GrowNation (grownation.co.uk), the online garden retail marketplace, is offering all UK garden centres their own ecommerce website with no up-front cost and no fixed term commitment.
With the doors of garden centres firmly closed for the time being, the whole supply chain is having to hold its collective breath. Whilst we all hope to return to some sort of normality soon, no one can predict how this will look.
Like it or not, this has forced the industry to adapt. Some garden centres have arranged local delivery services via phone, email and Facebook… with mixed results.
This new business model means that many companies don’t have the required infrastructure or processes in place (such as the ability to inform customers which products are available or the ability to efficiently process online orders) meaning they struggle to cope efficiently with the new demands.
To make retailers’ local delivery operations more efficient and scalable, GrowNation is delighted to be launching a no upfront fee, fully-featured ecommerce website powered by Visualsoft. The partnership will allow garden centres to trade online quickly and efficiently.
The initiative will also help to support the Perennial (perennial.org.uk) and Greenfingers (https://www.greenfingerscharity.org.uk) charities. GrowNation and Visualsoft will each donate 1% of every website's sale commission for the first six months. This donation will continue to fund these charities’ vital work.
To help get retailers online within a quick turnaround and in significant numbers, GrowNation are also collating detailed product information, images and retail prices from growers, wholesalers and manufacturers. This information will be available for populating retailers websites, allowing them to immediately start selling participating suppliers products.
All retailers who claim their free site before midnight on Sunday 3rd May will receive a free licence to a delivery route optimisation service, for as long as they use the GrowNation platform. This will allow centres to have their daily delivery routes calculated to take the least possible time.
Retailers can claim their free website at: www.grownation.co.uk/sellplantsonline
Steve Meleka, GrowNation Managing Director said: “GrowNation is on a mission to save UK horticulture. We obviously know that’s a bold claim, but that is what’s at stake and we think we can help.”
He added: “We’ve been working with growers, wholesalers, manufacturers, trade bodies and others to collate detailed product data which we can use to instantly pre- populate retailer websites. This will be a huge timesaver and allows us to build complete transactional websites in next to no time.”
As restrictions on garden centres and the public are eased in the coming weeks, the GrowNation platform will allow retailers to instantly pivot to a click & collect model. Something which only this week the Government has clarified is safe to do. The company has designed safe collection protocols and signage to help organise efficient click & collect operations.
He continued: “We believe that social distancing will apply to garden centres for quite some time to come, which will severely limit footfall and therefore sales. We think the best way to overcome these challenges is to introduce a click & collect model. This feature will be enabled as soon as we receive clarity from the government.”
Tim Johnson, Visualsoft’s Chief Sales Officer said: “We are delighted to be chosen as GrowNation's tech partner. It is a fantastic project which supports one of the country’s key retail sectors. We are extremely proud to be involved.”
The GrowNation marketplace’s business model is completely commission based, with credit card and PayPal transaction fees absorbed by the company as part of the service.
Retailers are free to add whichever products they like, either manually, from their EPOS system or from files already available from suppliers including Farplants, Happy Plants, Bransford Webbs, New Leaf, Lovania, Taylors Bulbs, Fallen Fruits, Biogreen, SBM Life Science and more.
Discussions are ongoing with some of the biggest horticultural suppliers in the country which will allow thousands of new products to be added to retailer web sites at once.
All GrowNation websites are free to set up and include:
- The ability to list as many (or as few) products as each retailer wants.
- Secure online payments via PayPal or credit/debit card.
- A unique web address with its own unique storefront and product range.
- A simple to use retailer dashboard to help manage orders and customer details.
- Simple, commission based payment with no lock-in period and no up-front cost.
- No additional charges for online payment processing.
Wholesalers can request more information and provide their product data by visiting the GrowNation website at: www.grownation.co.uk/supply-garden-centres
Retailers can claim their free website in minutes by completing the online application form at: www.grownation.co.uk/sellplantsonline
GrowNation will take 10% commission on every website order to cover payment processing & maintenance fees. 2% of this commission will be donated to Perennial and Greenfingers for the first six months of the contract.
About GrowNation
The GrowNation (grownation.co.uk) platform is one of a series of marketplaces from ConnectNation Ltd, a company formed to help address some of the unique business challenges posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
ConnectNation was founded by a group of colleagues with specialisms in marketing (including in the horticulture sector), CRM platform design & integration, business analysis, social media management and ecommerce website development.
The company is currently working with the award-winning ecommerce platform and digital marketing company, Visualsoft. Their VSCommerce platform underpins the GrowNation service, making it possible to rapidly deploy websites to allow garden centres to start selling online quickly. See: www.visualsoft.co.uk
