Herrington, as well as through television via QVC and infomercials. Still, “not that many people know what the product is and what the benefits are,” Thompson says. “Catalogs offer an engaging way to introduce the product and category to prospective buyers and give us lots of room to demonstrate the features and benefits.”
Although it’s still early, so far, Thompson says, “the results look promising.” Once the Boulder, CO-based company has more data its catalogs, he notes, “we’ll better understand the economics, and that will be a major factor in determining how aggressive a rollout we have.”