Sowing Trust, Growing Sales: How Describely Transformed Local Garden Centre’s Online Presence

Growing a Heritage Brand into the Digital Age

Squire’s Garden Centres, a successful family-owned business across Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, North and West London communities since 1936, has always prided itself on sustainable values and friendly service. With 17 centres and a reputation built on care for both people and plants, Squire’s prides itself on delivering quality plants and garden care products. However, when looking at expanding into eCommerce, the team quickly discovered they needed a compelling online presence to match their in-store experience. 

“We knew we needed to give customers the same confidence they feel in-store, only now through a website,” says Vicky, their eCommerce and Fulfillment Lead.

A Patchwork Start to eCommerce

When the pandemic accelerated Squire’s Garden Centre’s move online, the entire team rallied to create product descriptions at speed. Team members eagerly contributed their time and energy, rewriting supplier specs into copy that would get Squires up and running.

“It was the eight of us, just sitting there with a spreadsheet—thousands of lines—trying to write product descriptions,” Vicky recalls. “We didn’t have enough time to rewrite all that content.”

While this collaborative effort helped Squire’s launch online quickly, the team soon realized they needed a more refined, unified approach. They wanted their online copy to capture the same warmth and expertise customers experienced in-store, without losing the momentum team members had helped build.

Finding the Right Tool

After experimenting with generic AI platforms, Vicky discovered that most required significant manual prep work, offered limited customization, or simply didn’t scale beyond one product at a time.

“We looked at other tools, but a lot of them required you to do almost all the work first, then they just made it look pretty,” she notes. Describely, on the other hand, allowed her to import a full spreadsheet of specs, instruct the system to match their distinctive, welcoming style, and generate descriptions for hundreds of products in one go. 

The ability to set category-specific guidelines, add industry keywords, and regenerate descriptions whenever needed gave Squire’s the control it was missing. “It was so customizable, and other platforms just weren’t,” says Vicky. 

Turning Shoppers into Confident Buyers

Although Squire’s Garden Centre still sees the majority of its revenue come from in-store sales, the online journey has improved thanks to clearer, more unified product descriptions. 

“A lot of customers see something online, then come into the store to buy it,” Vicky acknowledges. “I can see bounce rates are better, and we’ve got fewer drop baskets, so the customer journey is much smoother.”

She credits Describely’s built-in auditing feature with helping ensure accuracy at scale. “Describely flags key facts for you to verify. That’s a really big benefit,” she confirms.

This shift in the customer journey has vindicated Vicky’s belief that clear, unified content fosters the same trust online that customers already enjoy in-store.

Breathing New Life into Existing Content

With Describely, Squire’s Garden Centre can continuously refresh product descriptions, ensuring its online catalogue never goes stale. “We sell a lot of the same products year after year, so it’s important we can refresh the content.” 

With Describely, their team can easily pull older listings, update any outdated references, and make sure the tone still aligns with what customers expect in-store. “That consistency helps customers trust you more,” says Vicky. “It’s like having the same salesperson taking you through your entire purchase journey.”

Sowing Seeds for the Future

Vicky plans to harness Describely’s capabilities for upcoming seasonal ranges and expanded categories, confident that their digital channels can now keep pace with the care and personalization Squire’s has offered for decades. 

For a beloved local brand that has thrived on in-person connections for nearly a century, Describely now ensures that Squire’s Garden Centre’s warmth and expertise shine through at every digital touchpoint.

 

Ready to see how Describely can transform your own product content?

If you’re looking to extend your brand’s core value into every corner of your online presence, Describely is here to help. Sign up to see how we can transform raw spec sheets into engaging, on-brand content that resonates with your customers and drives sales!