The internet as a sales counter for fruit and vegetables: The website www.deinbiogarten.de connects the virtual world with real nature. On the internet platform, anyone can become an organic gardener, watch radishes, etc. grow before purchasing and even order from the comfort of your own home. The good thing: The internet only offers vitamin bombs that can prove their certified organic quality. And: What moves through the online sales counter here is rooted in Saxony-Anhalt. A yard near Köthen cultivates most of what is sold at the click of a mouse. Philipp von Sahr, one of the managing directors, answers the questions about how this works, why the portal exists and why Saxony-Anhalt is the ideal site for the traders.Growing vegetables on the internet, watching plants online, harvesting at the click of a mouse. Mr. von Sahr, how does that work?Philipp v. Sahr: Everything is carried out on the computer. Our customers sit at their computer, go to our website. There are two options. You can select your own beet plants online and watch their growth. If the vegetables are “ripe” after a few days, the customer harvests and orders. However, for urgent orders, there is also a market stall, which has fruit and vegetables on offer. Here too, the desired fruit and vegetables can simply be put in the shopping basket. After harvesting or buying, everything is delivered to your house door in a parcel. We are currently sending parcels each week which have normally already arrived at our customers’ houses the next day. Everything happens in a purely virtual way, is intended to be informative and fun.  What is the idea behind your service?It is a mixture of lots of opportunities and principles. We use the internet, a functioning logistical network, with the main site in Saxony-Anhalt, offer great organic products and mix everything up with lots of love and attention to detail. From this emerges an online shopping experience. Are you filling a gap in the market with this service?The gap in the market is more in the combination of many trends, which are currently being observed: Shopping via the internet, the organic boom, playful learning on the internet.Why do you also provide tips about fruit and vegetables on your internet site? Is it not easier to just sell the produce?No, we didn’t want it to be like that. This is the very strength of the internet - you can call up lots of information, display ingredients, view recipes or rummage about in our “Did you already known...?” series. We don’t want to just sell organic fruit and vegetables. We also want to offer information worth knowing. How do internet users react? Do you have a wide clientele?We have initially consciously limited our clientele to friends, relatives and acquaintances. Their feedback has helped us to further optimise our service. However, we are now about to take the next step, we feel ready, want to hit the ground running and are hopeful of attracting lots of enthusiastic new customers. Which types of fruit and vegetables are the “fast sellers”?Tomatoes and apples are particularly popular. However, we also offer other fruits such as peppers, onions, carrots, radishes, courgettes and kohlrabi. Personally, I really like kiwis.Can you guarantee that the fruit and vegetables arrive at the buyer’s house completely fresh?We have our own strict controls. Every product is checked by hand in Saxony-Anhalt and only then packed. The fruit and vegetables normally arrive at the customer’s the next morning. “DeinBiogarten.de” obtains all its products from an organic farmer in Saxony-Anhalt. What farm is that, and how did you come by this supplier? Our partner farm is Fruchthof Wulfen Agrar- und Handels GmbH near Köthen, a subsidiary of the WIMEX agricultural products group, which is one of the largest suppliers in Germany. The fruit farm is able to rely on a strong logistics network; this is a major advantage for us. Thanks to well-developed motorways, the farm can be reached quickly by everyone. It is situated so centrally that the DHL deliveries reach our customers very quickly.How often do you tour the site yourself and how is the cooperation designed?We are on-site every couple of weeks in order to discuss improvements and package up parcels ourselves so that we can better understand the challenges. We are in close contact with our partner and plan a great deal together. For us, he is the expert in farming and logistics. Information at a glance: “deinBiogarten.de”

• Behind it are: the farmer Kaspar Haller from Königslutter and the Berlin-based business economist Philipp von Sahr.
• Year of foundation: 2011
• Company headquarters: Königslutter (Lower Saxony)
• Types of organic fruit and vegetables: Currently 15
• Internet site: Completely independent development of the founder

Author/Photo: Manuela Bock

Contact:
deinbiogarten.de is operated by:

Online Biogarten Vertriebs UG (limited liability)
An der Domäne 1
38154 Königslutter
ph: +49 (0)5353 / 5808999
Fax: +49 (0)5353 / 5168
E-mail: info.ignore@deinbiogarten.de
Web: www.deinbiogarten.de