Monday, May 12, 2008

Maa’s Day – time for bouquets (and saplings?)

Hundreds of NRI sons/daughters who sent flowers to India on Mother’s Day, May 11, could have been persuaded to say it with saplings as well, if green-minded greetings card makers and florists market the idea. A Bangalore florist who received online an order from our son in San Francisco could have sold him (my son) the idea of including a sapling to go with the bouquet.

So that, along with the bouquet the florist could have delivered ‘a tree-gift’ card that we can trade for a sapling of our choice at a local nursery in Mysore. Tree-gift cards, to go with all occasions, can be sold at Archies outlets. The company joint-MD Pramod Arora saya in a Bangalore Mirror interview that they have a 50-member creative team. Maybe, they can have a stab at some green ideas.

According to Mr Arora, there are a number of greeting-card dealers in the unorganized sector. They account for an annual turnover of Rs.75 crores. Mysore’s Sapgreen, a tree-plant start-up which is into promoting tree-gifts, can think of a marketing tie-up with greeting-cards makers and online florists.

If every other NRI were to add a touch a green with her/his order of bouquets, Mysore would get greener with every special Day – Mother’s, Father’s, Valentine, and Daughter's Day (an Archie invention). Saplings, delivered as tee-gift cards and exchanged for plants at neighbourhood nursery, could be planted in people’s backyard, roadsides and parks.

Now, a word about the Maa Day bouquet that was delivered at our place in Mysore. Shortly after 1 p m, Sunday, a lady phoned to get, what she termed, ‘the landmark’ to our Dewan’s Rd. residence. She said she was speaking from Vontikoppal and that they had a bouquet for delivery. It took them another hour and a half to deliver.

2.30 p m (snooze time for senior citizens) isn’t the ideal time to receive a bouquet, even from one’s dearest ones. Any online service provider ought to ensure that his ‘last-mile’ link is client-sensitive, taking care of conducive delivery time, bouquet’s shelf-life and other nitty-gritty.
This was our Rs.700 bouquet, on delivery; and this is how it looked (below) the very next day.

4 comments:

Swarna said...

I started this practice a couple of years ago - gifting a sapling to friends who I know will appreciate the gesture and get a message.
For those who find themselves in the neighbourhood: Check out the 'Scientific Nursery' in RMV 2nd Stage off New BEL Road. (Phone numbers 23412080, 23418911, 23410103)

GVK said...

Swarna, would appreciate if you share this thought; the response from friends; and any other anecdotal accountn in our tree blog - http://www.fortmysore.blogspot.com/

Often we neglect to specify the town/city we talk about. Would this Scientific Nursery be in Coimbatore/Bangalore ? Do they have a website? If they don't, isn't it time they did?

Your comment evokes another thought - Courier services could also think of a plants-delivery unit. Would you know of any such arrangement, already in place ?

Anil said...

Delivering a tree to door step is a good idea, it might have worked years back, when people had a place for a garden.
Trees2mydoor does this in UK. When we had this idea for Sapgreen, it seemed not practical. The best courier services who can do this charge a lot, smaller couriers cared least.

Swarna said...

Ok, GVK, will do. The Scientific Nursery is in Bangalore.