A Startup Blooms as More Americans Embrace Gardening
It’s no surprise that gardening became immensely popular during the pandemic, as more Americans turned to their own backyards for solace and to break up the monotony of working and learning from home. In 2020, the demand for plants and gardening supplies skyrocketed, as did the demand for home delivery services. This has placed ShrubBucket, a Rev member company that specializes in hand delivering everything that aspiring green thumbs need directly to their doorstep, at the intersection of success.
With the approach of winter, the company launched their Holiday Shop this week, providing fresh cut evergreens, holiday décor, and live trees directly to customers’ doorsteps. Customers interested in dressing up their empty flower boxes and front doors for the season, can use the HOLIDAY15 code to receive 15% off their purchases through mid-December.
At the beginning of the pandemic, ShrubBucket reported in a Wall Street Journal feature that the startup processed 2,023 orders in March 2020, as opposed to 57 orders in March of the previous year, reflecting the growing popularity of gardening. According to Alex Hagen, ShrubBucket co-founder and President and a Rev Entrepreneur in Residence, the plant delivery startup experienced x13 year-over-year growth between 2019 and 2020. With the expansion of its service area—now delivering to 15 states—delivery fleet, and technology, the business is on a steady upward trajectory with no signs of slowing down.
Hagen credits ShrubBucket’s team with its success. “What I’m most proud of is our team’s ability to grow this quickly while also keeping customer satisfaction so high. The reviews that customers are leaving demonstrate that we are delivering real value in ways that no other horticulture company can.”
Recently, ShrubBucket announced the opening of a new distribution center in New Jersey, allowing them to better serve customers in the Northeast. In a press release, the startup expressed excitement about expansion within the region: “The added space will increase our capacity to get orders in and out to you quicker and more efficiently. We are obsessed with connecting our customers with the finest plants from growers across the Northeast. This new facility will help us even more to achieve that goal. It’s going to be another great year at ShrubBucket.”
As the year draws to a close, Hagen looks to the future:
“ShrubBucket’s unique ability to deliver incredible, full-sized plants directly to homeowners with no packaging is resonating with customers, as well as growers. We’re already in conversations with potential partners in the cities where we will be expanding in 2022 and they are as excited as we are.”