Sprouting Profits: Tips for Starting Your Own Mail Order Nursery

Sprouting Profits: Tips for Starting Your Own Mail Order Nursery

Looking to start a plan, vegetable, or flower nursery this season? If you’re like most people you’re probably wondering “how do I get started?” Here’s how.

Decide On A Business Strategy

Will you sell as a traditional nursery, or will you sell mail order? A lot of companies are going mail order, both for the simplicity of it, but also because local markets are getting more competitive due to the ubiquity of online flower shops.

If you’re going the mail order route, make sure you compare merchant services companies here, because you’re going to need a low-cost solution to process credit cards over the phone or on the Internet.

Understand Plants

If you’re not a plant lover, you’re not going to make it in this business. Nurseries are run by horticulturists and plant lovers. This is a basic prerequisite, so know what you’re getting yourself into before you open up a nursery.

Consider Your Market

The way to improve the odds of you making money in this industry is to specialise and choose markets where you have a high-probability of success. If you’re selling domestically, you’ll want to match rare flowers and plants with a demand for those things, or create a demand based on their uniqueness.

For example, a nursery that grows an unusual plant for a foreign market, say a spider-type plant, could charge several hundred dollars for it if it’s being introduced into a market that has never seen it before. But, locally, it wouldn’t do very well. So, choose your market wisely, because it will drive your profit potential.

Have Good Shipping Arrangements

Having good shipping partners is very important. Your plants will be delivered by mail if you’re running a mail order business, and the best way to lose money is through shipping charges. A good shipping company will allow you to consolidate orders and can help you save money by combining your order with other orders for discounts.

Other than that, work closely with your shipping company to figure out the cheapest way to mail your goods to the customer. Sometimes this will mean special packaging or packaging arrangements.

Develop Customer Service

A big mistake many nurseries make is not developing their customer service skills or a department for customer service inquiries. Because they’re into selling plants and tending to them during the day, they often think that they’ll have minimal interaction with clients – especially if it’s a mail order business.

However, curious customers will drop by to check you out and, even when you’re selling from a distance, people want to know who they’re dealing with. In some ways, running an online business is harder, because people can’t get to know you.

So, you have to take extra measures to make sure your customer service team is top-notch. Develop your communication skills if they’re lacking, hire people who are good communicators, and spend time developing a protocol for handling customer inquiries.

Harley Sims works as a marketing director. He likes sharing his insights online. Look for his articles mostly on business and marketing websites.