Curbside pickup fixes that, but only if the process behind it is tight. Interest in gardening is high: Axiom's 2026 survey found 42.8% of respondents expected to spend more money gardening. That is spending intent, not curbside demand, so start small and measure.
This guide covers defining the service, choosing products, mapping the workflow, handling inventory and staff, communicating with customers, and improving over time.
Key Takeaways
- Launch with a defined assortment, pickup schedule and written customer instructions.
- Treat inventory accuracy, plant checks and substitutions as core steps.
- Give every stage, from review to loading, a named owner.
- Track accuracy, ready-on-time rate, wait time, labor and refunds from your own data.
What Does Garden Center Curbside Pickup Mean?
Clarify the Service
Curbside pickup means a customer orders ahead by web, phone or email, gets a confirmation, and then collects at a designated outdoor spot. Staff bring the order to the vehicle.
Infios draws the line this way: curbside is a vehicle handoff, while in-store pickup uses an indoor counter.
How it differs from the alternatives:
- Delivery: you transport the goods. With curbside, the customer travels.
- In-store pickup: the customer enters the building to collect.
- Walk-in shopping: the customer picks, carries and pays on the floor.
Orders don't have to start online. Nature's Way Resources in Conroe, Texas, takes curbside orders by phone.
Decide What the Service Includes
Set the promise before you announce anything. Write down:
- Eligible products and ordering channels
- Pickup windows and order cutoffs
- Payment options, fees and any ID requirements
- Rules for late arrivals and missed pickups
Nature's Way's policy, effective January 5, 2026, is a useful model. It requires prepayment, offers pickup days within the next seven days, and holds orders up to one week before they may return to inventory.
Map the Order-to-Pickup Workflow
Choose Products and Receive Orders
Begin with items that are easy to identify, count and carry: select plants, containers, soil, mulch, supplies and seasonal bundles. Fragile, oversized, highly variable or condition-sensitive items need special rules, or should stay off the list at first. Gertens states plainly that not every item qualifies for curbside.
At intake, capture:
- Customer name, phone and requested pickup time
- Order notes and vehicle details for bulky purchases
- A confirmation that says the order was received, not that it is ready
Pick, Inspect, and Prepare the Order
Use a picking checklist that confirms product, quantity, size, variety, condition, price and customer notes. For live goods, add an inspection: check for wilting, damage, pests and watering needs before the item goes to staging.
Substitutions need a firm rule. Nature's Way confirms substitutions with the customer before finalizing the order, and that approach works well:
- Contact the customer with a comparable alternative.
- Record any price difference.
- Get approval before swapping.
- If there's no match, ship a partial order and refund the rest.
Stage and Complete the Handoff
Label staged orders by number and customer name, and use carts, shelves or marked zones so anyone can find them fast. Plants need protection while they wait. University of Florida IFAS advises a holding area that is shaded, wind-sheltered and irrigated, with container trees kept upright.
At arrival:
- Customer checks in by phone, text or sign
- Staff verify the order number and name
- Staff load the vehicle and close out the record
- Staff route problems to a named person for escalation
Also write procedures for:
- Late arrivals and no-shows
- Weather delays
- Partial orders and changes
- Orders you can't safely stage for the promised window
Set Up Inventory, POS, Payments, and Staffing
Keep Inventory and Order Records Accurate
Nothing sours curbside faster than selling a plant that's already promised. Your system should show each item as available, reserved, picked, staged, substituted, canceled or collected.
Practical safeguards:
- Hold stock buffers on popular items
- Run frequent cycle counts
- Use clear descriptions and consistent units of measure
- Set separate rules for variable plant stock, damaged goods, display items and products sold by size or weight
Configure Payments and Retail Controls
Online payment, phone payment and pay-at-pickup can all work. No industry standard exists, so choose one and state it plainly. Whatever you pick, plan for deposits, partial orders, refunds, exchanges and emailed receipts.
Security matters. Per the PCI Security Standards Council, card verification codes can't be kept after authorization, even with customer permission. Don't write them on order slips.
Tax rules vary by state. Texas, for example, exempts some seeds and annual plants but generally taxes perennials, including trees. Confirm your state's rules with your accountant.
Every order should leave a traceable record linking customer, items, payment status, pickup status, substitutions, refunds and the staff who handled it.
Assign Roles and Choose Supporting Technology
Define these jobs:
- Order monitoring
- Picking
- Plant inspection
- Staging
- Customer messaging
- Curbside check-in
- Loading
In a small garden center, one person may cover several roles. At peak season, split them.
Even with clear roles, capacity is a real limit. Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses in Pennsylvania, profiled in Garden Center magazine in 2022, found demand outran its infrastructure and staffing.
Technology can help keep these roles coordinated. AMS Retail Solutions is an authorized reseller of NCR Voyix Counterpoint, a POS that tracks plant material by size and grade, prints barcode tags and signage, and issues load tickets for bulk soil and mulch.
AMS documents curbside and BOPIS workflows through certified ecommerce middleware partners, not as a built-in feature. Confirm the exact curbside, payment and integration setup before you buy.
Plan for outages too. AMS says Counterpoint can keep transactions going offline and sync later, but that doesn't guarantee offline card authorization. Keep paper order forms, log payments by hand, and reconcile everything once the network returns.
Design the Customer Pickup Experience
Make Ordering and Pickup Instructions Clear
Before checkout, show customers:
- Eligible items and stock limits
- Pickup windows, cutoffs, and fees
- Payment rules and the substitution policy
- Weather plans and whether staff will load the vehicle
Your ready message should include:
- Order number and pickup location
- How to check in and the expected wait
- A contact number
- A reminder not to arrive until the order is marked ready
Gertens emails customers when orders are ready and tells them to wait for that message.
Build a Simple and Safe Pickup Area
Use visible signs, marked parking or loading spaces, good lighting, and a traffic flow that keeps pickup cars away from regular shoppers. Add weather cover where practical. Provide compliant accessible parking, since ADA.gov requires accessible spaces with access aisles.
Loading needs judgment:
- OSHA sets no single safe lifting weight, so don't assume one bag count suits every employee
- Use hand trucks and team lifts for heavy soil, stone and pottery
- Tell customers to tie down loads and cushion plants
- Let staff decline to load an item that can't go safely
Preserve Garden-Center Expertise
Your edge over big-box pickup is knowledge. At handoff, give a quick care tip or transport caution, then stop. The pickup lane isn't a consultation desk.
Keep the same restraint with add-ons. Suggest fertilizer or plant food only when they fit the order and won't slow the customer down.
Support Accessibility and Service Recovery
Not everyone texts or uses a website. Offer a phone-order option and staff help at the car. The DOJ's small-business guidance names curbside service as an alternative when barriers can't be removed.
For problems (long waits, wrong items, damaged plants, missed substitutions), decide in advance who can authorize a fix. Log each incident so you can spot patterns.
Launch, Promote, and Improve the Service
Pilot Before Scaling
Test with a limited assortment, set pickup windows, assign a small team, and run internal test orders. Watch for bottlenecks in inventory, messaging, staging, and loading.
Write opening and closing checklists covering:
- Order review and plant care during staging
- Equipment readiness and area inspection
- Unresolved orders and refunds
- End-of-day reconciliation
Promote the Service and Review Performance
Promote through your website, email, texts, social media, in-store signs, receipts, and seasonal campaigns. Keep eligibility rules and instructions identical everywhere.
Public benchmarks for garden-center curbside accuracy, on-time rate, or wait time are scarce, so track your own numbers. Review:
- Ready-on-time orders and accuracy
- Customer wait time and labor hours
- Substitution and refund rates
- Abandoned orders, pickup adoption and repeat purchases
Compare by product category, day, and season before changing anything. Then use customer feedback and staff observations to adjust windows, assortment, signage, cutoffs, and staffing. Spring Saturday demand won't look like a July Tuesday.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does garden center curbside pickup mean?
Customers order garden products in advance, and staff bring the prepared order to a designated outdoor pickup area. Unlike delivery, the customer travels. Unlike in-store pickup, they don't enter the building.
How do garden centers set up a curbside pickup area?
Use clear signs, marked spaces, a simple check-in method and traffic flow away from regular shoppers. Include accessible parking, weather cover where possible, and safe loading equipment.
What products should a garden center offer for curbside pickup?
Start with well-stocked items that are easy to identify, pick and stage. Live, oversized, fragile or condition-sensitive products may need special rules or exclusion at first.
How can garden centers manage live inventory and substitutions for curbside orders?
Reserve stock when an order is placed, inspect plants before staging, and get customer approval for any substitution. If there's no match, fill the order partially and refund the difference.
Should customers pay online or at pickup for garden center curbside orders?
Either can work. Nature's Way requires prepayment, but no industry standard exists. Communicate the rule clearly and keep reliable records for taxes, refunds and receipts.
How can a garden center make curbside pickup efficient during peak season?
Limit the assortment, set cutoffs and pickup windows, define roles, and use staging zones. Keep inventory accurate, run test orders, and review wait times and errors regularly.
