East Austin Succulents Blossoms with BigCommerce
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Summer time is in full swing, and what higher approach to have a good time than so as to add to your rising plant assortment?
However for East Austin Succulents — Austin’s most numerous and inventive cactus and succulent nursery — trying to find uncommon and attention-grabbing crops is a year-round mission.
From agave to bougainvillea to Texas plumeria, EAS is dwelling to all kinds of distinctive air crops, bushes, herbs and shrubs. With a working greenhouse and a retail nursery, the blossoming enterprise is a haven for plant lovers throughout Central Austin.
Rising to New Ranges
Starting in 2009, EAS has since thrived as a solely brick-and-mortar nursery, however in 2020, the group determined it was time to go digital.
“We existed in every single place however the web, and we had a reasonably well-established popularity in central Texas,” stated EAS’s customer support supervisor and assistant internet store supervisor, Rachel Harris. “However no one else actually knew about us, and we thought it was time to alter that.”
To assist develop the nursery’s attain, the group constructed the East Austin Succulents webshop — which now serves plant lovers not solely in Central Texas, but in addition throughout all 50 states.
Nonetheless, with the webshop launching throughout the peak of the pandemic, EAS not solely needed to navigate the right way to promote on-line for the primary time, however they’d additionally lately closed their retail nursery and transitioned to appointment solely.
“We have been having to navigate the right way to permit for orders to be fulfilled in-person via our internet store, but in addition the right way to ship them out. We have been studying lots unexpectedly, however it was an enormous win as a result of we’re nonetheless right here,” stated Harris.
A Budding Success
In actual fact, the webshop didn’t simply assist EAS survive the pandemic — it was a seed that will assist the corporate develop like by no means earlier than.
“Our Instagram already had individuals who have been asking to purchase issues on-line, and all our social media has solely grown since launching on-line. Plus, our e-mail e-newsletter subscriptions have grown drastically,” stated Pam Humphrey, EAS’s internet store supervisor.
On prime of celebrating the two-year anniversary of its webshop, different huge wins for EAS embody turning into a Star Vendor on Etsy and a High Vendor on eBay. With the assistance of its BigCommerce retailer, EAS has solely grown and grown, establishing itself as a novel, high-quality plant nursery.
And that features the packaging and delivery of crops for its on-line prospects. However whereas packaging a cactus might seem to be a tough feat, Humphrey claims delivery day is her favourite day of the week.
“We ship all of the crops with a lot love and care,” Humphrey stated. “After we pack one thing, we additionally take into consideration how somebody will unwrap it and it’ll be in its new dwelling. Packing is a really special occasion for all of us.”
For the Love of Crops
Surely, the EAS group loves all issues crops. From discovering a uncommon mutation or a variegated plant they haven’t seen earlier than, to discovering child possums of their greenhouse, Humphrey and Harris agreed that working at EAS comes with no scarcity of surprises.
However the most effective components of East Austin Succulents is how they foster a neighborhood of individuals round crops.
Recalling an occasion with an Etsy buyer, Harris defined how the shopper had forgotten to order a warmth pack together with their plant buy. So, the EAS group messaged the shopper and provided to ship them a warmth pack totally free. However as a substitute, the shopper kindly provided to purchase 5 warmth packs as a “pay it ahead” for anybody else who forgot to purchase a warmth pack sooner or later.
“They didn’t have to do this,” stated Harris. “However it was only a good second of plant folks searching for different plant folks, and in addition plant folks searching for us.”
The Remaining Phrase
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