Live Tree Report from 2022

Ellen C. Wells

Editor’s note: These details are good to file away as you buy for 2023! —JP

Here’s a holiday item and it’s about something you sell: Christmas trees. Live ones.

According to Trees.com’s 2022 survey of 1,250 Americans who celebrated Christmas, 7% more planned to buy a real Christmas tree compared to 2021. That’s good news! Also on the good news front is that nearly 20% said they were willing to pay $200 or more for their tree.

There is bad news from the survey: 56% said they had to reduce their spending in 2022 due to inflation. We could put a positive spin on this and say that consumers would prefer to spend money on a tree from us and will cut back on their electronics purchases in order to do so.

There was reportedly no Christmas tree shortage last holiday. I will note, however, that my Christmas tree-growing neighbor skipped sales last year for a “season of growth,” according to his sign. I helped him plant around 500 saplings in the spring and I can say he’s having a hard time with the worsening drought conditions each summer.

Did you have any trouble buying holiday live greens like wreaths, roping, swag or trees last year? Drop a line to ewells@ballpublishing.com to tell us about it. GP