Home flower and flavors delivery...

[Larry Gude]

If you do this could you ping me with the info?

.

Preliminary stages now.

Critical to find out what folks want, concerns, issues, so, thanks for the input!!!

 

[nutz]

Sounds like a great idea and one that may bloom very well. Unless you drastically limit your market from the beginning, how would you not alienate new shoppers by being sold out vs. overstocking?

 

[migtig]

Sounds like a great idea and one that may bloom very well. Unless you drastically limit your market from the beginning, how would you not alienate new shoppers by being sold out vs. overstocking?

Like this?
Small to Large | The Sill

It says sold out on some of the items and it doesn't alienate me at all. :shrug: I'll just check back later.

Anywho Larry, I love funky planters and I think you need to offer options with the indoor plants - at least in colors. I don't want my indoor plants in the generic black plastic shipping container. Boring.

Also another place I love is Mischel's Greenhouses Specialty Annual Plants and Foliage
and the main reason I shop with them is they offer "trios" color combinations of different plants and that makes it easier in my mind to mix and match my combos and outdoor planters.

 

[Larry Gude]

Sounds like a great idea and one that may bloom very well. Unless you drastically limit your market from the beginning, how would you not alienate new shoppers by being sold out vs. overstocking?

Great question.

How would you, as a customer, answer that? Would not being able to get all things at all times make you say 'forget it' and just go to the garden center?


My thought process now is to specialize, narrowly, have plenty of certain things and strive to have them as advertised. I mean, I'm looking at a list right now with 25 different basils on it. That's just not remotely feasible at this time.

My thought process is don't try to be the only guy who has 'spicy globe' basil. Try to do staples, so to speak.

 

[vraiblonde]

My thought process is don't try to be the only guy who has 'spicy globe' basil. Try to do staples, so to speak.

Absolutely. Don't overwhelm yourself with oddities and niche products; nobody ever lost money catering to the masses.

Because you have a perishable product there will be waste, as you well know. It's just the nature of the beast. But once you get your clientele established, you'll be better able to plan the season just like you do now.

You might also hook up with area farmer's markets to see if you can't offload some of your excess onto them to sell at their stands, or even have a stand yourself. Not sure where you're going with this, if it's instead of what you already have going on or in addition to it.

 

[nutz]

Great question.

How would you, as a customer, answer that? Would not being able to get all things at all times make you say 'forget it' and just go to the garden center?


My thought process now is to specialize, narrowly, have plenty of certain things and strive to have them as advertised. I mean, I'm looking at a list right now with 25 different basils on it. That's just not remotely feasible at this time.

My thought process is don't try to be the only guy who has 'spicy globe' basil. Try to do staples, so to speak.

I'll try and explain - I'm an oddball consumer in these times. I much prefer to shop local, either in person or by phone. I like having an idea of whom I'm dealing with and knowing where some of their values lie (customer service, responsiveness, which community activities they support). I enjoy calling my local guy and ordering 200- 2x4's giving him a time and date and knowing they will show as promised. I enjoy knowing if my expectations aren't met, I call the same guy and we hash out something to make it right. I don't need much of anything right this second, but when I order 2x4's and 2x8's (or nothing) is substituted, things are bad. When you keep buying and shipping inferior materials, I will send all of my business somewhere else out of necessity. If most of your inventory comes out of a shipping container, I'll find someplace else.

Before I go to Lowe's or Home Depot and deal with their form of nonsense, I hit the internet. Now, I'm looking for xyz and price/quality become my motivation. With a little planning, anything I need can be at my door step rather quickly.

So yes, inventory management and customer service are very important to me. Do I expect you to stock everything I want, No. Do I expect you to be a person that keeps your word, Yes. If I order 2 flats of yellow pansies and you accept the order, then 2 flats of yellow pansies have to appear by our agreement. Mistakes occasionally happen, sometimes things get screwy, that's when keep a customer/lose a customer comes into play. How you handle our problem will be the deciding factor.

the hard part of inventory management comes at the end of season, when I might still want all yellow pansies. Do you over produce with that in mind, then recycle the leftovers (can you?) or just stop taking orders by a certain date/ current inventory level?

 

[Larry Gude]

the hard part of inventory management comes at the end of season, when I might still want all yellow pansies. Do you over produce with that in mind, then recycle the leftovers (can you?) or just stop taking orders ?

What I envision is we grow what we know we're good at and then only list availability based on what is READY to ship. So, if you wanted yellow pansies, say, June 1, on April 10, I would not take that order. I would only take orders based on what I had and what was ready to ship.

This completely short circuits the desire to tell people what they wanna hear and focus's solely on WHAT we have and WHAT is ready.

My concern it that that would be too restrictive. But, under than scenario, you will NEVER be disappointed. You will ONLY get what it ready because that us ALL we'd be offering.

How does that sound?

 

[nutz]

What I envision is we grow what we know we're good at and then only list availability based on what is READY to ship. So, if you wanted yellow pansies, say, June 1, on April 10, I would not take that order. I would only take orders based on what I had and what was ready to ship.

This completely short circuits the desire to tell people what they wanna hear and focus's solely on WHAT we have and WHAT is ready.

My concern it that that would be too restrictive. But, under than scenario, you will NEVER be disappointed. You will ONLY get what it ready because that us ALL we'd be offering.

How does that sound?

To me, spot on

 

[itsbob]

Yes Yes Yes..

I don't like buying BG cut flowers.. I mean, buy her something that's going to be dead, wilted and have to be thrown out in three days to show how much I love her?? Doesn't make sense to me.

I try to buy potted plants for home delivery online, so she can slowly, meticuosly kill them.. that makes waaaaay more sense..

But seriously, I always wished there were better choices in perennials.. something already mature that I can trasnfer to the yard for years to come. The only option I found online were Calla (sp?) Lillies.

Herbs would be cool too, I know BG would LOVE to order mature herbs online.

 

[itsbob]

What I envision is we grow what we know we're good at and then only list availability based on what is READY to ship. So, if you wanted yellow pansies, say, June 1, on April 10, I would not take that order. I would only take orders based on what I had and what was ready to ship.

This completely short circuits the desire to tell people what they wanna hear and focus's solely on WHAT we have and WHAT is ready.

My concern it that that would be too restrictive. But, under than scenario, you will NEVER be disappointed. You will ONLY get what it ready because that us ALL we'd be offering.

How does that sound?

Good website designer would be key.. and you'd have to have him full time on staff to keep your website up to date..

A VERY good inventory control system too..

Would be man hour intensive to keep track of what's on order, what's available, what's been bought and not shipped so not available for sale.. etc..etc.. without a GREAT inventory control system. I would assume there would be hundreds of automated systems out there to choose from that can be integrated into a POS or Website Sales system.

Small scale, test the water, even e-bay maybe?

I think it sounds like a great idea, but I'm supplying my farmette totally from online purchases. NOBODY local sells the trees, or berry bushes I want, so I buy from two different nurseries online. One in GA, (Comice Pears) and one in CA (Red Baron Peaches), so I would be totally onboard with doing this online too!

Hell, if you could make it affordabe, I'd love to cut out Lowes and Home Depot for flats of Tomato, or Cabbage Cucumbers.. squash.... Figure LOWES charges $4 per plant (SMALL plant), or $32 for a flat of 8.. Is it possible to do home delivery of a flat of 6 inch plants and keep the price around $32?? I'd pay more for types of vegetables, plants I couldn't get anywhere else.

 

[itsbob]

Absolutely. Don't overwhelm yourself with oddities and niche products; nobody ever lost money catering to the masses.

Because you have a perishable product there will be waste, as you well know. It's just the nature of the beast. But once you get your clientele established, you'll be better able to plan the season just like you do now.

You might also hook up with area farmer's markets to see if you can't offload some of your excess onto them to sell at their stands, or even have a stand yourself. Not sure where you're going with this, if it's instead of what you already have going on or in addition to it.

NICHE markets would be good for local resturants..

But those you are talking something totally different. You agree to grow the herbs, spices vegetables they want and they agree to buy just from you. The locality of DC and Balimore? Maybe?

You grow the stuff they can't buy at the local wholesale market, and grow specific types that they specify..

 

[itsbob]

even better..

I tell you the size of my garden and preffered vegetables, and you sell me my entire garden worth of plants..

One stop shop.. instant veggie garden.

Hell, I'd bring the trailer to you for that.

 

[nutz]

Good website designer would be key.. and you'd have to have him full time on staff to keep your website up to date..

thanks for this, I forgot to go there. What about the "other" client group that doesn't use, or has no access, to the net? This is where the alienation of clients starts to come into play. Brings the local delivery question to the forefront, your trucks and employees or UPS/Fedex.

 

[itsbob]

thanks for this, I forgot to go there. What about the "other" client group that doesn't use, or has no access, to the net? This is where the alienation of clients starts to come into play. Brings the local delivery question to the forefront, your trucks and employees or UPS/Fedex.

The other options would be too expensive for a small operation (my opinion)..

You are there to service customers, true, but the business has to have a cheap model to do it. Some may be excluded, but you'll stay in business with lower overhead.

Internet, I think, provides the cheapest form of business and delivery of your product to a customer. There are other modes, but I don't think any as inexpensive or thorough.

Met the guy in ME that had the brainstorm to deliver a clambake overnight. He WAS a single lobster boat owner and had this idea (prior to the internet) of "HEY, FedEx can deliver anywhere in the US in 24 hours! I can keep my Lobsters alive and viable for more than 24 hours!!" He took out the middle man and started taking FedEx orders, right from his boat, to a box, to FedEx. A FedEx truck actually meets him at the dock. I can't remember what he told me his profit was, but between the dock price and the overnight price it was in the magnitude of 5X of what he was making.

He did OK.. made a decent living doing advetising in the backs of magazines (costly but I think you'll still find his adds in some magazines) but it REALLY took off with the internet. Now he has an entire fleet of lobster boats that sell to him first when they come in, then they go to the docks with whatever they may have left.

 

[acommondisaster]

I like the Springhill nursery catalog that I get. Watercolor type illustrations that suggest what to plant next to my mailbox, what to plant on that shady side of the house, what a sunny 4 season garden would look like. I've tried ordering from them a couple of times, their plants are guaranteed, but they're puny and I'm always disappointed. Nothing's ever looked like the pretty water color pictures in their catalogs. But I still love them and still pour through their catalogs, wishing.

I'd love service that offered me planter ideas, delivered the plants and let me plant them in my planters in the same way that I fantasize about with the catalog. Follow up with me in a few months - suggest what I might plant to replace the plants that are out of bloom. Bring me mums in the fall. I'm with Vrai - by the time I get the stuff out of my car, I'm usually done for the day.

Bring me some chives, some thyme, some herbs I can keep in a planter and clip and use. Offer me some hanging baskets, or plants to put together in a hanging basket.

Deliver to Charles County?

 

[Larry Gude]

How important to you is it that the container your herbs would come in is made in America?


How important is it to you that the container is biodegradable?


Would you take a bio pot made in some far away land over a plastic US made pot?

Or, would you choose American made plastic over foreign bio?


Again, this is for you to put in your kitchen and pinch off what you want when you want.

 

[migtig]

How important to you is it that the container your herbs would come in is made in America?


How important is it to you that the container is biodegradable?


Would you take a bio pot made in some far away land over a plastic US made pot?

Or, would you choose American made plastic over foreign bio?


Again, this is for you to put in your kitchen and pinch off what you want when you want.

I don't use buy bio pots as I think they are ugly and I really don't care where the pot comes from as long as it's pretty. I've seen beautiful arrangements at nurseries in ugly pots and not bought them for that reason alone. Once the seasonal annuals are dead I want to reuse the pot.

 

[Larry Gude]

...I want to reuse the pot.

Interesting. Good point.

 

[ftcret]

So, paint me a picture; ... you're just pinching off what you want? Doing a Mexican feast? ...:

Sorry, slow day here and no sleep

 

[itsbob]

How important to you is it that the container your herbs would come in is made in America?


How important is it to you that the container is biodegradable?


Would you take a bio pot made in some far away land over a plastic US made pot?

Or, would you choose American made plastic over foreign bio?


Again, this is for you to put in your kitchen and pinch off what you want when you want.

I prefer, if mail ordering plants, that the plant come in a poo pot.. I can plant it (without transplanting it) and the planter is it's own fertilizer its new home.