Start A Plant Nursery Shop - Business Ideas

Pat Walls

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Updated: September 16th, 2022

Start A Plant Nursery Shop

Please note that the data provided in this article are estimates and may vary depending on various factors, and should not be considered as perfect or definitive.

Starting a plant nursery shop can be a rewarding and lucrative business opportunity for anyone passionate about plants and gardening. A plant nursery shop is a retail store that sells various plants, including annuals, perennials, trees, shrubs, and herbs.

To start a plant nursery shop, you’ll need a physical location to sell your plants. This can be a standalone store or a small corner of a larger retail space. You’ll also need to understand the different types of plants and how to care for them. This includes knowing which plants best suit various climates and how to properly water and fertilize them.

One of the key elements of running a successful plant nursery shop is having a diverse selection of plants that appeal to a wide range of customers. This might include popular annuals like petunias and marigolds and more unusual specimens like orchids and bromeliads. You should also have a good selection of pots and other gardening supplies to help customers take care of their plants once they get them home.

To start a plant nursery shop, you’ll need to invest in essential equipment, such as pots, trays, and other supplies. You may also need to hire a small staff to help you manage the business’s day-to-day operations. This can include sales associates, gardeners, and other experts who can help customers find the right plants for their needs.

Running a plant nursery shop can be a rewarding and fulfilling business opportunity for anyone with a love of plants and gardening. With the right location, selection, and staff, you can create a thriving business that brings joy to your customers and profits to your bottom line.

Starting a plant nursery shop requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.

If you're interested in how to sell plant nursery shop, or selling plant nursery shop online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.

Key Stats

starting costs

$23.3K

gross margin

50%

avg product price

$10

time to build

270 days

growth

Organic social media

business model

Subscriptions

time investment

Full time

Startup Costs

	Min Startup Costs	Max Startup Costs
Employee & Freelancer Expenses	$151	$352
Website Costs	$223	$7,215
Business Formation Fees	$600	$4,700
Equipment & Supply Expenses	$66	$700
Retail Business Expenses	$1,250	$11,650
Inventory Expenses	$350	$14,750
Advertising & Marketing Costs	$75	$4,786
Software Expenses	$150	$2,420
Total Startup Costs	$2,865	$46,573

See all startup costs ➜

Successful Businesses

Business	URL	Rank
Breck's	brecks.com	87,569
The Tree Center	thetreecenter.com	134,630
Proven Winners	provenwinners.com	149,849
Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.	starkbros.com	163,269
Lively Root	livelyroot.com	197,020
Michigan Bulb Company	michiganbulb.com	239,649
Holland Bulb Farms	hollandbulbfarms.com	245,112
Buy Plug Plants, Vegetable Seeds, Flowers Seeds, Plants	suttons.co.uk	257,020
Sarah Raven	sarahraven.com	304,991
TopTropicals	toptropicals.com	341,484
PLANTIFY	plantify.co.za	353,211

See all businesses ➜

Pros & Cons

Pros	Description
Flexibility	You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own.
Ability to start your business from home	It's not necessary to have a physical storefront or office space to get your business started. You can do everything from the comfort of your own home, at least in the beginning!
Scalable	With businesses and processes changing daily, there will always be demand for new features, products and services for your business. Additionally, there are several different business models and pricing tiers you can implement that will allow you to reach all types of customers.
Meaningful business connections	You never know who you will meet as a plant nursery shop. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity!
High customer retention rates	Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.
High margins	The gross margins for your plant nursery shop are typically around 50%, which is considerably high and allows you to grow your business and manage costs easily.

See all pros ➜

Cons	Description
Motivation of employees	If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.
High employee turnover	In the plant nursery shop, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment.
Taxes	As a plant nursery shop, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.
Stressful work	This line of work can be stressful for both you and your clients. This type of transaction is a significant financial decision for your client, so expectations are very high for you. Although this career path can be very rewarding, it also comes with its challenges and stressful moments.
Niche Market	A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience.
High overhead expenses	With starting a plant nursery shop, there are overhead expenses that come with selling a physical product. You will want to make sure you strategically budget for these overhead costs. We discuss this more in the startup costs section below.

See all cons ➜

Marketing Ideas

1

Affiliate Program

Affiliate marketing is a great way to bring in a new revenue stream, especially when you don't sell products or services.
Simply put, an affiliate program is an agreement where a business pays another business or influencer ("the affiliate") a commission for sending traffic and/or sales their way.
The affiliate typically gets a unique link where clicks and conversions can be tracked.

Learn more about affiliate program ➜
2

Word of mouth

Word of mouth is when a consumers reflects their interest in a company’s product or service in their daily dialogues.
Therefore, word of mouth advertising is essentially a free advertising triggered by the customers experience.
According to Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family.
Therefore, in today’s hyper-connected world, a single recommendation through a word of mouth can have a huge impact to your business.

Learn more about word of mouth ➜
3

Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience with the objective to build your brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.
According to Oberlo, approximately 48% of the global population use social media, and the number is ever-growing.
Therefore, social media allows brands access to cost-effective advertising by enabling them to interact with a large audience.

Learn more about social media advertising ➜

See all marketing ideas ➜

Key Stats

Startup Costs

Successful Businesses

87,569

134,630

149,849

163,269

197,020

239,649

245,112

257,020

304,991

341,484

353,211

Pros & Cons

Marketing Ideas

Affiliate Program

Word of mouth

Social Media Advertising