Want to grow a money garden at home? Don’t we all! In this blog, we will show you how you can sell plants online and make money growing plants from the comfort of your home.
As living spaces get tighter with increasingly cramped bedrooms, the need for green to liven up a room is overwhelming. Plus, we can’t argue that pretty potted plants, orchids, and succulents offer a pretty good Instagram moment.
To make sure you are starting your plant eCommerce business hassle-free, here’s everything you need to know about how to sell plants online — along with some tips to get your online eCommerce business off the ground.
Is it a good idea to sell plants online?
If you don’t know it already, the interest in nurturing house plants has increased during the pandemic, and it still continues. Millennials now find comfort in nurturing plants and growing their own food at home.
Houseplants have benefits that far outweigh their dislikes. Plants not only improve the air around us but also improve our moods, help us think more creatively, and disconnect from technology. That might be the biggest factor that motivated millennials stuck at home to buy one in the first place.
Moreover, easy availability, low maintenance, and cost-effectiveness are further driving demand for indoor plants. Money does grow on trees after all!
Here’s a forecast of the market size of the Indian indoor plants market for you-
How to sell plants online
Are you ready to start your own plant eCommerce store? In 7 simple steps, we have described how you can start selling plants online from scratch.
- Step 1: Decide what to sell
- Step 2: Source your plants
- Step 3: Setting up inventory
- Step 4: Decide on pricing
- Step 5: Set up your online plants store
- Step 6: Marketing – social media and SEO
- Step 7: Ship your plants
Let’s dig in.
1. Decide what to sell
The natural first step in setting up your online plant business is deciding the right plants for your store. The following points will help you decide what kind of plants you should sell online:
– Your love for a specific plant
– The area you live in
– The kinds of plants which grow in your area
– The scale at which you can maintain an indoor garden
– Your target audience
– The market’s supply-demand situation
Here are some plant options to get you started:
List of plants to sell online
- Succulents – best option if you are new. Requires less maintenance. Will survive shipping.
- Bamboo – low maintenance
- Herbs (medicinal, aromatic)
- Ornamental grasses
- Landscape plants
- Aquatic plants
- Seeds (vegetables, flowers, etc)- biggest profit margin, easy shipping
- Orchids
- Aloe Vera
2. Source your plants
There are multiple ways to source the plants you sell online. The first is to grow your own plants in a backyard or a garden.
Grow your own plants: This could be a good option if you love cultivation and plan to sell plants on a small scale. You will be able to cater to consumer’s needs on a personal level provided you have the necessary tools and equipment for it. If you have both the time and the land to turn tiny seedlings into plants then growing your own plants is the best option to get started with.
Partner with a wholesaler: The next option is to buy your plants from a wholesale store. Find a local nursery around your neighborhood to partner with and resell them in unique pottery or under your own branding. Partnering with a wholesaler is a much cheaper option and can save you a lot of time and help you grow your business quickly.
3. Setting up inventory
For plant businesses, managing your inventory is critical. Consider these points below:
- Will you sell seasonal plants, variety plants, or both?
- Where will you stock your plants?
- Should you build in a buffer in case some of your inventory is damaged or dies?
- If you go away for a few days, how do you plan on doing plant care?
Create a system for yourself that helps you identify and manage inventory. For example, Instamojo’s dashboard offers different features to help you manage your inventory. While adding a product, you can specify different units, add shipping information, minimum and maximum stock units, generate invoices, and later, keep track of order status.
How to manage orders and inventory on the Instamojo online store:
- From the left panel in your dashboard select online store -> orders -> all orders
- All your product-related orders are listed under the orders section
- You can filter your orders by order ID, order ID created date, who placed the order, source of the orders, and order payment status
- You can also filter products by applying ‘filters’ by Item name, categories, active and inactive products using the Instamojo premium online store.
4. Decide on pricing
Plant pricing mainly depends on seasonality and the overall market price. So when you price your plants, consider these points:
- What do other businesses in the market sell the same (or similar) plants for?
- What are people willing to pay for the plants you sell?
- How much do the plants cost you to buy or grow?
- How much does your business cost to run (website, marketing, etc.)?
- How much time do you invest in your business?
Method to calculate plant pricing: cost of expense + variable cost (cost of seeds, fertilisers, etc) + profit margin
5. Set up your online plant store
When it comes to selling plants online, the most notable option is to sell them on your own e-commerce store/ online store. The Instamojo online store only takes care of building an aesthetic store for you, but also has features like secure payments, a good user interface, shipping, and tools for marketing.
The Plants Cart’s Instamojo store is a great example of what an online plant store should look like. The store prides itself on its high-quality starter plants. It has a large product line, detailed product description, and eye-catchy images that one just cannot resist buying.
Sell on Instamojo online store
Set up your online store on Instamojo in just 6 steps and start selling plants online effortlessly!
- Sign up on Instamojo
- Set your store URL name
- Select a theme for your store and customize it to mirror your brand
- Upload your products
- Set up the payment gateway
- Go live, and start selling!
6. Marketing – social media and SEO
With the right mix of search engine optimization (SEO) and social media, the opportunity to grow your eCommerce plant business is limitless.
If you’re starting out with a small budget, grow your audience on social media and add value through posting free tips or a blog about plant care. Invest time in SEO strategy and learn how to optimize content to rank. This will help drive organic traffic to your online store that you can convert into sales.
7. Ship your plants
Packaging plants is not similar to packaging any other item. As plants are delicate items to transport, it requires you to consider a few things while packaging.
If you choose to sell on your website, then you need to contact a third-party delivery agency for this task. However, if you decide to sell plants online with Instamojo, you can choose the most suitable partner for your shipping needs from a single dashboard.
With Instamojo shipping partners, you get access to:
- Largest Courier Network
- Lowest Shipping Rates
- Order Management
- Real-Time Shipment Tracking and much more
Check out Shiprocket rates for your business
Now that you know how to start a small business online, it’s time that you take your love for plants and greenery to start a successful online plant business. It’s time to get out there and start selling!
