Profitability in a Maturing Marketplace

There is little doubt that the green industry has been characterized with unprecedented growth, innovation, and change over the last couple of decades. Yes, the fact that the green industry in the United States represents $148 billion in economic impacts and almost 2 million jobs nationally is impressive. The fact that nursery and floral production still represents one of the fast growing sectors in agriculture means profitability in the industry has been evidenced otherwise such growth would not have occurred. However, slowing growth in demand tighter margins (along with other aforementioned factors) point to a maturing market. Survival in the next decade will require a progressive mindset and perhaps a willingness to strengthen existing or develop new core competencies (which may incur greater risk).

While the crystal ball may be somewhat fuzzy in terms of the growth and nature of consumer demand, there is little doubt that innovativeness will continue to be a requisite skill in ensuring the survivability and profitability of green industry firms in the future. As the new competitive character of green industry maturity begins to hit full force, any of several strategic moves can strengthen a green industry firms’ competitive position including pruning the product line, improving value chain efficiency, trimming costs, accelerating marketing and sales promotion efforts, and acquiring struggling competitors.

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