Warm Winter - 2007

We’ve had a strangely warm winter here in Florida. Practically no heating bill compared to the nightmare of last year. The experts say our winter “roast” is due to the El Niño effect, which comes around every 10 to 12 years. Weather maps show a jet stream high over the midsection of our country keeping cold air west and north, far away from Florida and all of the East Coast. Meanwhile, extraordinary freezing is wreaking havoc on parts of California citrus and produce production. I certainly won’t complain, though, since the El Niño effect is said to have caused our very inactive hurricane season this year.
Mid to late January means the Tropical Plant Industry Exhibition (TPIE) in Ft Lauderdale. People from around the world come to this show partly because it’s in Ft. Lauderdale in January. The weather is beautiful. Still, sweating outside at night in January seems, well, unnatural. There are so many shows overlapping in January—how can buyers choose? Aside from weather in Ft. Lauderdale being a big draw, yachts line the docks and canals behind hotels. Walking on these docks make you feel like you’re so close to astonishing wealth—and you are. So much concentrated wealth floating, tethered, waiting to cast off and move on.
Is this amazing display of wealth rare? Not really. We’re a very rich nation with people of all income levels. Wealth is now common. Recent statistics show that the top 20% of wage earners collect 50% of the income and hold 84% of the wealth in this country. Twenty percent may not seem like such a big number until you consider the population of the U.S. is now north of 300 million people. That means there are 60 million very affluent people in our country. What a market. Sixty million rich people to sell stuff to. That’s three times the total population of Australia or Canada, including their poor people.
With this mind, why is it that growers and retailers are obsessed with the lowest possible price points? Most of us believe the cheapest goods win the order and sell at retail. I didn’t notice any bargain brand yachts docked in Ft. Lauderdale. Maybe the owners switched labels on the boats so they wouldn’t be embarrassed among their peers … maybe not. Some of these big boats had plants visible from the outside on their decks and in their salons. Do you think the yacht owners docked at Marina Del Wal-Mart and then ran in to pick up some great plants for the boat? I don’t think so either.
The most under-served segment of our market has been for many years, and remains, this affluent market. There must be a good reason for this. I suppose growing and selling very average product is just easier to do than creating compelling décor or fashion. The poor take what they can get while the affluent are more demanding. My company has been working on more upscale products for some time and it’s true: It’s a lot of work to put together something that people would agree rises to the level of home fashion. Difficult or not, this is where the affluent are going to spend their money. Relative satisfaction is the choice available to the affluent. Competition for this market is so keen that products need to go beyond relative satisfaction to compelling value. That can be hard and risky. Perhaps that’s why most of us sink to the lowest common denominator.
At TPIE, my company showed many new home décor and home fashion products for the first time. This was the result of a great many miles traveled, expenses incurred and designer time applied. One of my fellow growers, upon seeing all this variety arrayed in our stand, said to me, “Kerry, you have too much time on your hands.” Having just worked seven days a week for the last three weeks to help pull this all together, I was not amused. I replied, “No, I just work a lot harder than you do. This stuff doesn’t happen by itself.”
If the idea of extra work to serve the affluent market bothers you, remember: You can just keep on doing that same old thing—you can always blame Wal-Mart.