With rising demand and diversified channels, what are the new trends in expanding the bonsai market?

"Complex international environment, epidemic situation, extreme weather and other multiple challenges have brought impacts on potted plant enterprises and produced short-term impacts, but in the long run, they will not form fundamental impacts. Our enterprises must find the future through change and innovation. The national economy continues to recover, consumption is steadily upgrading, and consumer demand for flowers is strong under the epidemic." At the 2022 National Flower Production and Marketing Situation Analysis Conference, when talking about the impact of the epidemic, Liu Ying, deputy secretary-general of the Potted Plant Branch of the China Flower Association, expressed Such a point of view.

“The overall production and sales of potted plants in the country have increased, and the market share of small potted plants has further expanded”

In 2021, the national potted plant production scale will increase steadily, and the planting area will be relatively small. From the perspective of plant categories such as potted plants, fresh-cut flowers, bonsai, flower bed plants, and seedlings, the output growth rate of potted plants is higher than that of other categories.

The production of potted plants integrating small size, dwarfing, shape, and practicality has become a major trend, and the market share of small potted plants has further expanded, and there are more and more types. Orchids and leaf-viewing taro account for more than half of the potted plant market, of which orchids account for 34%, leaf-viewing taro accounts for 23%, and anthurium pineapple accounts for 15%. The annual output of traditional potted plants such as Baolian Lantern, Anthurium, Phalaenopsis, and potted roses has grown steadily. Among them, the annual output of Anthurium is about 40 million pots, which are produced in Guangdong, Tianjin and other places; the annual output of Phalaenopsis is 70 million pots; the annual output of potted roses It has reached about 30 million pots, mainly produced in Yunnan, Sichuan and other places; the annual output of Cymbidium has a breakthrough year-on-year.

The production of potted plants is dominated by enterprises, supplemented by farmers and family farms. The characteristics of modern agriculture are prominent, which are reflected in the green ecological planting with plant protection as the core, the increasing degree of mechanization, and the increasingly refined production management. From the perspective of production, the integration of water and fertilizer and the application of intelligent technology have become a trend, and the application is becoming more and more extensive. The regional layout of the national bonsai industry is more reasonable, the climatic conditions and the advantages of varieties are closely combined, and regional brands are increasingly formed.

The production and sales of potted plants in the country have generally increased, especially in recent years, with a clear upward trend in sales. From the perspective of sales model, it mainly includes traditional wholesale and retail, base direct sales and e-commerce. Faced with the uncertainty of the epidemic, the government has made great efforts to promote it through various media and platforms, coupled with the rapid development of Douyin e-commerce, many production companies have made efforts both online and offline. In addition to offline wholesale, they also use Taobao , Pinduoduo, Douyin and other platforms for live sales.

For the Lunar New Year Flower Fair, dealers choose to stock up in advance this year. In previous years, the Lunar New Year Festival started one month before the Spring Festival. This year, it was brought forward 50 to 60 days before the festival. Customers in many places, including Hong Kong, began to get goods from early December to plan ahead of time for the Lunar New Year Festival. At the beginning of January, many manufacturers had shipped half of their shipments, and some were almost out. Due to the large sales volume from the end of 2021 to 2022, many companies have cultivated spring products. However, after the Spring Festival, the epidemic spread and rebounded in many regions of the country, and the prevention and control efforts were intensified, which dealt a heavy blow to manufacturers. The shipments of all kinds of potted plants fell sharply, and it was the lowest spring shipments in the past 10 years.

“The demand for group pots is increasing day by day, and live broadcast sales are increasing”

When analyzing the production and sales situation of potted plants, Liu Ying mentioned that the market has higher and higher requirements for ornamental and artistic potted flower pots, and the market demand for single-variety pots or multi-species pots is huge. Many consumers are not sensitive to flower prices, but pay more attention to the ornamental effect. Leading flower shops across the country mainly sell combined potted plants, and their performance has been steadily rising. Some companies have put a lot of effort into the art of basin assembly, specializing in the production of high-end assembly basin products, which not only enhance the ornamental value, but also facilitate transportation.

In terms of sales, the proportion of online sales of potted plants continues to increase. There are more and more live broadcast sales in production parks, and daily sales are getting bigger and bigger. About 80% of the planting bases and farmers are involved in live broadcast sales through various means, some of which are second-generation and third-generation live broadcasts, and some cooperate with professional live broadcast teams to carry out direct sales at the base, realizing the integration of production and sales.

With the continuous development of e-commerce, many related companies have also begun to pour in. For example, there have been professional packaging companies that design and manufacture packaging for Phalaenopsis, Anthurium, succulents and other flowers. There are various types and specifications, suitable for different consumer needs. In order to meet the needs of e-commerce, many planting companies have begun to specialize in the production of some varieties that are more suitable for e-commerce sales, and at the same time try to make up for the shortcomings in packaging and transportation. E-commerce has high requirements for the continuity of varieties, and it is best to supply them throughout the year, and the price should be cheap. For manufacturers, the production costs are different in different seasons, such as heating costs in winter and cooling costs in summer, etc., but e-commerce customers often do not understand and hope to maintain a uniform price all year round, so they will also face some difficulties during the cooperation process. question.

On January 1 this year, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) will come into effect for 15 member countries including China. The world's largest free trade "circle of friends" has been formed, and the export market has shown great potential. Many potted plant companies saw business opportunities and entered the market first. Some companies have doubled their export volume within two years. However, with the impact of the epidemic, it remains to be seen how the export market will trend.

“A new strategy to expand the market of potted plants”

With the continuous improvement of the types and quality of potted plant products, pots of exquisite potted plants are like miniature gardens, and they have begun to enter thousands of households. The combination of succulents, micro-landscapes, and miniature potted plants is being used as a souvenir, and it has become a good gift for people to visit relatives and friends. Milk tea shops, clothing stores, beauty salons, etc. all have green space layouts. The rental of office buildings and enterprises has continued unabated, and more and more personalized orders have given potted plants a better space for development. Manufacturers should keep abreast of sales market trends, actively expand the terminal market, increase the commercial added value of potted flower products, promote the standardization of flower potted plant production, and promote the establishment of flower consumption habits.

Let potted plants dress up the rural environment and help the construction of rural culture. In 2022, the No. 1 Central Document "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Key Work of Rural Revitalization in an All-round Way in 2022" clarifies that this year is a critical year for the full implementation of rural revitalization, and requires all localities to proceed from reality, respect the laws of rural development, and advance steadily .

At present, the construction of beautiful villages in various places is advancing rapidly. Potted plants and potted landscaping are effective carriers for building beautiful villages and improving rural civilization. Potted plants gather family "little beauty" to achieve rural "big beauty". From a small seedling to a large potted plant for landscaping, there are many varieties of potted plants, suitable for different areas such as indoors and outdoors. Creative synthesis of potted plant landscaping "Small Rural Landscape". According to different geographical characteristics, according to the style of rural buildings or gardens, small scenes are combined according to local conditions, and the design of pastoral landscapes suitable for rural development has broad prospects. At the same time, according to the requirements of different regions, the reasonable setting of potted landscaping and greening can greatly increase the ornamental value.

High-end potted plants become common people, injecting poetic expression into life. The civilianization of high-end potted plants can allow potted plants to enter more families. More and more families begin to pay attention to life and health, and place some green potted plants on the balcony, living room and bedroom, such as lotus lamp, Clivia, hybrid orchid, fortune tree, pothos, palm, succulent hydroponics and other plants , are very popular. In the past, products such as lotus lanterns and phalaenopsis were out of reach for ordinary people, but now they have entered more families after increased production and adjusted prices. Small and micro potted plants occupy a small area, are easy to manage, have stable prices, and have achieved annual production and annual sales. The sales situation in the past two years has been good, showing an upward trend.

The civilianization of high-end potted plants can allow potted plants to enter more office buildings. Office flower consumption has a tendency to keep pace with household consumption. Many office workers spend more time at work than at home. Seeing natural plants in the office environment can relieve the pressure of work or the environment while getting close to nature.

The popularization of high-end bonsai makes bonsai cut into natural science research. Actively cater to and independently initiate gardening activities and exhibitions of various sizes, large, medium and small, and guide consumers to develop consumption habits. Research is a new form of tourism that extends downwards from the cultural tourism industry, and parent-child research activities focusing on natural sciences are the mainstream. There is a huge room for development in applying popular science plants, potted plants, micro-landscapes, etc. to research activities.