Frequently asked questions

HortiOwl is built specifically for the UK horticultural trade. UK VAT rules (0% on most plants, 20% on standard-rated goods), UK Plant Passport compliance, and GDPR data residency in the UK are all handled by default. We do support multi-currency for businesses that trade internationally, but the platform is optimised for UK garden centres and nurseries.

Yes. HortiOwl includes an optional online webstore — a branded public storefront at your own web address that lists your catalogue with live stock availability and, if you choose, prices, alongside your own product photos and About-us and care-guide pages. Customers browse and place orders online, which arrive in a review queue for your team to accept; accepted orders then flow into the normal sales, picking, and invoicing workflow. There's also a dedicated wholesale trade mode with fast tray-by-tray ordering and a CC/Danish trolley calculator. The webstore is a paid add-on — ask us about availability when you book a demo.

Yes. HortiOwl is an installable progressive web app (PWA) with a dedicated mobile workflow covering stock lookups, sales, goods-in, and batch management. It works on iOS and Android — install it from your browser like a native app, no app store needed. The full desktop interface is also fully responsive on tablet.

No. HortiOwl runs in the cloud and opens in your web browser — there's no software to install on an office PC, no server to run in the back room, and no updates to chase. New features and fixes are rolled out automatically, so everyone is always on the latest version without lifting a finger.

Nothing is lost. Your data lives securely in the cloud in the UK, not on any single machine, and is backed up automatically. If a PC dies, is stolen, or simply won't start one morning, you just sign in from another computer, tablet, or phone and carry on exactly where you left off.

HortiOwl exports CSV files formatted for Sage 50, Xero, and QuickBooks. Invoices, credit notes, and purchase orders can all be exported in the correct format for each platform. There is no live API sync at this stage — exports are on-demand from the platform.

Yes. Each product in your catalogue is assigned a VAT rate — typically 0% for live plants and 20% for standard-rated goods such as pots, compost, and hard landscaping. VAT is calculated per line on quotes, sales orders, and invoices, and the invoice totals break out net, VAT, and gross figures exactly as HMRC requires.

UK Plant Passports are legally required labels for regulated plants traded commercially in Great Britain, showing species, country of origin, supplier registration number, and a lot identifier. HortiOwl captures these details at the purchase order stage and carries them through Goods Received Notes, batch records, and onto customer documents automatically. Plant Passport rows render on every relevant printed document without manual re-entry.

Yes. Stock, batches, and orders can be assigned to specific sites within a single HortiOwl account. The inventory model tracks saleable, growing, and reserved stock separately per site, and reports can be filtered by location. Role-based access control lets you restrict which staff can see or edit each site.

When stock arrives via a Goods Received Note, HortiOwl creates a batch — a named group of plants with quantity, grade, size, and supplier traceability details. Batches have three states: Growing (not yet for sale), Saleable, and Reserved (allocated to an order). When you fulfil a sales order, stock is drawn from specific batches so you always know exactly which supplier lot went to which customer.

Invoices, sales orders, purchase orders, and plant-passport records are retained for seven years to align with HMRC's invoice and trading-records requirement and Defra Plant Health's plant-passport traceability requirement. Throughout that period the records stay live in the application — there's no archive tier and no restore window. Older records can be searched, viewed, and exported exactly like recent ones.

Open the customer record and click Generate GDPR data export. HortiOwl produces a single file containing the customer's record plus every quote, order, invoice, picking list, delivery note, and credit note linked to them. The export is restricted to admin users and every request is logged for your own audit trail, so you can evidence that the request was fulfilled.

Yes — and you never have to think about it. Backups run automatically in the cloud; there's nothing to remember to do and nothing living only on an office PC, so a broken or stolen computer never costs you data. Backups are encrypted and stored in the UK, and we retain data to meet HMRC's seven-year invoice and trading-records requirement and Defra Plant Health's plant-passport traceability requirement.

We don't currently offer a self-serve free trial. Instead we run personalised one-to-one demos so you can see the workflows that matter to your specific operation — batch tracking, order fulfilment, invoicing, or whatever is most relevant. Demos are free and there's no commitment. Email hello@hortiowl.co.uk or visit the Book a Demo page to get started.

Demos run for 30–45 minutes over a screen-share. Tell us a little about your business when you email and we'll tailor what we show you. We're happy to focus on specific workflows — there's no fixed script.

HortiOwl is primarily designed for wholesale and retail nurseries and garden centres — businesses that quote, sell, and invoice plants and related products in volume. Landscaping companies that maintain a plant catalogue, raise quotes, and invoice customers do use the platform, but if your business is predominantly labour-based project management you may find the workflow less of a fit. The best way to find out is a demo.