East Austin Succulents Blossoms with BigCommerce
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Summer time is in full swing, and what higher solution to rejoice than so as to add to your rising plant assortment?
However for East Austin Succulents — Austin’s most numerous and artistic cactus and succulent nursery — trying to find uncommon and attention-grabbing vegetation is a year-round mission.
From agave to bougainvillea to Texas plumeria, EAS is residence to all kinds of distinctive air vegetation, 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 staff determined it was time to go digital.
“We existed all over the place however the web, and we had a reasonably well-established status 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 vary that.”
To assist develop the nursery’s attain, the staff constructed the East Austin Succulents webshop — which now serves plant lovers not solely in Central Texas, but additionally throughout all 50 states.
Nonetheless, with the webshop launching in the course of the peak of the pandemic, EAS not solely needed to navigate the way to promote on-line for the primary time, however that they had additionally lately closed their retail nursery and transitioned to appointment solely.
“We had been having to navigate the way to enable for orders to be fulfilled in-person by means of our internet store, but additionally the way to ship them out. We had been studying quite a bit abruptly, nevertheless it was an enormous win as a result of we’re nonetheless right here,” stated Harris.
A Budding Success
Actually, 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 had been asking to purchase issues on-line, and all our social media has solely grown since launching on-line. Plus, our electronic mail e-newsletter subscriptions have grown drastically,” stated Pam Humphrey, EAS’s internet store supervisor.
On high of celebrating the two-year anniversary of its webshop, different huge wins for EAS embrace changing into a Star Vendor on Etsy and a Prime 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 transport of vegetation for its on-line prospects. However whereas packaging a cactus could seem to be a troublesome feat, Humphrey claims transport day is her favourite day of the week.
“We ship all of the vegetation 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 residence. Packing is a really special occasion for all of us.”
For the Love of Vegetation
Undoubtedly, the EAS staff loves all issues vegetation. 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 among the finest elements of East Austin Succulents is how they foster a neighborhood of individuals round vegetation.
Recalling an occasion with an Etsy buyer, Harris defined how the client had forgotten to order a warmth pack together with their plant buy. So, the EAS staff messaged the client and supplied to ship them a warmth pack free of charge. However as an alternative, the client kindly supplied 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 try this,” stated Harris. “Nevertheless it was only a good second of plant individuals searching for different plant individuals, and in addition plant individuals searching for us.”
The Closing Phrase
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