Every startup begins with the identification of a market demand. Be it retail eCommerce businesses that brought window shopping to our homes or rental businesses that provided an alternative to purchasing short-term usage items. One such demand that still exists without a proper solution in many markets is plantscaping, i.e., designing and installing custom plant setups in homes and offices. In general, the demand for urban plantscapes, such as patios and indoor plants is flourishing.
The environmental sustainability, therapeutic benefits and aesthetic look that plants add to any property are the primary reasons behind the never faltering demand in the industry. However, not many people have the resources required for full-fledged plantscaping. At many places, such as rental properties and events, plants are also required for only a short-term basis. Thus, a more relevant solution to meet the market demand more accurately is to launch a plant rental marketplace.
While many incumbents already exist in the plant rental industry, only a few of them have taken the digital route to market, leaving a clear scope of advantage in the online sector of the industry. To help you capitalize on the opportunity, we have introduced several insights on market dynamics and also the key considerations to help you launch your own plant rental marketplace.
From a multi-perspective view, the business scope in launching a plant rental business is very impressive. To put in context, we have listed all our research findings below:
As per reports, the global market size of the indoor plant industry was $17.93 billion in 2021. By the end of 2029, the industry is estimated to capture an additional $11 billion in market value, reaching an overall share of $26.23 billion. Furthermore, the demand for plants such as flowering plants, foliage plants, succulents, bonsais and herbs is ubiquitous in worldwide markets, especially at properties like homes, offices, hotels, events, and holiday sites.
Another reason behind the global demand for indoor plants are their multiple use cases. In office spaces, plants are said to have significant psychological effects, such as stress reduction, productivity increase and creativity boost. At homes, people keep plants for their antimicrobial and air purifying properties. During humid weather, plants help manage indoor humidity. Certain plants are also said to have herbal and therapeutic properties.
Unlike other marketplaces, where onboarding vendors is a challenge, finding vendors for plant rental marketplaces is easy. As the online competition for plant rental businesses is low, it is easier to convince local vendors to upload their plants on your marketplace. By uploading, those vendors can target a wider audience and generate more revenue.
Plants can be rented out for varying durations, such as daily, weekly and monthly. This provides pricing flexibility to business owners as they can come up with different rental models on their marketplace. For example, they can use daily rentals to target event planners and can also come up with monthly lease agreements for residential and commercial plant rental operations.
Rental plants are often ordered in numbers or packages. Due to this, their ticket size is impressive and so is the profit margin. Furthermore, for commercial buildings, plants are rented out in bulk packages. Another reason behind the big ticket size of rental plants is the need for variety. For example, sourcing exotic plants is challenging and thus, they can be rented out at a better price.
To attract more customers and capture a generous market share, it is advised to have a more diverse offering of rental plants on your marketplace. For creating a diverse product catalog, you can consider renting the following types of plants:
Although the demand for plant rental is high all year round, there are some occasions when there is a surge in demand. The primary
Some of these are:
Several players already exist in the plant rental industry. Some of these players are incumbents with decades in existence, already proving the viability of launching a plant rental business. For your online plant rental marketplace, you can take inspiration from the following references:
| Business | Country | Website |
| Cinema Greens | USA | https://cinemagreens.com/ |
| Ambius | Canada | https://www.ambius.com/ |
| Creative Plant Rentals | USA | http://www.creativeplantrentals.com/ |
| Simply Plants | UK | https://simplyplantsuk.com/ |
| Frenchams Group | Australia | https://www.frenchams.com.au/ |
| 800 Plant It | USA | https://800plantit.com/ |
| Greenspace Plants | Canada | https://greenspaces.id/ |
| Tropical Plant Designs | USA | https://tropicalplantdesign.com/ |
| Planterra | USA | https://planterra.com/ |
| Gold Leaf Botanicals | Canada | https://goldleafbotanicals.ca/ |
| Plantz | USA | https://www.plantz.us/ |
While venturing out in the plant rental industry, some concerns may come to your mind. However, below are very effective and proven solutions to those concerns.
Delivery of live plants is the primary concern that comes to mind while considering online plant rental operations. The solution to this problem has been already presented to us by the global ecommerce giant Amazon, who start retail plant operations back in 2017. Amazon’s range of plants varies from bonsai and succulents to shrubs and perennials.
To solve the delivery issue, Amazon sellers use smart packaging, such as using stakes and cardboard rolls to support and protect the shoots of plants, and padding the delivery box with foam. Due to the perishable nature of plants, rental marketplaces can also restrict certain shipping destinations or use faster delivery options (paid by customers) to ensure the survival of plants during transit.
Numerous plants require extensive care and proper maintenance. Not all the time customers have the proper knowledge to provide essential care to plants. Thus, to ensure the safety of their plants, rental marketplaces can provide plant care guides along with each order. For upselling purposes, they can also sell plant care services in hyper local regions. To safeguard expensive or exotic plants, rental marketplaces can collect rental security or buy insurance.
Additionally, you can also upload plant care blogs and guides on your marketplace and attach PDF documents on plant description pages.
To launch a full-fledged marketplace for plant rental operations, you will require clear documentation of all your requirements. These can include the various web pages and essential features you require to cover every use case. Once the documentation is complete, you can either opt for a readymade solution or custom software development to build your marketplace.
In the modern world where digitization has already taken the center stage, opting for a readymade plant rental software makes more sense. In case, if you require your marketplace to be developed on a very specific technology, then custom development is the only option. Note that to add certain features in a ready-made software, you can request the software provider for customization as well.
Note: Some pages in the following list are optional. You can bookmark this guide to save the list of webpages and features for later reference. For easy understanding, we have also categorized the web pages into 3 categories, which are branding, operations and legal.
| Branding | Operations | Legal |
| Homepage | How it Works? | Privacy Policy |
| About Us Page | Plant Listings Page | Terms and Conditions |
| Contact Us Page | Category | – |
| Blog | Product Page | – |
| FAQ | Checkout Page | – |
| Reviews | Support | – |
| News | – | – |
Online plant rental marketplaces can generate revenue via multiple revenue streams:
Yo!Rent is a self-hosted solution built-in with all essential features to launch a versatile plant rental marketplace. With a captivating interface and all-encompassing dashboard, it provides a comprehensive suite to simplify daily rental processes such booking, delivery, inventory, rental security, and returns. Reinforced with RFQ module, agreement eSign and sales support, Yo!Rent effortlessly handles bulk orders and B2B operations as well. Below are some other ways Yo!Rent helps plant rental businesses:
Evaluating the current market scenario, it is possible to gain a competitive advantage by launching your plant rental marketplace in the industry. However, the same will require thorough planning and target market analysis. While a roadmap will help you identify the areas of advantage, reliable technology will help you provide the required value proposition to capture the market and simplify operations. If interested, you can reach out to us for plant rental software demo.
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Abhishek Kataria is a business consultant at FATbit Technologies. He assists entrepreneurs and business owners in developing viable digital touchpoints and marketplaces. Abhishek is curious about exploring and analyzing new business trends and has a keen eye for the latest developments in the eCommerce sector. Apart from consulting, you can find him practicing French and exploring his creativity in Photoshop.
