Franco Yeung started My Home Nature in 2018 as a way to send plants to friends overseas. He didn’t expect that, within just a couple of years, what was once a hobby would grow into an online business with an international customer base and a product portfolio with a wide range of exotic plant species.
“I’m a nature lover,” Franco says. “I want to share this experience with people the same as me.”
But shipping live plants to customers around the world comes with a unique set of requirements. First, plants are extremely delicate, and the well-being of each and every one is My Home Nature’s top priority.
Plus, in the context of shipping plants, reliable delivery is literally a question of life and death.
“Live plants can only survive a few days without water and proper care, so having a shipping partner that can guarantee fast delivery is crucial,” Franco says.
Then there’s the lifespan of each plant, which varies from species to species, and the various regulatory complexities that come with shipping live plants across borders.
“This is where UPS has been a great help. Our shipments are taken with great care and delivered fast to our customers across the world,” Franco says. “UPS has helped us streamline the complicated customs clearance process, and they’re always quick to respond to our needs.”
And the unique complexity doesn’t end there. Unlike most online retailers, the My Home Nature team also needs to know the weather forecast in the location where their plants are being shipped. If weather conditions at the destination are too hot (above 35 degrees Celsius), too wet or too windy, the team may decide to delay a shipment until the weather improves.
That means they need a logistics partner flexible enough to accommodate last-minute changes to their fragile passengers’ flight arrangements.
Something we do from our heart
UPS encourages responsible shipping and My Home Nature has shown its commitment to sustainable growth by participating in UPS’s carbon neutral programme, where a company can offset the greenhouse gas emissions of any shipment by paying a small fee. These contributions are then invested in conservation projects around the world.
UPS Paperless Invoice meanwhile eliminates the need for paper commercial invoices – a process that is both more environmentally friendly and reduces shipping errors.
“We sell plants, and I love nature,” Franco says. “We want to contribute to nature. And I think most of our customers want to take part in this contribution. It’s something we do from our heart.”