Online nursery business gaining popularity

Jafor Mahmud, a resident of the capital’s Malibagh, works at a private bank. He dwells in a garret of a five-storey building and has always wanted to decorate the roof space with flowers.

Last weekend, he went to a nursery in the Bangladesh Shishu Academy area to buy some flower saplings and soil amendments. It took him nearly an hour to sort out his favourite plants there.

While returning home, the rickshaw he was riding experienced a jerk on a dilapidated road, and his plants slid off his hands. The tubs were broken, and the plants were damaged.

Such mishaps possibly happen to many gardeners in this busy and narrow-lane city every day as rooftop gardening has become very common nowadays. Here comes the need for online platforms where people can know about and order their desired plants from home.

Online nursery business owners say people stuck at home for a long time during the last several spells of the Covid-19 shutdown became inclined to start gardening. Many built vegetable or flower gardens and orchards on the roofs of their houses.

The business owners also say they are receiving a good number of orders for saplings of flowers, veggies, fruits, herbal plants, seeds, gardening tools, and soil amendments.

That is why they are increasing their infrastructural capacity and have hired new sales agents in the garden category to cater to the growing demand.

“We are getting 200-250 orders online every day,” said Ashraf Kollol, head of marketing at Satvai Nursery, which has a physical garden centre in Mirpur and also runs an online business.

“We launched our digital platform three years ago, but online sales increased rapidly mostly after the pandemic had begun,” he said.

He also said they showcase their products on the website alongside mentioning prices, enabling buyers to select their desired plants within minutes.

“We earlier could not increase the sales of plants coming with heavy tubs. After introducing the online ordering system, we are selling those in large numbers,” said Ashraf. He added they supply plants across Dhaka and deliver via third-party nurseries elsewhere.

Nahid Islam, owner of brikkhobazar.com, said people have a great interest in searching plants online.

“We mention prices along with products on our site. Customers can pick their plants that match their affordability and order accordingly,” he said.

He also said those who love gardening are mostly house owners. “They do not want to carry plants and even go to nurseries physically. They prefer ordering online whatever the prices are.”

Nahid said they keep special pick-up vans on standby to deliver products to garden centres.

“We are also hoping to earn from Google Adsense soon as our site is getting huge traffic,” he said, adding they run a blog on plant life and nursery tips to facilitate gardening.

“I do not think online nursery business is going to eliminate garden centres. It is just going to be an addition.”