It's going green

The market for garden products has been growing for years, not only, but also during the pandemic. Halm now wants to benefit from the boom with individual lawn care advice. CEO Niko Andreewitch reveals why direct sales to consumers are particularly worthwhile here.

Even the most convinced city dweller has probably dreamed of having their own garden from time to time in recent months. During the lockdown months, the green idyll on your own property suddenly seemed even more appealing than perhaps it already was. And those with a lawn suddenly discovered their green fingers. Spending on garden products skyrocketed. In 2020, the market grew by over nine percent to a good 20 billion euros in Germany, a record, as the German Garden Industry Association (IVG) happily reported. The association also assumes that this was due to special effects and that such growth rates will not be repeated so quickly. Nevertheless, the garden products sector is attractive, with turnover already exceeding 18 billion euros without coronavirus.

Niko Andreewitch wants a slice of this cake. The start-up veteran, who previously worked at fashion job board Inselberg and proptech company Home HT, is speaking from a hotel in Hamburg via video, with a piano strumming in the background. The Austrian wants to talk about his new passion: Lawns. "I don't know any garden owner who doesn't value a beautiful lawn, but only a few know how to maintain it effectively," he explains. His new company, Halm, aims to remedy this with individual lawn care programs via the Internet. The promise: Customers send in a soil sample and, in return, receive suitable lawn care products and precise instructions for the coming year after an in-depth analysis. "We want to make lush, healthy green possible for everyone," says Andreewitch.

Halm sends individual care plans

Sounds crazy? Perhaps, but the Halm CEO points out that the underlying mechanics are by no means that new. "I've spoken to some experts in the field who already provide advice and fertilization plans on a personal level. With Halm, we are scaling up this approach and making it accessible to the masses," he says. One of them is his co-founder Christina Lung, a trained biologist and chemist who has been carrying out corresponding analyses for years. Together with her husband Gerhard Lung - former turf representative for the Bundesliga soccer clubs Borussia Dortmund and VfB Stuttgart - she provides the turf-specific know-how that is to be combined with Andreewitch's business skills.

Halm has now been active on the market for six weeks. Interested parties can answer a few questions on the start-up's website and then receive an offer with a price tag. Anyone who then signs a contract will be looked after by Halm for one year. The cost for an area of 200-250 square meters is 160-190 euros per year. That's more expensive than buying your own fertilizer from the DIY store. "But then there's no advice and no soil analysis," says Andreewitch. This alone costs 80 to 90 euros if a private individual does it themselves. "What's more, our fertilizers are quality products that come from the professional sector," he adds. Overall, he is convinced that the company's own pricing model is competitive. "We explicitly want to appeal not only to villa owners, but to the broad mass of hobby gardeners," he says.

Market trends could play into the start-up's hands. After all, online retail is also becoming increasingly important in the gardening business. In 2020, sales of almost 1.5 billion euros were already generated there. Of course, coronavirus was also a driver here, but even in pre-pandemic years, the sector usually saw double-digit growth.

Thanks to D2C, Halm earns from every customer - right from the start

For Halm, the focus on direct online business is also a margin driver. "We cut out almost all the middlemen between the fertilizer manufacturers and the customer," explains Andreewitch. As a result, the company earns money with every customer from the moment they sign a one-year contract. "Of course, we hope that we can then retain our customers for longer, but our model is not dependent on this," he says. Andreewitch believes, however, that those who use the Halm program will be convinced by the results. "If you follow our plan to the letter for a year - three fertilization seasons - the results will show," he says confidently.

So far, Andreewitch and his team have done without external capital; they have used their own funds and contacts in the scene to enter the market, he reports. In the medium term, however, Andreewitch is now hoping for a seed investment and is currently talking to business angels. The founder has an unusual wish list: "We are currently in the process of getting a well-known footballer on board, as many are now also investing in start-ups." After all, who would be a better ambassador for a turf start-up than someone who earns his money on turf every weekend?