The American Floral Endowment hosted a webinar recently to help growers prepare for changes in trends in 2025. Dr. Melinda Knuth, an assistant professor at North Carolina State University, focused on the long-term trends they’ve seen with customers in the industry.
Knuth was happy to announce that throughout the past 10 years, the number of U.S. college students enrolling in horticultural and plant sciences has increased. As the industry offers better benefit programs and higher wages, Knuth expects to see this trend continue and further support the concept that the “industry is sustainable.”
A business cannot run without customers buying its products – so “how do we keep people interested in buying?” Knuth asked. Instead of selling a product based on its physical characteristics, sell the overall benefits to the customer. Talk about the social, physical, psychological, cognitive, environmental and even spiritual benefits of the product, as “all people need these different quality of life metrics.”
American society has become more and more urbanized, with people living closer to each other and farther from nature. It’s important for growers to emphasize the importance of having plants in and around living spaces, and give examples of how to incorporate them.
Business owners need to continuously adjust their marketing strategies as the end consumer changes. Knuth shared data from the 2020 U.S. Census, noting, “The U.S. is more racially and ethnically diverse than in 2010.” Businesses could benefit from diversifying their marketing tools to attract a wider variety of cultures and lifestyles.
Checking out variety trials is one way to keep abreast of trends in plants. Photo by Enrico Villamaino
Birth rates in the U.S. have also decreased as fewer couples are having children, or are having fewer children. With this change, Knuth found that multi-generational product offerings are “really influential.” Businesses should focus some events on children, some events on adults, and others on both.
Dr. Charlie Hall, a professor at Texas A&M University, brought up the housing market and how the demand for housing influences the demand for home, lawn and garden products. “Millennials are now 38% of homebuyers,” Hall noted, so growers could benefit by marketing these types of products toward that age group.
As the years continue on, Knuth and Hall both highly recommended growers and business owners adjust their marketing as their customer basis changes. It’s important to research who your target audience should be and “focus on the data – not the perception,” added Knuth.
by Kelsi Devolve
