Starting a nursery--new thread same topic

Chris, for what it's worth this is my industry experience with pricing plant material at walk-in nurseries. Cost equals whatever is involved in getting a plant to sell [I know this sounds dumb; bear with me]--labor, plant, pot, medium, tax, freight, trash disposal, whatever.

Wholesale [other nurseries and employees] = cost X 1.1

Commercial [landscapers and that ilk] = cost X 2

Retail = cost X 2.25

High-end [retail, but includes delivery and installation] = cost X 3

Hasten to add that all my experience has been in high-rent district nurseries with high-rent customers [called "clients" in high-rent areas].

Above pricing has built in 1-year guarantee on plants for retail and high-end customers.

Another thing that's important to know about pricing is that many nurseries make their real money on products that can't go sour--tools, books, pesticides, fertilizers, weed killer, mulch, and so on. The first retail nursery I worked for had a golden salesperson's rule that you asked every client if they needed fertilizer, mulch, et cetera, at every purchase and in a tone that suggested they needed those things if they had any hope that their current purchase would survive even the trip home :). It was a good nursery; it sold quality plants; it made lots of money.

Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.0 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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