Rolling Nature: Success Story of Green Gifting In India

Nothing has a shortcut, and setting up an "out of the box" successful business  is challenging enough. Unique brand "Rolling Nature" is now a renowned name as a live plants company. It's Co- Founders Vandana Chaudhary & Sajin Kumar has come a long way to create a niche for their loving brand. This 4th July, Rolling Nature will be turning 7 and its still going strong. Everything you wanted to know about Rolling Nature's successful Green Gifting Success Story is here. Read on & make sure you read till the end to know about our strong headed Co-Founders & Rolling Nature's Environmental Initiatives.

1] When did you found it? What all things are you dealing in? Where are you based at? Are you both offline & online? Which all cities are you supplying?

Founded in 2013, we are a live plants company which brings you ready potted, low maintenance fresh plants in exquisite handcrafted ceramic planters for green gifting & green decor. Rolling Nature ceramic planter collections are handcrafted inspired by pottery around the world.

We are the forerunners in the industry with well recognized expertise, top quality researched & tested unique products & advanced plant business methodology. We aim at bringing garden indoors & breathe fresh indoors by providing "Complete Customized Green Gifting & Green Décor Solutions". We provide wide array of NASA approved Air Purifying, Good Luck Feng Shui Vastu, Ornamental & Exotic plants. We are present both online & offline. Online our products are available on our website, Amazon, Myntra, Pepperfry, Flipkart & Snapdeal. Our head office & store is located in Balewadi, Pune.

We have made low maintenance ready to display fresh indoor potted plants available to even remotest areas in India. Our unique & affordable range of products have made us the top seller in plants category on all leading online portals. We supply plants all over India. We also cater to single or multiple location for bulk orders. We have catered to many clients all over India for customized green gifting. We incorporate branding & company information into the gift as required by the client as per their budget & specifications. Our team always have creative ideas & designs for corporates as well as individuals who reach out to us for “customized green gifting”. Apart from corporate green gifting all year round, we get plenty of customized bulk orders for birthday or wedding favors. We encourage bringing garden indoors to breathe fresh.

We are the first company in India to launch “Customized Green Decor Solutions”, a one of a kind initiative to beautify spaces naturally. We offer customized green décor in masterfully designed luxurious pots. We provide made to order premium ceramic pots matching the interiors with expert recommended low maintenance plants both indoors & outdoors. The service also includes free site visit & consultation. This customized green decor service is available only in Pune as of now. We aim at top quality products & best services with extended customer service support only for the love of plants. We have also launched our new Seed Growing Kits- "Grow a Life" which are another favourite in green gifting.

 2] What's your opinion of the market of Green Luxury gifting where people choose to gifts plants instead of other gifts or bouquets? Are customers willing to invest in such gifting? 

Gifting anything worked earlier, but now urban population is becoming well aware of the environment friendly & long lasting gifting concepts. The plants gift serve the purpose well. We have seen considerable growth in this segment, where people insist on customization of pots with plants. They love the concept of luxurious green gifting. They get what they need, when it comes to choice of plants & pot color or design. Green Gifting wave has caught considerable attention, where initially people couldn’t believe how a life can be boxed & transported across thousands of miles intact, safe & secure in a box. We changed the notion that plants need big planters /containers. We have come a long way after lots of testing & experiments, laying foundation of methodology of successful plant business. Our clients are assured that customized plant products we provide are top notch which require very low maintenance. All our plants look ravishing, come with care information, greeting cards in customized bags or boxes.  

Our customers do understand the difference between a plant gift & other non-living items or consumer goods. They depend on our expertise about plants. They trust us through out. We tell them the complete process & they relate to it. They are much intrigued about the process generally on first meeting or call. So prices fall in place gradually after discussions & most of our customers are happy spending on our product & services altogether. The plants need to be grown in the pots & manufacturing of desired pots with design printing itself takes time for the order. The readying of the order, including the transportation of the plants with pots, their packing with customized items also require lot of hard work & precision by our nursery & warehouse staff. The time is also the main factor, in green gifting, we always have ready potted bestsellers as gifts which can be opted if the customer is running short of time. Yes, when it comes to the kind of product & services we deal in, the customers are willing to invest in Green Gifting. It’s a very traditional, natural option, wise yet so urbane. It’s a very thoughtful gift for all occasions, & also as return gifts. These green plants keep growing, & stays forever reminding the recipients about the giver or the occasion. We encourage Green Gifting as alternate gifting & insist on it! We aim at Gift Green Concept - Eco-friendly, green & sustainable & impactful gifts bundled up with loads of innovation when it comes to plants, pot designs & nature.

At all levels utmost care is taken so that the plant reaches in a good condition to the customer. Plant gifts shipping is not easy when it comes to handling by courier. We have a unique packing which minimizes the transit damages. After the plants are packed, their delivery through transport/ courier is very quick to minimize the transit duration. We pay meticulous attention to every detail to ensure so that our customers can enjoy the many benefits of plants we provide. We try our best to minimize the transit period so that plant reaches to you in good health after dispatch. With all the work that goes into developing, growing, digging, dividing plants, repotting, quality check, packing & shipping a "LIFE”, we just can say that the live plants our customer receive are precious. They are not like other non-living items or consumer goods.

 3] What's the price range of such gifting like? 

The price starts from affordable 60 Rs to any amount ranging to thousands per piece. The overall pricing of the product mainly depends on type of plant variety & the pot selection. There are many plants, which includes rare succulents & exotic plants such as anthurium, aglaonema, dracaena, palm varieties or even bonsais which if opted in exclusively designed pots have higher prices. There are clients who are ready to invest any amount in luxurious pieces because they want their gifts to stand out, & deviate from the common. We provide customization which blends well with such gifting & is ornate & unique. The whole gifting idea is conceptualized & realized matching to the color, theme, specific elements keeping in mind the clients requirements & inputs. We take every order/requirement very seriously, & our team always challenges themselves with the task when it comes to creativity with plants.

 4] What kind of customers do you get? Any idea of their demographic in terms of social status?

Our customers are mostly urban or semi urban, from tier 1 or tier 2 cities. Our customers are from middle class or upper middle class & many from elite class. We have quite an affordable range available, & people who have access to internet can order from us. We have created a brand credibility in India in a short span of 6 years & we often have returning customers, along with new ones. For gifting, we are approached by all types of corporate companies & also by individuals who are inclined towards eco-friendly concepts or have awareness about environment.

 5] Do share about green gifting in corporate companies. 

We adhere to green business & emphasize on bringing garden indoors by use of air purifying plants known for high oxygen content & air filtering properties in closed spaces. In an urban space the indoor air pollution is a topic of big concern & that needs to be addressed effectively. Companies are opting live plant gifting over a normal gift. Gifting a plant comes with advantages like: reducing carbon footprints, increasing workplace efficiency, enhancing aesthetic appeal & creating a green value. When a corporate company takes a step towards greening their spaces or gifting green it adds toward the Environmental Responsibility which is an integral part of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

Companies approach us for green gifting for all kinds of events such as annual days, employee joining, farewell or birthdays or for Diwali or New Year gifting. We also receive orders for Women’s Day & Men’s day celebrations. We cater to many companies through one time bulk orders or yearly contracts. The plant gifts adorn mostly the desk/ workstations in the companies where the plant benefits are enjoyed by all. Plants make a strong bond of affection, care & humanity amongst all. Each year we campaign around June 5, Environment Day along with UNEP. We are approached by many corporate organization for green gifting on the occasion of environment day. All our past campaigns have been very successful. We launched a #breathefreshindoors campaign last year to create awareness on “Indoor Air Pollution” on the Occasion of World Environment Day. We do plant distribution drive each year as a part of our campaigns, & also make people aware of environmental issues. These campaigns on a larger scale help us to create awareness towards our product range & green gifting. Rolling Nature has been revolutionizing green thinking & generating love for Mother Nature.

We have been encouraging green gifting as an alternate to normal gifts. A plant is a gift that grows & you can get connected to nature through it. Indoor air is 2-4 times more polluted than outdoors. Humans stay indoors for the 90% of their life span. So indoor plants are a must to have a healthy lifestyle where we can breathe fresh air. They come with ample benefits including work productivity increase & aversion of sick building syndrome.

We have served many renowned companies all over India. Our notable corporate clientele include: Ola, Tata BlueScope Steel, ITC, Max Bupa, Amdocs, Molkem Chemicals, Lotus Group, Royal Purandar, Symbiosis Group of Institutes, Zamil Steel India, ZS Associates, Hyatt, Fortune ITC Hotels, Sancheti Hospital, Synefra Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd., Marsh India Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd, Repens Healthcare, Sokrati, Sunova, Hinjewadi Industries Association, People Matters & many more.

6] How are you sourcing your plants? What all services do you provide?

We develop plants by tissue culture & other propagation methods in highly equipped facility in aseptic conditions. They are cared & nurtured for months or years in green houses, then outdoors to reach the size you receive in the provided pots. We provide the water, care & natural sunlight essential for them to grow healthy & strong. Since there is no middleman, they go straight to your door. Our plant quality experts ensure that plants are healthy & without any infection when they are picked up for your order. They are meticulously selected by hand, prepped, bagged, & wrapped at the nursery. As a rule, only healthy pest-free specimens are transported to our warehouse. The selected plants are provided with preconditioning to meet environmental conditions during transit until they reach final destination where they are packed carefully by trained staff. Our packed plants embark on their next journey to the customer through transport/ courier safely & securely packed in special ventilated boxes with a unique packing method. We ensure a robust plant as quality standard on delivery to our customers. Plants are given priority over non-living items during all phases of transportation & handling. We use overnight air shipping, fastest logistic partners to ensure prompt delivery. We are committed to 100% customer satisfaction, its paramount to us. To achieve this we proactively work towards every aspect of our business.

7] Any special mentions?

Our team is our biggest asset. We have happy people who are smart, hardworking and devoted to their work. We train our employees well in this unique field and ensure the work is engaging and fruitful. A responsible and enthusiastic team that we have keeps their spirit high always and ensure that everything works smooth always. They are creative and well-focused. The organizations work atmosphere is such that everything from a-z goes in expected way. We have plenty of programmes & interactions with everyone, ensuring their professional life grows well and they learn much. Also our team is quite connected and together when it comes to anything at work or also in empathy.

8] What other initiatives do you take as a company?

We completely adhere to green business. We are proud to share environmental responsibility, an integral part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and inspires individuals and corporate organization to share the same. Our decisions impact our environment and we are working hard to become agent of change. We are carrying forward our vision to revolutionize green thinking with pride each year.

World Environment Day (WED) - June 5 - is the United Nations’ most important day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Each WED is organized around a theme that focuses attention on a particularly pressing environmental concern. And every year Rolling Nature actively takes initiatives through different Awareness Campaigns to mark the celebrations on WED. We have had very successful campaigns in past where people from all spheres of life actively participated and supported our campaigns. We started with very successful "Share a plant Campaign" in 2014. Every next years we had a theme parallel to UNEP with activities, events, talks and seminars, . We had a very successful "Breathe Fresh Indoor Campaigns" in 2019. As a tradition each year Rolling Nature conducts a plant distribution drive in Pune during World Environment Month. Also we run several contest on social media to create awareness.

World Environment Day Campaigns: Our Green Story

https://www.rollingnature.com/blogs/news/world-environment-day-campaigns-our-green-story

We also help underprivileged women of our society by buying the handmade paperbags from NGO Sudha and self help groups. These help create employment and also awareness for the use of recycled paper bags to our clients. Read updated info on our social and environmental initiatives on About Us Page

About our Co-Founders:

Vandana Chaudhary: A very creative, enthusiastic and cheerful person, with a powerhouse of plenty of workable ideas. She always had a great love towards nature, especially plants. Because of her natural business acumen she wanted to start her on own unique company and stand out from others. Vandana is a Botanist, Plantaholic, Blogger & Humanitarian and an active Environmentalist.  She started her first community environmental campaign locally in 2002 and was also awarded for the same. She had taken up many environmental initiatives before and after Rolling Nature. She has also been appreciated by UNEP for her efforts. She also is actively associated with Federation of World Peace and Love (FOWPAL) and United Nations International Day of Conscience. She is also an environment expert at Norvergence, LLC, USA. 

She has a BSc. (H) & Masters in Botany, from Miranda House College (Delhi University), with her PhD research done from IARI, in Plant Physiology. She also holds a PG diploma in E-Learning. She had almost 8 years of working experience in E-Learning & Content Development before starting live plants brand Rolling Nature. She has worked in top E-Learning Companies in India & Singapore. 

Sajin Kumar: A philosophical and a creative mind who believes in simplicity. He completed his Bachelor in Design from IIT Guwahati. He is a Master’s in Computer Science from National University of Ireland, Galway. His love for nature and technology combined with the passion to start his own company gave birth to Rolling Nature. 

*The interview was taken in February and we at Rolling Nature are responsibly abiding the government authorities restrictions and instructions during this pandemic of corona.