Are you a tree grower interested in taking advantage of seasonal tree sales?
Selling Christmas trees is one great idea to explore. Across the United States alone, about 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold. This is a huge market you may want to tap into.
Is this business lucrative? Is it one to try? Does my location’s climatic condition support Christmas tree growth? Before venturing into this type of business, these and many other questions must be asked.
Luckily, we’ve provided answers that will help launch your business operations.
How Lucrative is the Christmas Tree Market?
One of the first questions anyone interested in starting a Christmas tree business should ask is how lucrative the venture is. As a seasonal business, Christmas trees are in high demand during the Christmas season.
Of the 15 million Christmas trees sold in the US, only half of the domestic need is met. This is a near-permanent yearly demand. The rest of the 50% is imported from Canada.
Here, it’s evident that money can be made if you adequately leverage available opportunities.
While true, you’ll likely be constrained by certain factors, including the growing zones or your location. As a grower, specific areas or regions best support the growing of Christmas trees.
So, to sell such trees, you’ll need to be in any of these areas.
Where to Grow Christmas Trees for Sale
The growing and selling of Christmas trees are closely linked. As earlier stated, not all regions or climatic conditions support the growing and pruning of these trees.
Three major growing regions are identified. They include the Canada border zone, the Pacific Northwest, and the Appalachian mountains of NC.
You should know by now that the top producing states by volume include Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin.
If you’re in any of these states, then your desire to start a business selling Christmas trees would be a lot easier.
To become a Christmas tree seller, you don’t necessarily need to be a grower. You only need to find a reliable supplier to buy in bulk. Such suppliers are tree farms around your location.
To sell Christmas trees, you’ll need to decide whether to sell online, offline, or both.
How to Sell Christmas Trees
As a Christmas tree seller, you’re setting up a business operation that meets target clients’ needs. For your business to be successful, it needs to be carefully planned out. The implementation is also key to success.
Here, we’ve listed the basic procedures, including;
i. Finding Reliable Suppliers
There are lots of tree farms that can meet your supply demands. You’ll need to establish critical partnerships with such farms to secure your supply.
You don’t want to leave your buyers stranded as that isn’t good for business. Bulk purchase from such suppliers also offers significant discounts.
Now locating tree farms around your location isn’t as complex as some think.
An online search should bring up tons of results to further research. In your search, you may want to type in terms like “Christmas farms near me” or “Christmas tree suppliers near me.”
While researching reliable suppliers, you’ll need to pay a visit to each of these farms to discuss with those on the ground to find out more about their operations.
It’s essential to compare their products and services to choose the best supplier(s) you can find.
Sometimes, entering into agreements may be necessary to ensure your supply isn’t cut short when you most need it. In other words, having multiple supply options may be required.
What more? You get to assess the quality of Christmas trees grown.
ii. Renting or Buying a Lot
Another crucial step for setting up your Christmas tree business is finding a suitable lot from where to commence your operation.
While this sounds easy, it can be challenging because you’ll need to find a strategic area to run your operations.
Strategic positioning matters because it directly impacts sales. You need your business to be located in an easily accessible area and one that’s visible.
What more? Areas with a lot of foot traffic are among the most desired when setting up a Christmas tree selling business.
Depending on your startup capital, you may decide to rent or buy the lot. Here, renting is the easiest and most cost-effective strategy to launch your operations. Purchasing a lot will require much more financial commitments.
So, where do you rent or buy a lot for the business? Some places to consider include major department stores and other areas with high traffic.
Of course, you’ll need to find out what it takes to rent such locations for your business.
iii. Setting up your Lot
Having obtained a lot, what remains is to have it set up so that it appeals to potential buyers. A lot of creativity is needed here.
Have your supplier ship your first consignment to begin the setup. Christmas trees must be organized in neat rows according to their sizes.
You can also have some trees tastefully decorated to appeal to buyers. Are you only interested in selling Christmas trees? Your buyers may want other related items like wreaths, amongst others.
Getting these will add to your product variety.
iv. Marketing your Business
It’s not enough to have your business located in the best spot or to get a reliable supplier for your Christmas trees. Marketing helps take the company further by making it more visible to clients.
In other words, it promotes your business, so buyers get to know and easily patronize it.
Marketing can be done in various forms, including targeting bulletin boards of local grocery stores, making creative Facebook posts, and distributing flyers around the area.
Word of mouth marketing will help create awareness about your business. This is in addition to ads in local newspapers and Craigslist ads.
Selling Christmas trees can be done using all kinds of strategies such as those discussed above. You don’t need to be a grower to start this business.
You may want to visit similar businesses within your area to know how they operate.