I sell "soil" online and earn 50 million yuan a year

Today, the GMV of the green plant e-commerce market is showing a substantial growth trend, and "digging for gold in the soil" has become the next business opportunity. This article analyzes the reasons for the development of this category and expresses a positive attitude towards the continued upward trend of flower e-commerce. Come and have a look!

Do you believe that you can find gold in the soil?

Brother Ming, a 45-year-old Shandong man with two children, runs a brand online store called "Manshenghuo", which mainly sells nutrient soil, seeds and other gardening tools. Last year, when the overall consumption environment was not good, he made a turnover of 50 million yuan by selling "soil".

When he opened the store in 2018, Mingge had no idea that he would hit the cusp of the online green plant market and that GMV would grow 25 times. According to Gongyan Industry Consulting data, from 2018 to 2023, the online green plant potted plant industry is expected to grow fivefold, from 3.3 billion to 17 billion yuan.

The booming green plant business reflects the yearning of thousands of "new urban farmers" for pastoral life.

While chatting with customers, Brother Ming gradually discovered that these handfuls of black-gray soil made from a mixture of coconut palm and peat were light and rough, but contained many stories.

"Many office workers come to buy, and they are all gardening novices. Their main demand is that their cats are easy to keep alive." Ming Ge added that some are parents who want to spend some parent-child time working with their children, and some come to grow cat grass for their pet cats at home... The reasons are varied and very interesting.

"Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern fence, I leisurely see the southern mountains." The yearning for rural nature first broke out among "city dwellers". According to JD.com's consumer data, the sales of garden plants in large, medium and small cities accounted for more than 60%.

Dong Bing, a factory operator who was hospitalized last year due to myocarditis, told Business Data that she had made a full-year plan at the beginning of the year, and included reading, citywalk and planting green plants as the three major activities of this year. "In addition to work, I want to enjoy life more this year."

After browsing social media platforms, Dong Bing chose the most popular "Juice Balcony" roses in recent years. After carefully caring for them for several months, they bloomed for the first time. "One morning, when I woke up, the sun was particularly bright. I suddenly saw those plump orange flowers and smelled a sweet and sour smell. I burst into tears. Whether it was because of illness or performance issues, it seemed like I had vented all the stress of the past few months."

Sowing seeds in the concrete jungle where the monthly income is 200 yuan per square meter, taking a break from the daily hustle and bustle of subways, typing away on keyboards and attending meetings, urbanites forget all the fast pace and to-do lists on their own balconies, drawing energy from each soft sprout - since the outside world cannot be controlled, at least they can decorate their homes into their own utopia.

As Zhou Xiwei wrote in the book, "It is not me who takes care of the plants, but the plants that take care of me. Cultivating the soil, weeding, watering, and basking in the sun. It is nothing but my heart."

From the popularity of Liziqi, the popularity of camping, the niche tourism destinations, to the current trend of "new urban farmers", the voice of pastoral idyll in the city will only become louder and louder.

In this context, the newly started e-commerce business of green plants seems immature and in its infancy. How can merchants meet people's expectations? And what will be their future?

01 Amid the anxiety of “plant killers”, we see millions of business opportunities

"Why do such good flowers die after just a few days in my hands?" This is the eternal unsolved mystery for novice flower growers.

On Douban, there is a group called "Let's Grow Flowers Together", in which 40,000 people are stubbornly and clumsily trying to figure out how to get along with plants every day. It is common to see "plant killers" going crazy because of "unrequited love".

Some people refuse to admit defeat. Even if the plants they plant die every time, they will still buy new ones while cursing. Some people try to control the variables, “Everything I plant dies, so I’ll try leaf cuttings from my office colleague’s succulents.” Others turn to metaphysics for help, “Is it because the feng shui or magnetic field at home is bad?”

Amid the anxiety of the plant killers, Ming Ge saw a business opportunity.

"Many flowers bought from flower markets die quickly because the original soil is formulated according to greenhouse survival standards, and the soil must be changed in a home environment." Among the products in Mingge's store, nutrient soil sales account for half of the store's total sales. "Good nutrient soil will not harden, and the proportion should be determined according to the variety."

Ming Ge, who is now very eloquent when talking about planting, had no gardening experience before. His business originated from an experiment of "judging others by one's own experience".

In 2016, Mingge's little daughter was born. Like all parents, when making mashed potatoes, green vegetables and other complementary foods for his children, he was always worried that the vegetables he bought might contain pesticides and be unhealthy. When Mingge saw a set of potato pots that could be used to grow potatoes by oneself online, he immediately placed an order.

"I just tried it at first, but it turned out to be a great success. It was simple and safe." It was this experience that made Ming, who originally wanted to do e-commerce, come up with the idea of ​​selling potted plants. "Now more and more people are paying attention to food safety. I feel that this project is a sunrise industry."

Mingge spent more than a year visiting dozens of agricultural bases for research. After a preliminary understanding of the market information, Mingge first determined his consumer group and brand positioning - targeting people with quality life and creating a quality nutritious soil brand.

"At that time, there were already quite a few stores selling nutrient soil and gardening potted plants online, but there were no well-known brand stores." The market was highly fragmented. According to Ming Ge's investigation, the annual sales of the largest merchant store on the online platform at that time was only about 800,000 yuan.

At the same time, consumers do not have the mentality to buy nutrient soil. "Before 2020, most people directly used original soil or soil from downstairs in the community. Those who can buy nutrient soil online are those who have high requirements for quality."

There is a gap in the market and consumers have growth dividends. In order to grasp the "quality" advantage, Mingge found the research team of China Agricultural University, bought out the R&D formula, and then put it into production after a round of personal planting and testing. In addition, imported raw materials will be disinfected during customs clearance to ensure that there are no insect eggs and that pests are not easily generated during cultivation.

In addition, Ming Ge is well aware of the habit of gardening novices to “buy a whole set”, so he simply invented the “buy soil and get a set free” policy.

"We are the first business in the industry to give away floor mats, disposable gloves, and seeds," said Ming. "On the one hand, we consider that changing soil indoors is easy to get dirty. On the other hand, by giving away more seeds, we hope that customers will continue to buy soil for planting."

Based on his emphasis on service, Mingge decisively opened a store on JD.com. He always felt that an online store, from packaging, design to customer service and platform, is a reflection of brand power.

After 5 years of operation, it has been proved that Mingge's judgment was correct.

After choosing to build a brand, when the epidemic began in 2020, people who were idle at home began to plant flowers and vegetables to pass the time, and newbies flocked in. Since there were more people than sellers in branded stores, the goods in the stores sold out quickly; then, during the lockdown in Shanghai in 2022, vegetables were hard to come by, and a new wave of business came. Brother Ming seized the opportunity and quickly put various vegetable seeds on the shelves in the store, continuously consolidating the brand's voice, with a repurchase rate of over 30%.

As for the merchants who choose to sell low-priced nutrient soil, according to Ming Ge's observation, although their sales volume is higher than that of high-quality nutrient soil in the entire market, the store that ranks first in sales this year will often disappear after two or three years.

"Because there are too many low-priced products and the effects are average, it is impossible to create a differentiated brand and ultimately it won't last long. " Brother Ming sighed.

Riding on the momentum of the "new urban farmers" and seizing the opportunity window in the past three years, Mingge's gardening store sold 50 million yuan worth of soil a year.

02 "New Urban Farmers" Support a 17 Billion Green Plant Track

The rise of every new business is bound to bring about a new demand pain point, a new group of consumers, and a new lifestyle.

Behind the booming green plant e-commerce business are the young people who complained that "the city is too cunning, I want to go back to the countryside" who are actually growing vegetables.

For the descendants of Yan and Huang, who regard food as their primary need, "edibility" has become a decisive factor for consumers when buying potted plants.

Liu Ting, a 25-year-old fitness expert, just bought two pots of rosemary because she doesn't want to eat bland fitness meals all the time. "First, pour olive oil on it and fry the steak on low heat until it's 70% done. When the meat is fragrant, pick a few rosemary grown at home to add flavor and decorate the dish."

Just by adding a few more blades of grass, the level of the meal immediately changed from a home-cooked meal to a Western banquet. Life as an adult is not easy, and what Liu Ting needs is this cheap but not cheap sense of refinement and ritual.

According to JD.com sales, vegetables, fungi and fruits are the most purchased green plants suitable for balcony planting. In addition to common varieties such as tomatoes and peppers, mint, rosemary and Chinese toon have become new top sellers, with sales increasing by more than 30% year-on-year from January to March 2023. In addition, dwarf cherry seedlings suitable for planting on family balconies have become the seedling/seed product with the highest transaction volume, and the largest buyers are those born after 1990, accounting for 33% of the transaction volume.

Plant and eat at the same time, plant whatever is expensive. A few years ago, the post-90s generation was still complaining on Zhihu that their parents grew vegetables at home, which resulted in many mosquitoes and mud all over the ground. Now they are beginning to follow in the footsteps of the "old people".

However, every spring, this group of fickle consumers prefer different varieties. For example, the sales of the new "Zen" green plants this year have tripled last year. The products with the highest sales volume, such as the small hope bodhi, purple sand asparagus, cliff June snow curved branches, and wishful ferns, just happened to hit the Buddhist trend of people going to temples to burn incense and buying temple-related products.

During the bonus period of the track, the secret to merchants' wealth lies in keeping up with consumer demand, quickly launching new varieties, and even leading new trends in green plants.

In addition to focusing on green plant varieties, gardening tools are also a category with great potential.

Just like the trend of coffee addiction, people start with milk coffee and gradually develop towards increasing caffeine concentrations, all the way to latte, Americano, and SOE. Those who are new to growing plants, who start with shallots and succulents, are also on the path of buying more and more, but it becomes increasingly difficult to grow them.

"I started by watching live broadcasts and tried to buy two or three pots. Now I have nearly 1,000 pots at home." For the succulents at home, 30-year-old Wang Yun also bought a series of supporting tools such as flower stands and watering cans. From the beginning to the end, he spent nearly 10,000 yuan in a year.

There are many people like Wang Yun. After all, the ultimate dream of everyone who grows green plants is to have an indoor garden with various heights and shapes like a small forest on Xiaohongshu and Douban.

From Monstera to Magnolia, from a flowerpot to a lighting lamp, pruning shears, insect repellent, nutrient fertilizer... " Poor students have more stationery" is an eternal truth. In order to increase the success rate of planting, novices will do everything they can; of course, there are also more and more professional players who have "successfully achieved success" and have a greater demand for tools.

According to JD.com's consumer data, sales of small tools such as gardening gloves, soil testers, and squash shears increased by 194%, 44%, and 41% year-on-year, respectively, while sales of substrate companions, slow-release fertilizers, etc. increased by more than 100% year-on-year.

There are still gold mines in the niche market. Take a small plant light as an example. According to statistics, the global market size in 2019 has grown from US$1.76 billion in 2015 to US$3.79 billion, with an average annual compound growth rate of 21.1%. It is expected that the global market size will reach US$11.50 billion by 2024.

In addition to focusing on a certain product, merchants can also open up their thinking on crowd portraits and gain insight into more differentiated needs.

According to the sales data of the e-commerce platform observed by Business Data, white-collar workers with a fast pace of life love to buy potted green plants the most. They prefer "lazy" and "automatic water-absorbing pots". As long as the flowers can survive, they will add a little technology and work hard. Students and other groups have a higher sales volume of anti-radiation green plants. They can write papers, play games, and maintain their health at the same time...

In the entire green plant market, from upstream seeds, potted plants, agricultural tools, and agricultural materials to downstream sales based on consumer demand, green plant e-commerce online is still a highly fragmented market with profits to be tapped in every link.

03 After flower e-commerce, how far can green plant e-commerce go?

When faced with bonus opportunities, how to seize the opportunity is more important than discovering the opportunity.

Urban residents have always had a demand for home greening, but before that, capital and businesses had focused on flower e-commerce.

In 2013, flower e-commerce emerged one after another. In 2015, it ushered in a peak moment of rapid growth, with more than 22 financings. Huadianshijian, Huajia, Hema Supermarket Flowers... entered the market one after another and swirled around in the fresh cut flower market. At that time, people believed that the demand for beautifying the home environment among urban white-collar workers was increasing. They had money, no free time, paid attention to the quality of life, and were more willing to pay for flowers and services.

But as time went by, the imagined consumption upgrade was interrupted, and succulents became a substitute for flowers. The 9.9 yuan for 20 branches at the Dounan Flower Market in Yunnan became a more down-to-earth urban pastoral. The flower service brands that once spent a lot of money to buy the source flower fields and build cold chain supply chains are now facing the loss of time, the low-priced flowers, the increasingly cost-effective consumers, and the difficult-to-reduce costs.

The arrival of the epidemic and the rise of the sinking market have made the former "sense of ritual" and "self-pleasing economy" move towards the other end of the flower e-commerce - potted plants, which have a wider audience, longer lasting and higher cost-effectiveness than fresh cut flowers.

You can buy dozens of tomato seeds for 3 yuan, a dozen small succulents for 9.9 yuan, and mint that can be grown for three or four years for 20 yuan. Green potted plants can be beautiful, long-lasting and cheap.

When office workers want to get close to nature but don’t have time for camping or hiking, they can spend the least cost to buy some Monstera and decorate their rental house; when many parents buy seeds and accompany their children to plant, water and observe, they create warm family memories for each other during the parent-child time; when they invite friends to their home for dinner, after saying “this is pure natural food that I grew myself”, everyone grabs it all... Plants with vitality provide people with stronger emotional value.

But at the same time, the entry threshold for potted plants is high, the maintenance knowledge is complex, and the repurchase rate depends on personal operation... This new track supported by the pastoral dream requires continuous cultivation of consumer habits, and videoization is a key opportunity.

"I'd rather eat without meat than live without bamboo. This Guanyin bamboo is very suitable for the study room at home, which can create a perfect atmosphere." During the live broadcast, an anchor was introducing green plant products, "It can be grown hydroponically. Hydroponics requires tap water that has been air-dried. Dechlorination is more conducive to rooting. "

In the past, green plants online could only be introduced through a few static pictures whose authenticity was unknown. However, as non-standard products, green plants and supporting gardening tools need to be displayed through short videos and live broadcasts, and explained by experts and hosts with a certain degree of professionalism.

The logic in this regard is similar to that of jewelry. As non-standard products, jewelry ranks among the top three popular categories on major short video e-commerce platforms.

As a leading gardening merchant on JD.com, Brother Ming is also creating video content, looking for influencers to promote products, and establishing a short video team. "Nowadays, many short videos are used to wipe leaves with beer and add vinegar to potted plants in order to attract attention. This is too biased," Brother Ming added.

Good content in the green plant and potted plant e-commerce industry is still scarce, especially with Luo Yonghao entering JD Live. The platform is vigorously supporting live streaming and short video formats. Under this wave, the opportunity for merchants to overtake others by leveraging content has arrived.

Of course, in the process of videoization, green plant e-commerce also has many pain points. For example, there is a shortage of anchors with professional maintenance knowledge; the traffic reception effect is limited due to the high reliance on after-sales communication; and since it belongs to the low-profit agricultural product track, there are cost efficiency issues in content e-commerce...

There are always more solutions than problems. For businesses, the most important thing at the moment is to take the first step first. After all, this track is rising rapidly.

With the trend of e-commerce content and video, green plant e-commerce has also ushered in a period of rapid development. According to Gongyan Industry Consulting data, from 2018 to 2023, the online green plant potted plant industry is expected to grow fivefold, from 3.3 billion to 17 billion yuan, accounting for about 23.51% of the overall scale of China's flower e-commerce in 2023.

Author: Huang Xiaoyi

Source public account: Business Data Party (ID: business-data).