ISHS Acta Horticulturae 429: XIII International Symposium on Horticultural Economics
THE GERMAN MARKET FOR FLORICULTURAL PRODUCTS: AN INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS' APPROACH |
| Author: | E. Schmidt |
| Keywords: | Marketing channels for floricultural products, Competition analysis |
| Abstract:
The German Market for floricultural products has undergone fundamental structural changes in the past 20 years. The process is driven by mainly two forces: changing consumer demand and changing supply conditions. These developments enabled innovative retailers and wholesalers to reorganize marketing systems and thereby to intensify competition. Contemporaneously, the total consumer market has been divided into three market groups: one is the still growing market for price-conscious consumers of standard pot plants and standard cut flowers, dominated by shopping centers, large-scale food stores, and retailing chains; a second expanding market is for a large variety of high quality pot plants, a niche occupied by emerging extensive retail shops specializing on floricultural products; and a third declining market includes cut flowers and ornamental plants of high quality demanding a high standard of services. The traditional small-scale specialized retailers and small-scale producers, selling directly to consumers, are acting on the latter market. On the other hand, innovative wholesale entrepreneurs have reacted to the challenges from the changing retailing system and the growing production of large-scale producers. Shopping centers and large-scale food stores typically buy nationwide or even internationally at auctions, or they contract with larger cooperatives or directly with large-scale producers. To meet the interests and requirements of large specialized retailers, a new form of pick up-wholesale business has evolved, where retailers can collect and buy their needed range of floricultural products all day. Small cooperatives- and especially the traditional central markets where (small) producers sell their surplus and (small) retailers buy their needed products in the early morning- have significantly lost market shares. The objective of the paper is to explain the situation and developments using an industrial economics' approach. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
