How To Start An Online Plant Business In India? Plant Business Ideas.

Table of Contents:

1. Online Plant Business

2. How To Sell Plants Online In India?

3. Create A Website For Online Plant Nursery

4. Plan Online + Offline Marketing Strategy For Plant Business Ideas

FAQs On Online Plant Nursery

1. Online Plant Business

As our economy grows, more and more people are moving to cities from villages and small towns. The direct result of urbanisation is the mushrooming of concrete jungle in cities. This leads to less and less space for greenery and planting, which results in city-dwellers losing contact with nature.

That's why people living in cities are inclined to develop mini gardens or planting areas according to the space available in their house or offices. Moreover, people are now more aware of the benefits of greenery around them, which is another reason for them to consider planting.

So, if you have the utmost love for nature and have enthusiasm for gardening, you can surely think of starting an online plant business and help others fulfil their desire to be near plants and nature all the time. To start an online business can be tricky but, don’t you worry, we are here to help you out.

2. How To Sell Plants Online In India?

Here are few basic things you need to do to understand how to start an online plant business:

Decide Whether You will Grow Plants in Your Nursery or Outsource them from the Nearby Wholesaler

In this quest of How To Start An Online Plant Business for plants, the first and foremost step is to manage supplies. Well, whatever way you choose to operate, you would still be required to have your personal gardening space. If you decide to grow plants from the beginning, you would require a full nursery space in your house or nearby so you could take care of your plants easily. However, even if you decide to outsource plants from nearby wholesalers, you would require some space to store them for a while before selling them.

Whatever way you decide to go forward with, keep a few things in mind while choosing the right place for your nursery:

• Make sure the place you choose gets enough sunlight, as most plants need regular sunlight for the right growth.
• Try to look for a place with moderate wind speed as a place with high wind speed will make it difficult for new pollen to spread in the same plant. A rather strong wind will lift them far away and thus will hamper the plant’s growth.
• Your place should not be near any construction site as wind will carry a lot of dust from such sites.

Market Research

On this quest of Plant Business Ideas or Online Plant Nursery, the next step is research. Not all plants are suitable for indoor use. If your potential customers comprise people living in flats, residential apartments, houses, etc., their main demand would be for indoor plants. Before deciding which plants you are going to grow and sell, spend some time researching what kind of plants people prefer to keep in their homes or offices. Nowadays, people also look out for plants with Vastu or health benefits. Find out plants with such benefits, talk to people, or simply look around and observe which kind of plants are most in demand.

Define your boundaries

Anyone who gives you suggestions on how to start an eCommerce business will always suggest you define your boundaries. It is quite evident that you cannot have all the plants in your backyard. So, narrow down on the list you’ve made of plants you can grow and are in demand after all your research. Also, look for plants that suit the climate conditions of the place you decide to set up your nursery. Some plants need less sunlight, some require more space to grow -- you must consider all prospects of plant growth before finalising your list.

Access your Supplier of Plants, Seeds, Gardening Tools, and other Supplements

Wondering How To Sell Plants Online in India? Well, you can start your online plant business on minimal investment, if not totally for free. Gardening and starting a plant nursery requires various tools, seeds, manure, soil, and many other tools and supplements. Make sure you can avail them near your place and at a reasonable price. As you would require all these items regularly and for a long time, ensuring quality and price is essential.

Packaging

Packaging plants is not similar to packaging any other item to transport from one place to another. As plants are delicate items to transport, it requires you to consider a few things while packaging. Make sure you create a transportation checklist before you start your business journey.

Also Read: Garden Pipe Manufacturers in India

3. Create A Website For Online Plant Nursery

Now that you have set up your nursery and have grown beautiful plants, you now need to select a platform to sell your plants online. There is a vast range of options of platforms from which you can decide which suits you the best. There are Amazon, nursery live, Ugaoo.com, FlowerAura, etc., to name a few. You can go ahead and create your website as well.

4. Plan Online + Offline Marketing Strategy For Plant Business Ideas

Here are few tips that you can start with for your Plant Business Ideas:-

• Upload high-quality images of your plants, give details about them, and add a column where you also tell your potential customers how to take good care of that plant.
• Add a keyword that describes your plant and its purpose most efficiently. Take the help of google keyword to find out search volume and look for better words to get on top.
• In India, people might still not be used to buying plants online. But, time is changing, and people are opting for online shopping now. So, you might need to put some effort into offline and online marketing in the beginning.

Get Helping Hands if Required

Gardening and maintaining so many plants and packaging for delivery can be tiring and overwhelming. Moreover, managing business, customers, and accounts can give you a hard time. So, if you feel that a helping hand might ease out a few things then look for people who can help you with gardening and managing all work, maybe part-time or full time as required. For managing accounts and other details, you can also seek the help of the bahikhata app of OkCredit.

Key Takeaways

Now that you know How To Start An Online Plant Business, it’s time that you take your love for plants and greenery and your knowledge of gardening to the next level. This business will be profitable and give you the satisfaction of contributing to the green drive in your own humble way.

Also read:

1) Online Business Ideas You Can Start Quickly
2) What online business can I do to make money? Here are the top-6 ideas for you.
3) Where Do the Best Business Ideas Come From?
4) Best Home Business Ideas in 2020
5) OkCredit: All you need to know about OkCredit & how it works.

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FAQs On Online Plant Nursery

Q. Is it legal to sell plants online?

Ans. Although it is legal to sell plants online, there are few species of plants and seeds whose business is restricted by some state or central government. Please check and go through your state and central government rules and regulations before selling plants online.

Q. How will the plants be picked and delivered to customers?

Ans. If you decide to sell on any platform already established, their delivery partner will pick and drop packages from your place to the customer’s. If you choose to launch your website, then you can contact any third-party delivery agencies for this task.  

Q. Do I need an office address for selling plants online?

Ans. Yes, you will need an office address; this might be where you grow your plants.

Q. Do I need to have a GST number to sell plants online?

Ans. Yes, as selling plants and seeds is also considered taxable under agricultural income in India. We suggest you go through the rules and regulations of setting up a plant nursery before selling online.