With a buy-and-build strategy, online houseplant store PLNTS.com needs to grow. So that with one distribution center they serve different customers through different webshops. 'For many entrepreneurs, joining us is a nice solution.'
Between the green meadows in Nieuwerkerk aan den IJssel is the plant nursery of the Mostert family. More than 150 years ago, in 1860, it began with Jesse Mostert's great-great-grandfather, who was a grower and played a major role at the Rotterdam vegetable auction. Today, the Mostert plant nursery, where hundreds of plants are grown, is run by Jesse, his father and his three brothers.
But a life as a grower was never in the cards for Jesse. 'My whole life revolves around plants. I go to bed with them and wake up with them. It really is a passion, but I'm not a grower. That really is a profession in its own right. But although growing beautiful and unique plants is in our blood, we are also entrepreneurs at heart.'
Flattening growth
Mostert studied Small Business and Retail Management, for which his assignment in 2018 was to get a startup off the ground. The idea was to set up a webshop where consumers could easily order small room plan ten. That idea caught on so well, thanks in part to a fast-growing Instagram account. Soon, orders were coming in from all over Europe.
Mostert: 'Then came the corona pandemic. Everyone had to stay home and we noticed that right away. People wanted to brighten up their living rooms with nice plants, but couldn't go to a garden center. The number of orders on our website exploded with more than a thousand customers a week and we had to scale up quickly. In that respect, we were lucky to have a horticultural company behind us.'
The online platform was named PLNTS.com and grew into an online community with a webshop, selling rare plants, houseplants and small baby plants, as well as pots and care products. But when the corona pandemic had largely subsided, growth also leveled off. So something had to be done to fulfill growth ambitions.
'We had previously gotten in touch with Marktlink to find out whether it was possible to take over the American Plants. com, because that similar name could be confusing,' Mostert explains. 'But that turned out to be a listed business. Marktlink suggested rolling out a buy-and-build strategy. Our online activities are just as mature as the nursery, where smaller webshops sometimes have to work just a little harder to stay afloat. Joining a larger group often means more peace of mind and new opportunities for those entrepreneurs to expand.'
Total plant group
PLNTS.com appears to be the ideal platform business to build out through acquisitions. Through targeted acquisitions, PLNTS.com wants to serve different customers with one distribution center from different webshops. Mostert got talking to about ten entrepreneurs of mostly young companies to discuss a possible acquisition.
Mostert: 'During those discussions, I noticed that all entrepreneurs active in the online plant market are facing the same dilemma: how do you ensure that your business remains future-proof in this fragmented market? For many entrepreneurs, joining us is a great solution, where we intend to form a total group within the online plant market.'
That buy-and-build strategy resulted at the end of 2022 in the acquisition of 123planten and 123kantoorplanten, in March 2023 in the purchase of e-fulfilment platform Herbie and its consumer label Bloomique and in September 2023 the acquisition of Flora@Home, a shipping service of flowers and plants founded by PostNL.
Since September 2023, things have been quiet for a while in terms of acquisitions. In fact, Mostert is busy integrating the new acquisitions. 'We have a strong foundation to add businesses to,' Mostert said. 'It makes more sense for us to take over than to build ourselves. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs in the online plant market are also coming to us. Many of them have also experienced tremendous growth in recent years, making sales an attractive option to take the next step. It's becoming a winner takes it all market.'
You read a story from the new Brookz 500. Curious about what opportunities and threats entrepreneurs face in the acquisition market in 2025? Then you can order the new edition at the click of a button.
