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.
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.
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 |