So far, there are hardly any statistical studies in Europe that depict the consumer behaviour of the target group between 18 and 30 years of age. In the USA, a representative survey was conducted in October 2020, which showed that approx. 15 % of the inhabitants of the USA, which corresponds to approx. 15 million households, have bought plants for the first time.
Within this group, 14 % were between 18 and 30 years and 30 % between 31 - 40 years. In these two age groups, 28 % of the respondents said they would continue with the recreational activity of "planting" even after the pandemic.
Although there are no statistical surveys on this subject in Europe, in many places one hears of more "young customers". The enormous growth in online plant sales is also due to this target group. As much as our industry is currently celebrating and "moving" from one sales record to the next, the statements vary greatly on how the young target group can be retained.
It is probably not far from the truth to say that the horticultural retail industry has not yet fully integrated the expectations of the 18- to 30-year-old customers and that there is room for improvement. In many stores, the presentation of goods at the point-of-sale still follows the philosophy of the classical presentation of assortments instead of creating living worlds.
Communication with customers via SOCIAL-Media often functions only fragmentarily. Some Instagram examples show clearly that the young generation is interested in "plant themes":
- Adriansstory (indoor plants-v.a. Germany) 11.500 subscribers
- Mr_plantgeek (all about greenery-v.a. England) 34.800 subscribers
- Have02 (all about greenery - mainly Scandinavia) 33.000 subscribers
- Houseplantclub (houseplants-worldwide) 1 mio subscribers
- Mamabotanica.amsterdam (houseplants-v.a. Netherlands) 86.000 subscribers)
It is interesting to compare how many subscribers the best garden centres in Germany have, for example (according to the survey by ServiceValue - published in TASPO):
- Pflanzen Mauk - 1.927 subscribers
- Pflanzen Kölle - 18.400 subscribers
- Brockmeyer garden centre - 5.509 subscribers
- Garden centre Meckelburg - 1.077 subscribers
We would be happy to discuss practical approaches with you on how to succeed in binding this young target group to your company. The teams from Media Concept Switzerland and Gregg Marketing are looking forward to talking to you.