“Will people actually purchase their lawn and pasture seed online?”
This was the question posed by our parent company back in 2010. While ecommerce was already well established by that time, many in the seed industry saw online sales as an afterthought, never to replace the face-to-face, brick-and-mortar seed buying experience. Looking back, the skepticism from that time is amusing considering nowadays you can buy anything quickly and efficiently online all while lying pantless on your bed.
A year after asking the question, Nature’s Seed was founded. I joined the team in the fall of 2011 as an intern. At that time, Nature’s Seed was run out of a small storage room our parent company had graciously provided and pieced together with hand-me-down office equipment. Like our office, our team was also bare-bones and consisted of our website developer, one part time warehouse worker, a part time seed salesman, and an intern working remotely (me). Our revenue for that entire year equaled what Nature’s Seed currently processes in a week!
Let’s just say we’ve come a long way in ten years. And while we’ve vastly improved everything about our brand, products, workflow, technology, and office equipment (they finally let us buy new chairs!), we wouldn’t have accomplished anything without you – our customers. Many of you have been with us since the very beginning and have been telling neighbors and family about us for a decade. Others have joined throughout the years and come back regularly for your seed needs. Still others are just barely discovering us, perhaps during the recent COVID quarantines. Wherever you are in your Nature’s Seed relationship, we sincerely thank you!
Looking back, we were probably asking the wrong question in 2010. Perhaps a better question would have been “what is currently missing in the lawn, wildflower, and pasture seed market?”, or “what are customers demanding that the current market is not supplying?”. When phrased that way, it’s obvious Nature’s Seed would have a bright future. We were one of the first online seed companies to provide top-rated NTEP (National Turfgrass Evaluation Program) turfgrass varieties, the same varieties found in golf courses and professional sports fields. We were also one of the first seed companies to research and develop animal-specific pasture mixes, something many of our competitors are just now beginning to copy.
Happy ten-year anniversary Nature’s Seed! And to all our customers, may you continue to grow your own way for many more decades to come. As a way to say thanks, for the entire month of April use coupon code THANKYOU10 during checkout for 10% off all orders.
