12 Takeaways From AFE’s Recent “Trends to Watch” Green Industry Webinar
October 16, 2025 American Floral Endowment’s most recent GrowPro webinar, which took place on Oct. 14, featured two of the floriculture industry’s biggest trend watchers: Dr. Melinda Knuth of North Carolina State University (consumer trends) and Dr. Charlie Hall of Texas A&M University (economic trends). During the webinar, Knuth and Hall engaged in a lively discussion on economic predictions, consumer preferences, and industry-specific trends to green industry members should monitor to stay ahead of the curve in 2026.
Here are six key takeaways from each focus of the webinar discussion.
Dr. Knuth on Consumer Behavior
- Sustainability: Dr. Knuth leads American Floral Endowment’s Sustainabloom initiative as its lead researcher. She says consumers are increasingly looking for products that fit into sustainability, and the more specific you can be, the better. “Don’t just use the word ‘green’ in your marketing messages,” she says.
- E-Commerce leading to M-Commerce: Most e-commerce today is done on a mobile device phone (hence the term m-commerce), and roughly 80% of consumers research products on the spot with their phone before purchasing (and often buy directly from their phone. “All your marketing needs to be mobile-accessible,” Knuth says. “Your products must be able to be seen and bought from a phone.”
- Multi-Benefit Products: This involves products that have more than just one single attribute. “Multiple functions increase consumers’ willingness to pay for a product,” she says. “It can’t just look good, it has to provide an additional benefit to the consumer. Perhaps it’s made from recycled plastic, has a scent, or is edible.” This concept used to be exclusive to Millennials, but it’s now bleeding into other age categories as well, especially as discretionary incomes become squeezed.
- Emotional Storytelling: Emotions are compelling, and appealing to people’s emotions can be beneficial. “It started last year with short-form videos on social media, and it’s continuing to grow.
- Artificial Intelligence: Despite the headlines AI tends to generate, consumers remain weary; some are fully on board and some are absolutely not. “If you use AI in your marketing, be up-front about it. If your customers see it before you note it, that builds distrust and less loyalty,” she says. “It also comes down to authenticity. You can apply AI, but be authentic.”
- Conversational Marketing: This is similar to emotional storytelling, but also means holding conversations with consumers. “Consumers are engaging with this a lot; they want to know your values as a company,” Knuth says. “Going forward, I think conversational marketing is the new word of mouth. This is your customer’s way of speaking to a store employee in a new format.”
Dr. Hall on Economic Trends
- Personal Disposable Income (PDI): Hall notes that in 2021, PDI from COVID-19 relief checks led to people spending money, and they’ve been consistently spending since then. But it’s starting to level off. “We saw seasonal dips with flowers, seeds, and potted plants in the spring of 2022 and 2024. This year we held steady in spring, but it’s been leveling off in the last couple months,” Hall says. “The economy is catching up. It’s still growing, but it’s growing glacially like it was pre-pandemic. We always have a drag in the late summer, but it’s been a more significant drop-off this year.” Hall also points out that since the federal government shutdown started, there’s been little or no economic data shared, which affects decision making at all levels.
- The nation’s GDP started at a low number to kick off 2025, then bounced back. “We were importing a lot in the first quarter because of looming tariffs, and imports are a drain on our GDP,” Hall says. “That flipped in the second quarter when exports increased and imports leveled.” Here again, the government shutdown makes the crystal ball murky. “That’s why data is so daggum critical,” notes Hall as only he can put it.
- Final sales to private domestic purchasers (which is a good metric because it shows what we’re spending money on) saw a gain in the second quarter. “People are still buying, even if their spending is leveling off,” says Hall, who also points out that “we learned a lot during the pandemic and altered our supply chain accordingly. We’re messing up trade relationships thanks to tariffs, but the supply chain changes we made have helped.”
- Will we eventually pay the piper? Inflation levels will be the answer, Hall says. “People’s disposable income is decreasing thanks to tariffs, which are paid by importers and passed on through the supply chain, despite what you hear,” he says. “The question is, which companies will eat those costs, and which will pass the costs along to the consumer?” Speaking of inflation, why haven’t we seen it grow yet? “Remember that people were buying imports, and those inventories have been drawn down and sold at a lower price,” Hall says. “As those inventories are drawn down, we’ll see tariffs showing up in inflation numbers.”
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12 Takeaways From AFE's Recent “Trends to Watch” Green Industry Webinar
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