An investigation into the feasibility of using e-business to sell plant material to the South African nursery industry

Abstract

The South African nursery industry has faced many challenges over the last ten years.

Excess in both demand and supply occur in any given year. The cost of maintaining a plant beyond its ideal ‘sell-by-date’ erodes profit and after time, results in complete wastage. The seedling nursery industry cannot afford to throw away large quantities of surplus seedlings or those that have become root-bound. The size of the wastage problem was unknown. It was believed that a website for trading surplus stock of seedlings might be the answer to the oversupply experienced by individual nurseries. The literature was consulted to establish what had made large companies successful. The advantages and disadvantages of E-business were investigated.