Garden.com and other online retailers are changing direct marketing—including the look and function of the mail order catalog

By Melissa Sepos

“I think the biggest reason we do it in-house is we are trying to reinvent the garden industry and we want creative control to make sure brand is consistent and ensure that customer service is top notch,” says Sharples.

Garden.com’s catalog layout is highly unconventional. The company spends quite a bit of space selling itself rather than products. The spring edition takes the phrase “Top Millennium Picks” from the Web site and strips it across the cover to resemble the site. Garden.com devoted the first two inside pages to driving readers to the Web site.