DigiNursery

Getting things started!

Climate change has become a major issue in Pakistan which has caused a wide range of impacts on agricultural and residential sectors such as low productivity of crops, lack of water availability, health issues, and extreme events such as flooding and melting of glaciers. The Global Climate Risk Index has placed Pakistan on the fifth spot on the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change in its annual report for 2020.

Due to numerous awareness campaigns regarding plantations, people are compelled to grow plants but are not able find an effective and accessible platform to find seeds and saplings. Plants not only contribute towards lessening the negative effect caused by greenhouse emissions but are also used for the embellishment of homes. So, one way of alleviating this threat is by raising awareness regarding the importance of plantations and growing plants at home.

Our Goal:

Our business aims to create a platform where people who are hesitant to plant can come and order their desired sapling, seed, pots, etc. We eliminate the discomfort of travel to our customers and deliver their orders to the doorstep. We can be accessed through social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram, so our customers don’t have to log in to a website to find stuff.

Business Model Canvas:

1. Key Partners:

• Nurseries and suppliers are the major key partners. We will collect data from nurseries.
• We will be acting as intermediates to promote their plants and seeds.  Delivery companies like TCS, Bykea, Leopards, and other delivering services will be preferred to deliver our products to the customer at the doorstep.
• Payment processing companies like Jazz Cash, EasyPaisa, etc. are also our key partners for online payment.

2. Key Activities:

• Delivery: We will provide the convenience to the customer to provide their nursery plants and seeds at the doorstep.
• Marketing: Customers will be more fascinating and awarded about our digital nursery through this marketing strategy.
• Data Acquisition: The collection of data from nurseries about plants and their prices is an important task. Through the help of different websites, survey forms, and online platforms, we will collect the information and details about the customers’ habits, and choices.
• Social Media Platforms: This will be the major source of communication of our business as most of the youth is using social platforms, mostly Facebook and Instagram.
• Feedback: Whenever a customer receives an order, we will encourage them to fill out a google form where we will ask about their views about our business and how we can improve it.

3. Value Proposition:

• Timely Delivery: We will ensure timely delivery and provide quality plants and seeds to the customers at the doorstep.
• Variety of Products: We will provide a large variety of plants, pots, seeds, etc. so that the customer can easily choose their desired product.
• Complimentary Products: Our business will be totally based on keeping the customers satisfied, as they are all we have. One of our efforts to make them happy is to give complimentary products on every buy, mostly seeds and small pots.
• Pricing: We will make plantation easy and accessible to everyone by offering our products at an affordable price, less than what our competitors are offering.

4. Customer Segment:

• Plant Enthusiasts: Our target customers are residential consumers looking for a wide variety of plants to beautify their residence. People who’re already into plants and have invested much of their hobbies into it.
• Women: It is a known fact how much of a hassle our women have to go in their daily lives. We want to make things accessible to them. It will be very simple for them to purchase different types of plants from a single point.

5. Revenue:

• We will be generating our revenue solely by selling plants, pots, and seeds to our customers.

Timeline and Task Division:

First of all, let’s talk about what we have achieved so far through our Amal after coming up with this idea. After a thorough discussion, all our group members came to common terms about products, revenue stream, and key partners. Initially, most of our time was spent on refining and perfecting the idea, each member contributing to how we can perfect a certain aspect of our business. For the last two weeks, we are making some practical steps to kick start our project. We have contacted different nurseries and presented them our ideas, made inquiries about the types of plant people usually prefer, and obviously have taken a price breakdown of their own product so that we can calculate how much margin we will be having to make this business sustainable. We have also taken our first steps on social media platforms. We can be accessed on: (links attached)

1. Facebook
2. Instagram

Here is the breakdown of what we need to do in the coming weeks, who will be performing different tasks, and how it will be done:

Marketing:

It is one of the main aspects that need to be done on an immediate basis. Noor has taken the task of reaching out to Amal fellows through Whatsapp, where she will be asking them to like and give feedback to our social media pages. Along with this, all our group members will also be sharing about our project on our own social media as posts and stories including Whatsapp, Instagram, and Facebook. We plan to have a considerable community who know what we are doing, and we will be trying to get as many likes and followers before the next week.

Engagement with Nurseries and Delivery:

Our collaboration with nurseries is an important task that requires extensive research. For this purpose, we have assigned 3 group members (Anas, Parkash, and myself) to get done with this task. The task involves reaching out to different nurseries and acquiring whatever data they are willing to provide. The information regarding plants and their pricing is our first priority but we are willing to learn and note anything that is being exposed to us. Also, we will be taking the responsibility of delivery either by using delivery service or by ourselves (when the customer address is not far away, to save our finances).

Graphics:

To easily get noticed by people, we need engaging posts that are simple and appealing. As Adeel has experience in this field, there was no reason not to give him this task. He has already designed the logo and we are in process of making our post, which will be posted by this weekend. Also, after the weekend, we will start posting about our product and officially start attracting customers.

Social Media Management and Feedback:

Efficiently managing social media is an essential task that will have a big significance on our business. Sadaf will be taking the wheel for this task. She will be responsible for engaging with customers and providing them relevant information.

Challenges and their Solutions:

Collaboration with Nurseries:

One of the big challenges is making all the nurseries collaborate with us. Although we have not been met with this challenge yet, it still remains one of our worries. Here is what Anas has to say of his visit to a nursery:

For our mega project, I visited multiple nurseries and that was very beneficial. One of the nurseries was so happy to hear about our project that they were willing to collaborate in any way they can and provide any kind of guidance. I have met with the owner of that nursery, and he told me that they are in this business for the past 16 years. We discussed different types of indoor and outdoor plants and what type of plants people buy the most for their homes or gardens. He took me to the different sections of the nursery and gave me a brief overview of flowering plants, herbs, vegetables, and other beautiful plants. He also told me that they also provide the services of a professional gardener which will help the customers from setting up a small flower bed to a vegetable garden, and they also provide different packages for a month for hiring their professional gardener depending on the customer satisfaction, like they can provide pesticides if the plants are in danger from parasites, etc. They also provide seeds and saplings for fruits, vegetables, and trees and also provide seeds for seasonal plants. Although this nursery was smaller than the other nurseries that I visited but they assured me that they will arrange any type of plants that they don’t have on customers’ demand.

So here lies the solution: talk your way out, just like Anas did! The only way we can make different nurseries collaborate with us is to make them realize that they will have their due share of profits and that it is not only helping us but them too. We will make them understand that it is a win-win situation for both parties.

Delivery:

Delivering plants and pots might get a bit difficult. Bykea and other services, although at times good, are sometimes not that reliable. As we will also have customers that will be handing out cash-on-delivery, so it will not be a good idea to use delivery services then. Also, the fluctuating fare of Bykea can cause a great loss to our revenue.

We have decided that if the customer’s address is close to our range, we will try to deliver the product ourselves. Also, to eliminate any misunderstanding with our customers in the delivery charges, we will tell the price of our product inclusive of delivery charges.

Promotion:

As I have already mentioned above our plans to market our business, we would still require other ways to increase our audience. We don’t want to get stagnant on certain likes/followers, but to increase it day by day.

One of the ways we have planned to tackle this is to put our profits on social media advertising. Sounds like a big stretch? It sure does but we are willing to try this path once, on a smaller scale.

In a Nutshell:

We at Amal know that this is a challenging project where all our problem-solving skills are at work, and this is the reason why it excites us! There is so much to learn from this as we are making ourselves get out of our comfort zones. From having an idea to making it a full-fledged business, we all are learning and trying our best to do things perfectly. There are many temptations towards the path of glory, but people are only remembered for how they tackle those hurdles, and how they get out of it, alive.

This post is part of the Amal Fellowship.