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RETAIL MARKET VALUE - 2011
| TREE TYPE |
MEAN AVERAGE DOLLARS SPENT |
NUMBER PURCHASED |
RETAIL VALUE ($) |
| Real Trees |
$34.87 |
30.8 million |
$1.07 billion |
| Fake Trees |
$70.55 |
9.5 million |
$670 million |
WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN
- These figures are from the annual consumer tracking poll commissioned by NCTA and conducted by Harris Interactive.
- Note: Mean dollars spent is NOT a measurement of the average price/cost of trees. It is only a measurement of what consumers taking the poll spent on the trees they purchased.
- We do not have an effective way of measuring the average retail price of trees.
Prices vary based on many factors.
PRE-CUT VS CUT YOUR OWN
| |
% of Real Christmas Trees purchased
|
| Pre-Cut |
84% |
| Cut My Own |
16% |
WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN
- Pre-cut trees may be purchased at a variety of locations, including retail lots, garden centers, chain stores, Choose & Cut farms, nonprofit groups and over the Internet.
- "Cut my own" is a tree harvested by the consumer and purchased at a Choose & Cut farm, where it is grown by the farmer. Depending on your area, it may also be referred to as "U-Cut," "Choose & Cut," "U-Pick," "Choose & Harvest," etc.
CHRISTMAS TREE PURCHASE FIGURES SINCE 2005 (in millions)
| |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009
|
2010 |
2011 |
| Real |
32.8
|
28.6
|
31.3
|
28.2
|
28.2
|
27.0 |
30.8 |
| fake |
9.3
|
9.3
|
17.4
|
11.7
|
11.7 |
8.2
|
9.5 |
WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN
- The 2011 poll results show that consumers in the U.S. purchased just under 31 million farm-grown Christmas trees and 9.5 million new plastic, artificial trees. Real Trees outsell fake trees by a greater than 3 to 1 margin.
- Many factors can influence total trees purchased, including harvest conditions, weather conditions, number of consumers traveling for the holidays and even the number of days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
WHERE PEOPLE BUY REAL CHRISTMAS TREES
| LOCATION |
2006 |
2007
|
2008 |
2009
|
2010
|
2011 |
| Choose & Harvest Farm |
29%
|
21%
|
31%
|
32%
|
33%
|
31% |
| Nursery/Garden Center |
15%
|
20%
|
11%
|
10%
|
12%
|
15% |
Chain Store
(Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.) |
19%
|
23%
|
24%
|
20%
|
21%
|
16% |
| Retail Lot |
25% |
12%
|
7%
|
17%
|
13%
|
14% |
Non-profit Group
(Boy Scouts, churches, etc.) |
9%
|
9%
|
18%
|
13%
|
9%
|
13% |
Internet
|
4% |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
| Other |
9%
|
15% |
9%
|
8%
|
12%
|
11% |
WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN
- As seen here, location of Real Tree purchases can vary from year to year.
- Because there are so many different types of businesses selling trees, it's difficult to pinpoint any specific trend.
- Anecdotally, NCTA has heard of an increase in Internet/online purchases -- but these figures are still below the error range of 3.1% so they appear "not applicable."
Source: Consumer Surveys commissioned by NCTA.
All results have an error range of +/- 3.1%.