Nursery and greenhouse
From propagation to payment, on one connected platform
A nursery sells time as much as plants: a crop planned months ahead has to be ready, counted, priced, picked, delivered and paid for in the right week. ECOM connects forecasting, crop production, plant inventory, ordering, ecommerce, delivery, pay-by-scan and finance, either as a complete PRISM-ERP deployment or by integrating the ERP you already run.
Overview
Nursery and greenhouse software manages a business whose inventory is alive and dated. It forecasts demand, schedules crops from propagation to finished plants, tracks batches through developmental stages, promises plants by the week they will be ready, and carries orders through picking, delivery and payment, with costs attached to each crop. It can be delivered as one ERP, or as a set of systems that exchange data with each other.
Four solutions
Each page covers one part of the operation in detail. Use them together as one platform, or start with the area that costs you most.
Forecasting, crop scheduling, batch inventory, available-to-promise and crop costing, as a full ERP or alongside yours.
Wholesale portals and storefronts, built by ECOM or connected to yours, with pots, trays, minimums and delivery days.
Quantity-based scanning of trays, carts and racks, loading checks, driver mobile and store-side adjustments.
Store inventory, POS sell-through, settlement reconciliation, deductions, disputes and store visits.
Experience
ECOM currently manages end-to-end operations for dozens of nurseries representing over $1 billion in combined annual sales.
The $1 billion figure is the combined annual sales of those nursery customers, not ECOM revenue. It is a measure of the scale of the businesses ECOM supports. The scope of ECOM's role differs by customer and agreement.
Sound familiar?
Most nurseries did not choose to run on a dozen disconnected tools. They grew into them, one season at a time. These are the patterns we hear most often.
What you see. The grower's spreadsheet, the ERP and the website each show a different count, and sales confirms plants that turn out not to be ready.
What it costs. Oversold weeks, last-minute substitutions, short shipments and customers who reorder elsewhere.
What you see. A late bloom, a cold snap or a customer program change means rewriting schedules by hand, and the effect on orders is found out afterward.
What it costs. Missed ready-to-sell weeks, unplanned space conflicts and plants finished for a market that has passed.
What you see. Losses are adjusted in bulk at count time, without cause, crop or location.
What it costs. Margins that look fine on paper, future plans that under-allow for loss and no basis for a claim or a supplier conversation.
What you see. Phone, email, EDI, retailer portals, marketplaces and the website all feed a team that re-keys them into the ERP.
What it costs. Entry errors, slow acknowledgments and customer service time spent on data entry instead of customers.
What you see. Carts are built from printed lists, route sheets differ from the orders, and delivery paperwork comes back damp, signed and unreadable.
What it costs. Shorted stores, disputed deliveries, lost racks and invoices that wait for paperwork.
What you see. POS reports, remittances and deductions are matched by hand, long after the sale.
What it costs. Late disputes, write-offs that should have been challenged and no clear picture of what is owed.
What you see. Plant material, labor, materials, royalties and freight sit in different places, so cost per finished plant is an estimate.
What it costs. Pricing and planning decisions made on averages, and unprofitable crops that stay in the plan.
What you see. The webstore, the ERP, the label printer, the driver app and the EDI provider each have their own contact, schedule and blame.
What it costs. Slow fixes in peak season and nobody accountable for the whole chain.
Plant to payment
Each stage passes its results to the next through shared item, batch, customer and order data, so a change in one place reaches the others. In a full PRISM-ERP deployment that data sits in one ERP. Where ECOM integrates your ERP, it moves between systems through the integration, at the timing each system supports.
Seasonal, store and channel demand, POS history, promotions and customer bookings set what to grow.
Propagation, transplanting, spacing and finishing are scheduled against capacity, with ready-to-sell weeks.
Work orders, crews, inspections and treatments record what happens to each batch and where.
Batches, stages, holds and losses give current and future availability and available-to-promise.
Quotes, bookings, standing orders, portals and the website promise plants by week, price and customer.
Crops are pulled, graded, scanned into carts and racks, and checked onto the truck.
Drivers deliver, adjust and capture proof, and merchandisers keep displays filled and cared for.
POS and pay-by-scan data show what sold, what was lost and what to send next.
Invoices, remittances, deductions, royalties and freight close into accounting and crop-level profitability.
Not every nursery runs every stage in-house. Some buy liners, some use contract growers, some sell only through retailers and others sell online. The chain is configured to the way you operate.
What the operation needs
Seventeen areas make up a nursery or greenhouse operation. ECOM covers each one, as a full ERP or by connecting the systems you keep. The four pages above go deeper.
Build the forecast the crop plan depends on, from season, store, channel, POS data and bookings.
Turn the forecast into dated production steps that fit space, labor and ready-to-sell weeks.
Know where each crop is, what work is due and what was applied.
One complete record per plant, for catalogs, labels, retailers and the website.
Buy plant material and supplies against the crop plan, and track what arrived and what it cost.
Count plants as batches with stages, holds, losses and ready-to-sell weeks.
Move plants from house or yard to truck with scans, labels and documents.
Take orders from every channel and promise plants by week, customer, price and credit.
Wholesale and retail storefronts, built by ECOM or connected to the one you have.
Fill retailer and marketplace orders direct to the consumer, handling plants as living goods.
Track what you own in each store, what sold and what you are owed.
Keep stores selling: visits, counts, displays and plant care become replenishment.
Give drivers the route, truck inventory and paperwork on a device that works offline.
Coordinate fleets and carriers, and track every rack, cart and container.
Follow a batch from source to destination, with inspections and holds between.
Close the loop in accounting with the cost and margin of each crop.
Connect the rest of your world, and get help when the season is on.
Two ways to work with ECOM
Both paths are supported, and some nurseries combine them. They differ in where the nursery workflows run and how data moves, so it helps to know which one you are choosing.
| Aspect | Full PRISM-ERP deployment | Integrating your existing ERP |
|---|---|---|
| What ECOM provides | PRISM-ERP modules for finance, sales, procurement, inventory, warehouse and more, with ECOM's ordering, ecommerce, delivery and pay-by-scan products. | The connections and add-on pieces around your ERP: ordering, ecommerce, delivery, pay-by-scan and EDI or API links. Your ERP stays in place. |
| System of record | PRISM-ERP. | Your ERP for the data it owns. ECOM products hold the data they manage and exchange the rest. |
| Where nursery workflows run | In PRISM-ERP, set up for your crops, batches and growing operations. | In your ERP, as far as it supports them. ECOM connects what your ERP exposes. |
| How data moves | Within PRISM-ERP's own records. | Through API, EDI or file exchange, with direction, frequency and field mapping agreed for each interface. |
| Update timing | Follows the ERP's own processing. | Event-based or scheduled, depending on each system. Systems are connected, not merged, and not every update is instant. |
| Often the right fit when | You want one system for the whole nursery, or are replacing spreadsheets or an ERP that no longer fits. | Your ERP works and you need to add crop planning, ecommerce, delivery or pay-by-scan around it. |
Your crops
A foliage grower, a bedding plant greenhouse and a tree farm do not share a calendar. Crop timelines, units and availability rules follow your crops.
Bedding, potted color and holiday crops sell in narrow windows. Ready-to-sell weeks, successive plantings and rescheduling decide whether the crop meets its holiday.
Longer cycles, size classes and temperature-sensitive shipping call for stage-based inventory, careful holds and delivery planning.
Spring peaks, overwintered stock, dormant and in-flower availability and mixed assortments need availability that changes week by week.
Multi-year crops grown in containers or in the field are counted by size and location, and often tagged individually for sale and digging schedules.
Seasonal edible plant starts are sold as plants to be grown on, in trays, packs and pots, with seed or plug sources and varieties tracked like any other crop.
Stock plants, cuttings, liners, plugs and young plants are produced to order and shipped by week, often with licensed varieties, royalty rules and plant-health documentation.
Vegetable and herb starts are plants, not harvested produce. Harvest, packing, case labeling and food traceability are different operations, covered on ECOM's agriculture pages.
Why consolidate
Consolidation does not always mean replacing everything. It means that planning, inventory, orders, delivery and money work from shared data. The table compares the situation many nurseries start from with what ECOM puts in its place.
| Where it hurts | When systems stand apart | With ECOM |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Growers update a spreadsheet, sales checks the ERP and the website shows a third number. | Batch-level inventory by stage and ready-to-sell week feeds quotes, portals, the website and drop-ship feeds, with available-to-promise. |
| Orders | Orders arrive by phone, email, EDI, retailer portals and the website and are keyed again. | Every channel lands in one order flow with customer pricing, credit, allocations and substitution rules applied. |
| Online selling | A storefront with its own catalog and stock, kept in step with the ERP by uploads. | The storefront runs on, or is integrated with, the ERP's items, prices, customers and availability, and orders flow into fulfillment. |
| Pick, load and deliver | Pick lists, cart builds and route sheets are made in different tools or on paper. | Scan-verified pulls, cart building, loading checks and driver mobile all work from the same order and inventory data. |
| Retail settlement | POS reports, remittances and deductions are matched by hand, weeks after the sale. | Sell-through, shrink, invoices and remittances sit together, so differences can be flagged for review under each retailer's agreement. |
| Cost and margin | Crop cost is estimated from accounting totals and spreadsheets. | Plant material, labor, materials, overhead, royalties and freight attach to the crop and batch, so margin can be read by crop, customer, store and channel. |
| Support and change | Each vendor integrates, supports and upgrades its own piece. | One partner covers the ERP or integration, EDI and API connections, onboarding, training and managed support. |
Nursery scenarios
These are typical nursery situations, not customer stories. How each one works for you depends on your crops, customers and systems.
The situation. A late cold spell slows a spring crop that three retail programs expect in the same week. The grower revises the finish date, and sales still sees the old one.
How ECOM helps. The schedule is rescheduled once, ready-to-sell weeks and available-to-promise update with it, and orders and bookings that depend on the batch are flagged for review so customer service can act before the truck is loaded.
What you gain. Customers hear about the change from you, not from an empty display, and substitutions are chosen deliberately.
The situation. A landscaper logs in to order trees and shrubs for a job next week, and wants to see what is really available at their price.
How ECOM helps. The portal shows availability by size and week, applies the customer's price level and terms, reserves the plants and sends the order into a pick wave.
What you gain. The order is placed without a phone call, and no one has to check a spreadsheet to promise it.
The situation. A chain holds your plants on its shelves until they sell, reports sales by store, and settles on a schedule with deductions for shrink and markdowns.
How ECOM helps. Store inventory, POS sell-through, replenishment and returns are tracked by store, and remittances and deductions are reconciled against invoices with exceptions raised for dispute.
What you gain. You see what sold, what to send and what you are owed, store by store, before the settlement arrives.
The situation. A driver loads carts for twelve stores, delivers in areas with poor coverage, and returns with changes and empty racks.
How ECOM helps. The truck is loaded against the route and verified, the driver delivers and adjusts quantities on a mobile device that works offline, captures photographs and signatures, and reconciles at the end of the route.
What you gain. Invoices reflect what was actually delivered, and racks and carts come back accounted for.
The situation. A new licensed variety carries royalty terms, a branded tag and restrictions on where it can be sold.
How ECOM helps. The variety record holds the license and tag requirements, and royalties are accrued on the units and at the point the license specifies, for example on shipment or on sale. The cost flows into crop and customer margin.
What you gain. Royalties follow the license terms through the season instead of being reconstructed at year end.
ECOM building blocks
ECOM combines existing PRISM products around your operation. Which ones you need depends on whether ECOM provides your ERP or connects the one you have.
ECOM's full ERP solution, with modules for accounting and finance, sales, procurement, inventory, warehouse and transportation, quality management, assets, maintenance, projects, and HR and payroll. Crop, batch and growing workflows are set up for your nursery.
Item configuration and inventory management across sales channels.
Product information, product photos and multi-location cloud inventory in one item record. Supports up to 200 product attributes and 20 photos per item.
One platform for the complete order lifecycle across B2B and B2C sales channels, from order capture to returns and reconciliation.
ECOM's specialized drop-ship and unified commerce solution for U.S. retailers, brands, distributors and suppliers, with pay-by-scan support.
Truck loading, mobile route sales, offline operation, delivery confirmation and document capture, returns and collections, and route and truck reconciliation, connected to your ERP.
Remittance ingestion, bank deposit verification and invoice matching, delivering data ready to post against invoices.
EDI and API connections to retailers, marketplaces, carriers and the applications around your operation.
Connections
ECOM connects the operation to customers, carriers, banks and the systems that run the greenhouse. The named systems are integration targets, not a list of prebuilt adapters.
Environmental and irrigation integration depends on the data each system exposes.
Getting started
A nursery cannot pause for a systems project, so the work is planned around your calendar.
We review what you grow, how you sell and deliver, and the systems and spreadsheets in use today.
We recommend a complete ERP, an integration around your current ERP, or a phased combination, and explain why.
Cutover, testing and training are scheduled away from your peak weeks, with the dates you cannot miss set first.
Items, customers, open orders, batches and prices are prepared for migration, and the connections to retailers, carriers and banks are built and tested.
Your office, growers, warehouse and drivers are trained on their own workflows before go-live.
ECOM support, monitoring and managed services stay with you as the operation grows and the plan changes.
Good to know
In discovery, ECOM maps your crops, systems and sales channels, then confirms with you which capabilities run in PRISM-ERP and which stay in systems you keep, what each integration exchanges and how often, and the order of work around your season.
Inspections, treatments, certificates and shipping rules differ by state, crop and customer. ECOM's systems record and flag what you set up; ECOM does not give legal advice or certify compliance.
Availability depends on stage and week, shipping depends on weather and species, and returns and losses are part of the business. The platform is built around these facts rather than a general retail model.
Forecasts, schedules and ready-to-sell weeks are plans. The platform makes them visible and changeable; it does not control weather or biology.
Keep exploring
FAQs
Yes. PRISM-ERP is ECOM's full ERP solution, with modules for accounting and finance, sales, procurement, inventory, warehouse and transportation, manufacturing, quality management, maintenance and more. In a full deployment, ordering, ecommerce, delivery and pay-by-scan work with PRISM-ERP's records, and crop, batch and growing workflows are set up for your nursery.
Yes. If your ERP is working, ECOM can add the missing pieces around it rather than replace it, using 38+ ERP connectors. Your ERP stays the system of record for what it owns, and ECOM exchanges data with it by API, EDI or file exchange, on a schedule or on events, as your ERP allows. Which data moves, in which direction and how often is agreed before work starts.
In a full deployment, PRISM-ERP is your system of record and its modules work with the same ERP records. With integration, your ERP stays in place and ECOM connects ordering, ecommerce, delivery, pay-by-scan and EDI to it. Data then moves between systems through the interfaces each one provides, and timing depends on them: some updates are event-based, some run on a schedule, and not every update is instant.
ECOM currently manages end-to-end operations for dozens of nurseries representing over $1 billion in combined annual sales. That figure is the combined annual sales of those customers, not ECOM revenue. It shows the scale of the nursery businesses ECOM supports; the scope of ECOM's role differs by customer.
Wholesale nurseries and greenhouse operations that grow ornamental and flowering plants, foliage, annuals and perennials, trees and shrubs, and vegetable and herb starts, as well as propagation businesses that sell cuttings, liners and plugs. Each crop mix has its own calendar, units and availability rules.
A store that keeps its own catalog and stock can work for simple selling. Wholesale plant sales also need availability by ready-to-sell week, customer-specific prices and terms, allocations and ship-to rules, and an order flow that continues into picking and delivery. ECOM either builds the storefront on the ERP’s items, prices and customers, or integrates the storefront you already have with your ERP, so those rules are applied once.
Yes. ECOM supports pay-by-scan models, including store inventory, POS sell-through data, replenishment, markdowns, shrink, and the reconciliation of settlements, remittances and deductions under each retailer's agreement. Retailer data formats and program rules are reviewed with you.
No. Vegetable and herb starts are live plants sold to be grown on, so they follow the same crop, batch and availability workflows as other plants. Harvested produce that is picked, packed and shipped as food has different lot and case-label requirements, which ECOM supports separately through its agriculture and food work.
ECOM can discuss sequencing the work around your season, for example which areas to connect first and which to move later. The right starting point depends on where your systems are fragmented and on the dates you cannot miss.
ECOM's systems record inspections, treatments, certificates, holds and shipping rules, and can flag when a record is missing. ECOM does not provide legal advice or certify compliance; requirements differ by state, crop and customer, and remain your responsibility.
Tell us what you grow, how you sell and deliver, and which systems you run today. We will show you what to consolidate, what to connect and where to start.
