Software
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chasemcaleese

Software for nurseries

11 years ago

Hi there! I'm new to the gardening world, but my mom is obsessed with planting flowers, shrubs, and trees in her backyard, and she has given me an idea for software that she wishes nurseries used.

I'm looking for advice from people who own nurseries on whether or not they would find the following automated sales tool useful:

The software would send reminders to customers for when it's time to shop for and plant annuals, perennials, trees, etc. My mom said she would love it if nurseries would contact her with new flowers and the dates to plant, prune and fertilize. Ideally the software would keep track of what people buy and send suggestions based on that information + seasonal data. I'm not familiar with what nurseries use to track inventory, but perhaps I could build in or integrate with an inventory system that would allow customers to buy suggested products from the nursery directly online (to go pick up later).

Beyond being a cool way for busy people to get gardening reminders from professionals about when to plant, it could also be an effective sales tool for nurseries.

How do you folks think this sounds? I am not too familiar with the world of nurseries, so any advice or thoughts you could offer would be most appreciated!


Comments (5)

  • 11 years ago

    Opinion of a regular gardener... Such web application could be good for forcing sales of new plants or blooming ones, especially annuals. "Magnolias are about to be blooming. Come and buy @...." "New petunias 'Gorgeous Amazing Color Cultivar' are available @..." That would be interesting for me. Such works as pruning and fertilizing might be quite individual for a particular area or even garden.

  • 10 years ago

    Interesting suggestion. However here in England and the EU. Most nurseries tend to limit their growing to particular plants. In turn the selling to the public is usually carried out by garden centers. Result being that any garden center might well have to buy in from several different nurseries. In addition much of our stock is grown on the continent and transported across the channel.

    Having said this. The internet provides such a wide service, catalogues can be searched on line and orders placed etc. Not forgetting that most businesses using the web also provide newsletters.

    Thank you for raising the subject.

  • 10 years ago

    Michael, here the term 'nursery' is used rather generically for any place that sells plants. So what I assume the OP means is a retail nursery - what you commonly call a garden center. The nurseries that produce the plants the retail outlets buy from are referred to as 'growers' or wholesale nurseries.

    Most retail nursery software tracks sales and inventory and often that sales data includes customer info, especially with regards to loyalty or "points" programs for frequent customers. I have never encountered a nursery software application that is able to take that information and combine it with a newsletter type application but I suppose with enough bucks and appropriate R&D it is possible. Although few retail outlets possess those kind of financial resources.

    However in this technical age, most successful retail nurseries do make use of both electronic data (e-letters) and social media to keep their customers updated on tips and events as well as frequent postings to websites. If a nursery doesn't have a website in this day and age, it is unlikely it would be able to shoulder both the data and financial burden of software that would produce the desired information.

    A good many retail nurseries in this country are just barely holding on to life, let alone being able to generate the kind of public information or ready access to it that the OP describes.

  • 10 years ago

    Many thanks gardenga48.

    Not wishing to deviate too far from the original thread but. Some thirty years ago. Here in the UK, greenhouses were being built in large quantities, everyone wanted to get in on growing business. Then suddenly fuel prices hit the roof. The countryside was littered with unused greenhouses. From the continent, the Dutch took advantage and many of our nurseries were basically taken over by the Dutch.

    At the moment there is a thriving business in plants across the EU. The RHS is encouraging horticulture to be taught in schools and for gardening to be more recognized as a trade and profession.


    I wish you well.

    Mike.

  • 10 years ago

    For your purposes you want a mail list package. Try Mailchimp. It's free for the first 2500 list members, but the paid version has better tracking options.

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