How to Sell Plants Online - 8 Tips to Double Sales

Living around plants brings a lot of benefits, and the internet is full of such information. Some people like to keep a plant on their windowsill or the corner of their living room, and some like to grow a garden at home. However, some like to start an online business and sell plants online.

And if you're one of them, we've come up with the best tips to help you start and manage your online business. Our ultimate guide will show you how to get started, what to consider when choosing a platform, and how to market your plants to reach the right audience. We'll also give you some tips on pricing and shipping so you can get the most out of your online plant business.

Is Selling Plants Online Worth It

Selling plants online is surely a great idea. Over the past few years, ecommerce has boomed and is just going to keep on growing. You can earn great profit by making a good sale on plants because there is demand for live plants all year round.

In addition, selling plants doesn't only help you earn money, but you also get to watch them grow around you and get health benefits. Of course, you will have to invest some money in the business upfront, but it is definitely worth the risk!

8 Useful Tips to Help You Sell Plants Online

So, if you've made up your mind and are ready to start your eCommerce online store to sell plants, the following tips can come out to be helpful:

1. Decide on What to Sell

Choosing the right plants for your store is the first thing you must think about. Everything counts before you choose the plants, the climate in which you live, your access to the plants, and the space available. You must also focus on how much you can invest in your online business.

For example, you can select from houseplants that include cacti or air plants. Or, you can pick from outdoor plants. If you want to sell plants online, you need to choose wisely. Many common plants can be grown by anyone and sold to the masses. Some of the best examples would be succulents, bamboo, landscape plants, orchids, aloe vera, and more.

2. Source the Plants

As you decide the type of plants you would like to sell online, you must consider sourcing them and have two options. The first option is growing your own plants. It could be your option if you like gardening and planning to start your business on a small scale. Make sure you have enough time, the necessary tools, and the right equipment for the job so that you can personally understand and cater to the customer's needs.

The second option is to partner with a wholesaler. For example, you can contact a local nursery and partner with them to sell your plants. They will sell your plants, but the items will carry your branding. This option is a bit cheaper and would be better for you if you don't have enough time.

3. Showcase the Plants

No matter how much effort you put in to grow your plants and nourish them, if you don't make them look good, there will be no sales. An extra effort is required to make your plants look great to grab customers' attention. If you're selling plants online, you can showcase them using great product photos and descriptions.

Product photos are necessary to grab the customer's attention. If your plants seem to be visually appealing and colorful, people would love to buy them. There must be no distractions in the photos, and you must use good lighting, apt background, and everything else required to make your photos look good.

Product descriptions tell the customer the key details they must know about the plant and why they must buy it. You can add the benefits of keeping the plant in their home and other points that describe its beauty well.

4. Setup the Store

You can select the best platform you like to sell your plants online. One of the best examples is Shopify, you can create a profitable dropshipping store there and give a good kick-start to your business. You need to build your online store well, and platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce can help you in growing.

Visit the platform's website, sign up, choose a domain name, choose the best theme, upload your products, and select the payment options for your customers. That much is only required to start your online store and run it efficiently.

5. Price Your Plants

The price of your plants is an extremely important part of the online business. The price you set for your plants should be reasonable. Having said that, you should always consider the market value of the plants. The nursery's location, product quality, and demand for the product should be considered while setting the price of the plants. If the price is too high, it will discourage the customers from buying your products. If the price is too low, your profit or revenue will be impacted.

Since the demand and relevance of plants depend on the location, you should have the pricing strategy accordingly. You can increase the prices of the products if the demand is high and the supply is low. If the demand is not high enough, you can lower the price.

The pricing can also be decided based on the season. If the season is summer, you can increase the price of the products because the demand for the products is high. If the season is winter, you can reduce the price of the plants as the demand may be lower.

6. Marketing of the Store

If you want to target the right audience and attract them to your store, you must focus on your store's marketing strategies. There's no point in investing time in inventory management and other tasks related to your store. If you don't have any marketing strategy, your customers won't be able to find your store.

One of the most important tasks related to marketing is driving organic traffic to your website. You can drive traffic to your website through paid ad services and content. Or, you can invest in Search Engine Optimization, which does the same thing. SEO is a strategy that boosts the ranking of your website on the search engine result page. Other than both of these options, you can try Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

If you want to grow your social audience and email list without worrying about a lot of expenditure, do it organically with consistent posting and sign-up incentives. You can add value to your site through social media or a blog by establishing yourself as an expert in your field and offering free advice. Invest time in creating a content marketing strategy and learn how to optimize your content for search engines. Content that you post on your site can help attract organic traffic that you can convert into sales.

7. Packaging of Your Plants

If any customer likes the product you're offering and decides to buy it, you must figure out the best way to pack the product and ship it safely. But, before you get to the final part, which is shipping, you must figure out the best way to pack the plants. Packaging plants is a process that requires more delicate care than packaging any other item.

Because plants are living organisms, you must be extra careful with them and ensure their safety during transport. Then, when you're done with the packaging, decide on the shipping method. Other than that, you need to figure out the shipping time, the right courier service product, and the shipping charges.

8. Shipping

As mentioned earlier, the packaging and shipping of plants is a matter you need to take seriously. Plants (especially those grown at home) are delicate and must be adequately packed. The best thing would be to consult a reliable delivery agency to understand your concern and ship your plants safely.

In addition, you should know that shipping speed plays a vital role in your eCommerce store. If the customers are not getting their shipment on time, it will affect your store's reputation, and you'll suffer huge losses.

However, you need to take care of the following things when determining your packing and shipping processes:

a) Shipping soil - You should know that you may need permission from the state authorities to ship soil and organic matter from one country to another. Even if that's not the case, you should read about the procedure.

b) Climate conditions - It is possible that your plants may need to be kept under a fixed temperature. So, if you're shipping them to an extremely cold or hot climate, you must add heat packs or keep them in freezers to protect the plants from the temperature change. If such plants are exposed to extreme cold or hot conditions for too long, it will damage them.

c) Shipping cost - Don't choose a high shipping cost, or the customers will abandon their cart. One helpful tip for you to cut the shipping cost is, don't add soil to the plants that don't need much of it.  

d) Choosing the service provider - Make sure that you rely on the delivery service that works seven days a week. In addition, the service provider must understand if your customer wants the product to be shipped on a specific date.

e) Plant stability - The plant's stability is essential when carried from one place to another. You can wrap a cardboard collar or wood excelsior around the base of the plant to avoid spilling the soil. In addition, ensure enough water for the plant to survive the trip and that the entire plant is protected with a bubble wrap or something else.

Final Words

If you decide to sell plants online, it may seem challenging, but with the right preparation and tactics, you can earn profit. With a lot of dedication in running the store and effort in marketing, you'll come across many challenges or may make some bad decisions, but that must not keep you away from the business.

Learn from the mistakes and use the tips mentioned above to start, manage, and grow your business online. As you learn from your mistakes - they'll help you monitor your progress and improve in the future. Make sure to evaluate your work continually, and don't repeat the same errors twice. So, go on and show your love for plants, turn it into a great business idea, and start selling!