One of the main detractors of using biocontrols is the high cost of freight. Overnight shipping — required for most packages moving outside of New England — is ridiculously expensive. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Freight costs can be drastically reduced if growers or gardeners embrace a sense of community or club, and work together, combining their orders into single, composite shipments.
Not only does the cost of freight get spread among the participants doing this, but some discounts may become available by leveraging the economies of scale. That said, getting growers to actually do this is difficult at best. We have some who enjoy the benefits of consolidation, but most strike out on their own as lone wolves, shouldering the full cost of shipping by themselves.
The Dealer’s Role
This is where dealers can step in and make the unlikely a lot more likely. Specifically, dealers with accessible locations such as garden centers, feed and farm stores, and others, can help (for a profit). The basic idea is to accept orders from your customers throughout the week, imposing deadlines a few hours before ours, then getting your single consolidated order to us for fulfillment the following week. When you get the package the following week your customers come to you, unless you have a delivery option, to pick up their portion.
There are some things you should be aware of if considering adding biocontrols to your stable of offerings:
- You, your staff, or an assigned point-person will need to learn about biocontrol usage and IPM. This person will need to make recommendations and answer questions. We can help this person one-on-one, plus we offer this site as one immense resource. Just know, some level of dedication is required. In fact, we expect it.
- Obtaining prepayment from your customers is a must at the time of order placement since some people can have difficulty making it back to your place. You need to cover yourself. And speaking of payment, this should include a fraction the freight. We can provide an estimate to get you close so this isn’t taken from your margins.
- Getting customers into your location for pick-up can increases the potential for secondary and impulse purchases. It’s a fact of life, and a positive thing. While you’re waiting for them, though, you will need to extend our guarantee. Biocontrols are perishable and delays can negatively affect product quality. You must store them in the interim: a floral cooler is awesome, a fridge is good, even a lowly cooler can suffice. This does need to be considered.
Other Options
We offer a drop-shipment option for some of our catalog and online dealers (some of those also have a retail location), so you don’t need to have a store or accessible location to actually sell biocontrols, but those who do are in a unique position to slash freight costs significantly. Moreover, there’s also the potential for helping the environment by cutting down on the number and volume of packages being shipped. That’s why we’re specifically looking for dealers who do have an accessible location. We wouldn’t turn away another catalog or online dealer, but we’re trying to do something for the greater good here.
Interested?
If this business opportunity interests you and you have a candidate location, and you’re willing to throw yourself or an employee into biocontrol and IPM so as to properly service your customers, please contact us (select Distributor Liaison from the form’s menu) and tell us about your business and yourself. While we cannot guarantee we will take all comers under our wing granting dealership, we are very interested in the potential to save thousands of dollars in freight so let’s talk. Tell us why you’re the one for us.
