MARKETING CHRISTMAS TREES - Auburn University Repository

14
ALABAMA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION
Advertising
Christmas trees lend themselves particularly well to advertising
through display. This means was universally used and was
the only advertising in about half of the instances observed.
Some displays augmented by lights and well-placed shining tinted
trees were very effective. Newspaper advertising was used to
some extent by grocers. Very few gave the trees separate advertising
space, but included the tree announcement in the regular
week-end grocery "spread." Radio and TV were used in rare instances.
Apparently such sellers as nurseries, who were somewhat
separated from large streams of potential customers, were
more inclined to advertise through the usual media than were
sellers in more favorable locations.
Most intensive advertising was done by civic clubs. In addition
to displays, newspapers, radio, TV, posters, and even pre-Christmas
season solicitation of advance deposits on trees were utilized.
Much of the advertising was donated in these cases and the "do
good" appeal was prominent. The mass of sales realized indicates
that in such instances advertising by a number of means was effective.
Two instances of advertising in appropriate newspapers
by the parent organization in behalf of the several outlets of
chains were noted. The effectiveness of such central advertising
was not estimated.
Pricing
Ornamentals were sufficiently standardized as to size, condition,
color, and packaging that they were sold much like any
other standardized product. Two large processors and shippers
quoted indentical prices at wholesale in 1956 f.o.b. shipping point
as follows:
Color Price per carton of 12 trees
Green $10.65
Silver 11.50
White 16.35
Pink 19.80
All ornamentals were black spruce, 30 to 40 inches tall, with
the stems sealed in metal stands containing a sap-like fluid that
prolonged life of the trees. Retail prices of these trees varied considerably,
Table 6. The range in pricing was substantial, but still
small relative to that of other groups of trees. The average