Léon & George

Just a few a years ago, this sculptural potted plant began popping up everywhere, gracing the scenes of tastefully decorated living rooms in design blogs, magazines, and celebrity Instagram accounts. But somehow, even though you could easily purchase nearly everything in the picture – the sofa, the table, the chairs, the rug – why was this beautiful potted plant so out of reach?

We started Léon & George because we saw the rising demand for indoor plants, yet no simple solution to getting them or keeping them alive. We crafted an all-inclusive, seamless service around indoor greenery, focusing on hand-picked, high-quality materials and making it easy for anyone to get a gorgeous potted plant – just like the ones in the magazines – delivered straight to their door.

Since opening in 2017, over 10,000 people have experienced our service, rating with an average of five stars across hundreds of reviews. As the leading online retailer servicing the West Coast, we're gearing up to expand beyond our California roots and become a nationwide brand.

The Demand: Millennials aren’t having kids, they’re buying houseplants

Houseplant interest is at an all-time high, with consumer spending up 60% since 2016 – mostly driven by urban-dwelling millennials. Over 30% of households bought a plant last year, and the market is expected to grow 15% in the next five years.

The Problem: The industry is outdated

The way the market is being served does not match the expectations of the modern consumer. Despite growing demand, 80+% of sales still happen offline in big box hardware stores and small nurseries that offer a cumbersome, confusing, and impersonal experience.

The Solution: An experience, not a commodity

A refreshing shopping experience that prioritizes quality, convenience, and service. We make beautiful and stylish indoor greenery easy by offering a curated selection of plants and ceramics, plenty of pre- and post-purchase support, and delivery directly to your door.

Don't believe the hype?

The mattress industry serves as a good corollary for the plant industry: large unwieldy products traditionally sold only offline in an outdated fashion with many pain points throughout the process. The arrival of innovative direct-to-consumer companies like Casper brought the product online, added convenience and quality as a factor, and increased the size of the market. The added bonus? The plant industry is larger than the mattress industry.

“Don’t believe the houseplant hype? Consider how fast the online mattress industry grew. In just seven years, it went from $162m to $1.7B in annual sales, driven by more than a dozen startups cumulatively worth billions. Indoor plant startups have comparable potential.” –Collin Ching, The Hustle

Success to date

We're just getting started. In 2.5 years we've seen strong revenue growth and are expecting to nearly double revenue from 2018 to 2019. With a higher average order value and a strong repeat customer rate, we only recently expanded beyond California and are on the path to becoming the nation's leading online plant retailer. 

We're working to increase our already healthy contribution margin by purchasing in bulk, optimizing our supply chain and improving packaging. We expect to reach profitability mid-way through 2020. 

We're actively engaging with consumers at all points of the acquisition funnel. The diversity of our strategies protects us against swings in the market that may come from reliance on any one source of revenue.

The opportunity

We’ve built a service that people want, appreciate, and, in some cases, have not yet even imagined. We’re thrilled to be at the forefront of a changing industry. 

We've spent the last several months perfecting methods for shipping live plants and delicate ceramics across the US. The initial momentum has quickly outpaced our California base.  

The US market will soon represent the majority of our sales.

An underserved market

Though Léon & George is a direct to consumer brand, a growing portion of our revenue is attributed to larger organizations and businesses unsatisfied with outdated office plant services. 

We see an opportunity to extend a high quality experience to the B2B market, from startups to hospitality, national corporate offices and beyond. A few top companies we count among our client list: