Industry Spotlight

Peer to Peer Insight 2023 Outlook Concerns & Opportunties

Addision Gregory, Chief Operating Officer, shares his thoughts about concerns and opportunities for 2023.

What are your plant supply concerns?

Trees, shrubs and roses were the most challenging when it came to availability this past year. I think that will continue as most of that product takes longer to produce.

Do you have concerns about your pot & container supply?

Same as last year. Long lead times, price increases, etc.. We have had to transition to some different pot types/sizes to accommodate our needs.

What other product concerns do you have?

Carrying over expensive inventory! We have started to see some pricing going down with a decrease in ocean freight and shipping, which means the inventory we are currently holding onto is at a higher cost. It is important that we move on from the expensive inventory.

Where are your labor concerns?

Entry level positions are still challenging. We haven’t necessarily had issues finding people, but the turnover in some of those positions has been high. We have tried to stay ahead of the wage pressures.

Do you have economic climate concerns:

1st - 3rd quarter we were slightly up 1%, but 4th quarter we have started to lose ground and notice that in our daily transaction count. We are not keeping pace with 2021, but still ahead of 2020 and 2019. I do think retail is softening a little bit and we have been forecasting flat or slightly below in most categories for next year.

Other concerns?

Houseplants! Have we hit the growth plateau? The category seems to be normalizing after tremendous amounts of growth the past 5 years.

As we enter 2023, what opportunities are you most excited about?

We are taking over the cafe at our Puyallup location, which we currently lease. It will be fun to integrate it more with our brand. We will be launching our Qualified Partners program for landscape contractors and designers this Spring as well. Stay tuned for more information on that.

Are there other thoughts you would like to share?

Everyone has had 3 great years and do we think that is the new “norm” or do we revert back to pre 2020? I think it’s probably something in between, so we have to keep adding or looking for new opportunities for growth to maintain this type of sales volume.