Plant retailer in Fort Mill changing the landscape with e-commerce

One of the nation’s leading online gardening distribution suppliers is tucked away in the heart of Fort Mill, on 25 acres off Springfield Parkway.

Brighter Blooms, which began in Mint Hill, N.C., in 2005 and moved to Fort Mill in 2013, largely flies under the radar because there is no storefront and the physical site is not open to the public. But despite keeping a low profile locally, business is booming, said web-guru Travis Zboch, one of the brains behind the operation and a member of the family that founded the company.

The business’ success is largely due to having found a niche in the online market, Zboch said, and the growing shift among consumers toward e-commerce.

Brighter Blooms is the fastest growing mail order company in the nation and one of the fastest growing companies in South Carolina, Zboch said, adding that those claims come from comparing their online analytics to those of their competitors.

“We check where we stand in the (online) landscape, no pun intended,” he said.

Plants are shipped with an established root system so they can be enjoyed right away. With 12 years in the industry, the company has the packaging and shipment of the plants and trees down to a science.

“It is truly an art,” said Marshay Kearse, director of community relations. “A lot of customers couldn’t believe shipping six-foot trees was even possible.”

“There’s been a lot of trial and error,” Zboch said. “Ninety-nine out of a hundred orders arrive nice and that’s exciting.”

About 60 percent of the online retailer’s shoppers are women and 24 percent fall into the 55 to 64 age range. Many customers find Brighter Blooms through asking gardening questions on Google or Facebook, Zboch said.

“Ninety-one percent of consumers turn to their phone in the middle of a task for ideas on what they should buy,” Kearse said.

The company has a variety of blog posts on its website, such as “An A-Z guide on how to grow citrus plants on your porch” or “Planting 101: Turning your black thumb into a green thumb,” for reference.

A large chunk of business comes from the Southeast, but the city with the highest percentage of Brighter Blooms’ clientele is nowhere near Fort Mill.

“New York (City) is actually really popular, despite it being cold,” Zboch said. “(Most customers) either have a lot of property or no property.’

Given the Big Apple’s large urban population, many city dwellers long for a small resemblance of green in their space – making porch plants a large percentage of sales. Customers also enjoy growing their own fruit from their patio and small fruit trees – especially lime trees – are in demand.

“People like the idea of farm to table, but they’re without the farm and just going patio to table,” Zboch said. “They’ll grow their own limes to put in Coronas.”

But despite the popularity of small plants, the evergreen tree is still the overall best-seller because of the variety of ways customers use it for privacy.

“It is a polite way to say, ‘I’d rather look at trees than in your windows,’” Zboch said.

For more information or to place an order visit brighterblooms.com.

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Plant retailer in Fort Mill changing the landscape with e-commerce."