When the nation shut down in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bonnie Plants in rural Union Springs, Alabama, was moving into overdrive, with the launch of its new e-commerce operation. Since then, online sales have skyrocketed and more than 11 million visitors are drawn annually to the website of the company that has become the nation’s largest grower and distributor of vegetable and herb plants for home gardeners.
“We happened to launch our products on our website literally the week before the shutdown,” said Mike Sutterer, president and CEO of Bonnie Plants. “We had no idea that there would be a pandemic. The trend of people wanting to shop online was there, and we knew we had to be in that space. But because of COVID, online shopping exploded, and the way people buy things changed forever.”
Home gardening also blossomed during the pandemic, Sutterer said. In 2020 alone, 21 million people took up gardening. “The pandemic offered an opportunity,” he said. “Out of necessity, people wanted to grow food out of their backyard because they weren’t always able to get the food they wanted in the grocery store. Then, when you couldn’t travel or take part in your normal activities, gardening became a release and an escape, something you could do with your family.”
To support the rapid growth of online sales, Bonnie Plants on Feb. 25 unveiled a new 300,000-square-foot greenhouse and e-commerce facility in Union Springs. The greenhouse and e-commerce facility are specially designed to support Bonnie Plants’ online sales motto: The company can deliver any plant, anywhere, any time. The energy efficient greenhouse features natural ventilation and better temperature and humidity controls. Growing conditions in any “micro” climate can be simulated inside the facility, thus ensuring that plants will withstand the hottest or coldest temperatures.
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