View: Jerry Montgomery On Big Box Poinsettias

View: Jerry Montgomery On Big Box Poinsettias

Marketing consultant Jerry Montgomery visited an assortment of Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart garden centers in North Florida two weekends ago and shared his assessment of each retailer’s poinsettias with us. He concluded Walmart will lead the poinsettia sales charge, although sales will be soft this season.

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Introduction
Although there were a lot of shoppers out (Nov. 28-29), there was not much activity in the garden centers of the three national retailers with the exception of Walmart, where many shopping carts contained poinsettias. On Black Friday, Home Depot promoted 5-inch poinsettias at $0.99 each, and Lowe’s promoted a quart poinsettia at $1.49. These were both “door-buster” specials seemingly with minimal impact.

Home Depot
Of the three national retailers, Home Depot had the smallest inventories and a limited number of SKUs compared to Lowe’s. Home Depot did, however, have the best Christmas we have seen in many years produced by Peckett’s Greenhouse of Zellwood, Fla. In some stores, it had reduced the price of its 6.5-inch poinsettias that normally go for $4.98 to $3.98. The Mumsettia also dropped from $14.98 to $12.98.

Lowe’s
By far, Lowe’s had the largest number of SKUs and price points with a number of poinsettias in combination with other genera, making this retail giant an interesting shopping experience for the consumer. Lowe’s clearly had the largest inventory. Some stores showed signs of aging. It was surprising to see how many tender annuals they offered considering the number of freezes in this region with many more to come.

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Walmart
In the current economy, Walmart had a great pricing strategy, focusing on two price points featuring a 6-inch at $3 and an 8-inch at $10, with both sizes moving rapidly off their shelves. Clearly, both sizes provide a tremendous consumer value, particularly those supplied by Metrolina Greenhouses, which had the best product we saw on this tour. Metrolina also had a small number of 10-inches priced at $17.

Summary
Judging from this limited tour, it would appear Poinsettia sales will be soft for the season. Walmart leads the charge with its high value 6-inches at $3. There were already some price reductions at Lowe’s and Home Depot.

There were no painted poinsettias at any of the 20 stores visited, with small amounts of glittered poinsettias. It would appear painted poinsettias were a short-term fad because the three national retailers focused on more traditional offerings. Noticeably, red represented about 85-90 percent of all the retailers’ inventory.

Retail Prices Of North Florida
Below, you’ll find information on the size, retailer and price of various products found at big box retail stores Montgomery visited.

Item Size Walmart Home Depot Lowe’s
Poinsettias 4-inch     $1.98
  6-inch $3.00    
  6.5-inch   $4.97 $4.98
Glittered 6.5-inch     $8.98
  8-inch $10.00 $9.99 $12.98
  10-inch $17.00   $19.98
Winter rose 6.5-inch     $8.98
Hanging basket 10-inch   $14.99 $16.98
Color bowl points/annuals 12-inch     $10.98
  12-inch     $24.98
Table topper 10-inch     $13.33
36-inch tree 14-inch     $29.98
Point/foliage combo 14-inch     $14.98
Wicker basket 14-inch     $26.98
Point/ivy combo 7-inch     $8.98
Munsettia 14-inch   $14.99 $14.98
Munsettia 7-inch     $8.98
Centerpiece poinsettia 14-inch     $26.98
Item Size Walmart Home Depot Lowe’s
Christmas cactus 6-inch $6.97 $8.99 $7.98
Christmas cactus 4-inch $3.99 $3.99 $3.98
Christmas cactus HB 8-inch     $9.98

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Retail Stores Visited
Below, you’ll find information on each of the big box retailer Montgomery visited, including the growers who serve that particular retailer.

Retailer Store No. City Vendor Vendor Vendor
Home Depot 6864 Lake City Pure Beauty Peckett’s Delray
Home Depot 0252 Ocala Pure Beauty Peckett’s Delray
Home Depot 8447 Lady Lake Pure Beauty Peckett’s Delray
Home Depot 1854 Gainesville Pure Beauty Peckett’s Delray
Walmart 3877 Gainesville Metrolina Dewar  
Walmart 0538 Gainesville Metrolina Dewar  
Walmart 0767 Lake City Metrolina Dewar  
Walmart 5326 Ocala Metrolina    
Walmart 0697 Ocala Metrolina Dewar  
Walmart 1847 Silver Springs Metrolina Dewar  
Walmart 4262 Lady Lake Metrolina Dewar  
Lowe’s 0418 Gainesville Costa Dewar  
Lowe’s 2365 Gainesville Costa Dewar  
Lowe’s 0179 Lake City Costa Dewar  
Lowe’s 2793 Ocala Costa Dewar  
Lowe’s 0440 Ocala Costa Dewar  
Lowe’s 1855 Ocala Costa Dewar  
Lowe’s 1685 Lady Lake Costa Dewar  

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Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Well, they certainly are CHEAP, and they deserve to be cheap based upon the quality. That material would NOT be accepted in Philadelphia even at a box store. I’d bet none of the pictures were of Metrolina material–they do a great job supplying Lowes in PA.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Low prices and demand. Not surprising considering the sinking economy. Keep the focus on the horizon, not on these down times. Would be like peeking at one’s portfolio every week.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

We are a small garden center in a business distric in Knoxville. Big Box Stores everywhare. We get our poinsettias from local growers and charge much more for them. Ours will last longer because we give verbal care instructions and the excellent quality of the plants. We will probably sell 200 or so of all sizes to the thousands the big box’s sell.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Many growers who supply Wal-Mart were requested to grow their exclusive holiday program for the 2008 Christmas Season. In good faith, the growers produced these special varieties in the numbers requested and packaged them in Wal-Mart unique and exclusive packaging. After the product was inspected to make sure that it met the specs and tentative delivery dates were arranged, Wal-Mart suspended shipments with a single conference call. Many growers will be left with 30-40% of this product which can no longer be shipped to other customers. Serious layoffs will be inevitable. Is this Sam Walton’s legacy?

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Unforunately, the best of Wal-Mart died with Sam. All growers who think they have it good with any box retailer may live to regret their decision. It’s really time to diversify and do it quick. I’ve rarely in 30 years seen such junk on the market and I can’t remember seeing much lower prices. You can’t produce a consistent quality poinsettia with today’s costs, give the boxes the 20-27 points they demand – and sell under pay by scam – and make ANY money. I’d like to see the books.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

I have a question. What is the deadline for ordering poinsettias for the Christmas season. For example, if I wanted to order 500 poinsettias for the 2009 Christmas season, when would I need to place my order? What would be the deadline for changing that order. Also, how much are 7inch red poinsettias each.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Hi,
I always bought Porter’s giant beautiful poinsettias. Now that they are out of business, where can I buy them?

Thank you so much,
Cindy Kennedy

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Well, they certainly are CHEAP, and they deserve to be cheap based upon the quality. That material would NOT be accepted in Philadelphia even at a box store. I’d bet none of the pictures were of Metrolina material–they do a great job supplying Lowes in PA.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Low prices and demand. Not surprising considering the sinking economy. Keep the focus on the horizon, not on these down times. Would be like peeking at one’s portfolio every week.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

We are a small garden center in a business distric in Knoxville. Big Box Stores everywhare. We get our poinsettias from local growers and charge much more for them. Ours will last longer because we give verbal care instructions and the excellent quality of the plants. We will probably sell 200 or so of all sizes to the thousands the big box’s sell.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Many growers who supply Wal-Mart were requested to grow their exclusive holiday program for the 2008 Christmas Season. In good faith, the growers produced these special varieties in the numbers requested and packaged them in Wal-Mart unique and exclusive packaging. After the product was inspected to make sure that it met the specs and tentative delivery dates were arranged, Wal-Mart suspended shipments with a single conference call. Many growers will be left with 30-40% of this product which can no longer be shipped to other customers. Serious layoffs will be inevitable. Is this Sam Walton’s legacy?

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Unforunately, the best of Wal-Mart died with Sam. All growers who think they have it good with any box retailer may live to regret their decision. It’s really time to diversify and do it quick. I’ve rarely in 30 years seen such junk on the market and I can’t remember seeing much lower prices. You can’t produce a consistent quality poinsettia with today’s costs, give the boxes the 20-27 points they demand – and sell under pay by scam – and make ANY money. I’d like to see the books.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

I have a question. What is the deadline for ordering poinsettias for the Christmas season. For example, if I wanted to order 500 poinsettias for the 2009 Christmas season, when would I need to place my order? What would be the deadline for changing that order. Also, how much are 7inch red poinsettias each.

Avatar for Anonymous Anonymous says:

Hi,
I always bought Porter’s giant beautiful poinsettias. Now that they are out of business, where can I buy them?

Thank you so much,
Cindy Kennedy