Choosing a First Seed Range for a Small Garden Shop

A first seed range does not need to mirror the whole catalogue. For a small garden shop, the better approach is to decide which customer groups you serve, how much shelf space you can give to seeds, and how reliably you can restock before you pick a single variety. This overview shows how to use the catalogue groups as building blocks for a narrow opening range that stays manageable in its first season.

Start with your customers, not the catalogue

Before opening the catalogue, note who actually buys seeds in your shop. A garden centre serving allotment holders has a different centre of gravity from a shop that mostly sells gifts and small packets to occasional gardeners. Write down the two or three customer groups you see most often and what they ask for. This short list becomes the filter for everything that follows, and it prevents a first range from being assembled simply because a group looked interesting online.

Read the catalogue by group first

The catalogue is organised by seed group, species and variety, so it helps to treat the top level as your range map rather than scrolling straight into individual varieties. The main groups are vegetables, flowers, herbs, and microgreens and sprouts, with further catalogue entries alongside them. Each group carries its own demands: vegetables invite questions about sowing times and spacing, flowers about colour and season, herbs about use in the kitchen. Decide which groups fit your customers and leave the rest for a later season.

Use species breadth to set your depth

Within a chosen group, you do not have to carry every species. The herb range alone spans roughly 90 species and is split into subgroups such as basil, mint, thyme, lavender, coriander or medicinal herbs; the vegetable group is divided into families such as tomatoes, peppers, leafy greens or root vegetables. A workable opening range picks a limited number of species per group and stops there. Fewer species with a clear reason behind each one is easier to explain at the counter than a wide, shallow spread.

Match the range to shelf space

Seeds are a small-item category, but display space is still finite. Count the physical positions you can give to seed packets or seed displays before selecting varieties. If you have one shelf, a first range in the low dozens of varieties may already be full. Writing the space limit down first turns the question from which varieties are attractive into which varieties earn their place, and it keeps the range coherent when someone suggests adding one more item.

Choose varieties you can restock reliably

A range is only useful if sold-out lines can be refilled. As you select, mark which varieties are likely to be your steady sellers and which are occasional. Keep the steady sellers in a core list that you plan to reorder, and treat the rest as trial lines. This distinction matters because quantities can be adjusted in the enquiry basket and available pack sizes are confirmed in the quotation, so your first enquiry should reflect realistic volumes rather than a one-off large commitment.

Use botanical names to avoid confusion

Catalogue entries use botanical names, which helps distinguish a species from a particular selection. This is useful when a customer asks for a herb by a local name or when two entries look similar in a listing. When you build your range, record both the common name you will use on the shelf and the botanical name from the catalogue. Doing this once at selection stage saves repeated checking later and keeps your own stock records consistent.

Leave specialist groups until the basics run smoothly

Some groups need more explanation than others. Microgreens and sprouts, for example, are grown and used quite differently from a packet of tomato seed, and specialist herb groups such as medicinal herbs may invite questions you are not yet set up to answer. Deferring these in the first season is a normal and sensible choice. A narrow range that staff can talk about confidently serves customers better than a broad one nobody can advise on.

Build the selection in the enquiry basket

Once the range is written down, the practical step is to add the chosen varieties and quantities to the enquiry basket. Business contact details, destination and packaging requirements are submitted with the selection, and the basket keeps your choices in this browser until you remove them or submit successfully. No account is needed, and submitting an enquiry does not place an order. This makes the basket a working tool for shaping a first range before any commitment is made.

Expect a quotation, not an instant sale

The enquiry is reviewed before an offer is made: availability, prices and shipping conditions are checked, and final prices and shipping charges are confirmed in the quotation. That review stage is useful for a first range because it lets you compare what you selected against what can actually be supplied. If some lines cannot be met, the quotation becomes the moment to adjust the range rather than after stock has been committed.

Keep a record for the next season

A first range is also a first experiment. Note which varieties sold through, which lingered, and which customers asked for something you did not stock. That record is more valuable than the original selection list, because it tells you what to carry forward and what to drop. Unlisted varieties can be raised by name, quantity and destination if a request keeps coming up, so gaps in the range do not have to be permanent.

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