What should I ask a nursery about its garden centre walk-in customers versus wholesale?

Retail and wholesale are different businesses sharing a greenhouse. Start by asking for sales by channel over several seasons, along with the margin on each. Retail walk-in trade tends to rise and fall with weather and spring timing, while wholesale depends on a smaller number of accounts that order in volume. Ask which is growing and which is shrinking, and why.

For the garden centre, ask about the location, parking, seasonal peaks, loyalty among regular customers and what happens on a wet weekend. For wholesale, ask who the accounts are, how long they have bought, what they order and how they pay. Ask whether any customer takes a large share, and whether any plants are grown specifically for them.

Then ask how the two sides compete. When plants are scarce, which channel gets them? Do the same staff serve both? Does a plant sold wholesale leave the shelves bare? Ask about inventory that goes unsold at season’s end and how it is handled. Finally, if the nursery ships plants outside its area, ask what paperwork it needs for that, and who handles it. Ask also how the nursery tracks returns and plant losses after sale, since those differ between the two channels.

Key takeaways

• Get sales and margin by channel for several seasons.
• Ask which wholesale accounts carry the most volume.
• Find out which side gets the stock when plants are short.