Using biologicals like ladybirds against pests is common in organic gardening sectors, but they normally have to be bought online.
That’s all set to change with Andermatt Home & Garden’s MightyBug range and their new O2O (offline to online) system. With the slogan “Buy in-store, deliver fresh to your door” customers can purchase at a garden centre, but get them delivered by post.
Garden centre retailers also get a commission from future online purchases on Andermatt’s website as an incentive.
Starter packs come with the more common 15 varieties of natural predators, everything from Lacewing Larvae to nematodes to lesser-known predators like Encarsia for dealing with whitefly.
The system comes in a stand that fits neatly on a shelf or checkout counter. 
Customers simply pick out a MightyBug that eats their pest, which are clearly colour-coded eg green for aphids, red for spider mite, and take this to the till. They then get given a code to redeem online.
A flier is on the stand for more information, and there’s also a gift card to encourage the option of gifting MightyBugs to friends and family.
“With the explosion of interest in organic and natural controls, the ability to buy biological controls in-store is long overdue,” says Robbe di Nardo, Sales Manager of Andermatt Home & Garden. “Andermatt have been biological pioneers since 1988, so we’re very excited to be the ones to evolve biologicals from online-only retail to a market-leading in-store technology platform.”
About Andermatt Home and Garden: Healthy Food and Healthy Environment, for All! Andermatt was started by two Swiss PhD students, Mr and Mrs Andermatt, who believed strongly in biologicals over chemicals. They created the world’s first plant-protecting baculovirus in 1988. Andermatt has been pioneering biological and sustainable controls for gardeners, farmers and beekeepers ever since.