Market Outlets


 The vast majority ($114 million, 92%) of Florida's woody ornamentals were sold at the
 producer level through wholesale market outlets, rather than retail outlets, regardless of firm size.

 Market outlets were summarized in the categories of re-wholesalers, retailers, and
landscapers. Re-wholesalers include all brokers, distributors, or other nursery firms, who buy and
handle plants for resale to retailers or landscapers. Many nursery firms do substantial business in
re-wholesaling in order to offer wider product lines and take advantage of market contacts. Retail
merchandisers of nursery products include garden supply stores and large chain stores with garden
and plant departments, which sell to landscapers and directly to consumers. Commercial landscapers
use nursery products for installation on landscape jobs in new construction or renovations.

 Landscapers represented the largest market outlet overall (40%) in this survey (Table 7). Re-
 wholesalers were the second largest outlet (33%), and retailers comprised the remainder (27%). This
 pattern was exaggerated for small, medium, and large sized firms, with 45%, 55%, and 52% of sales
 to landscapers, respectively. Very large firms, however, had a greater share of sales to re-wholesalers
 (49%), than to retailers (28%) and landscapers (23%). These results indicate that small to large firms
 emphasized more direct sales to users in the marketing system, while very large firms made greater
 use of the services of market middlemen.

 Table 7--Wholesale Sales to Various Outlets by Firm Size Class
 104 woody ornamental nurseries in Florida, 1988.

 Outlet Small Medium Large Very Large Total

Re-wholesalers 27.9% 18.7% 23.3% 49.0% 33.1%
Retailers 27.0% 25.9% 25.2% 28.4% 26.7%
Landscapers 45.1% 55.4% 51.5% 22.6% 40.1%

 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%

 Sales to wholesalers, retailers, and landscapers, within Florida accounted for 72%, 83%, and
 95% of total sales reported for each of these market outlets, respectively.


 Product Transport

 An overwhelming majority (98.7%) of woody ornamentals were transported to market by
 truck (Table 8). The remainder of products were transported by air (.8%) and by UPS (.5%). Small
 growers used air transport to a greater degree (2.5%), and medium firms used UPS more (1.1%).

 A majority of truck shipments (54%) were performed by nursery vehicles (Table 9). Common
 carrier trucking firms delivered 29 percent of products, and buyer vehicles transported 18 percent.
 Small and large firms delivered a greater share (63% and 68%, respectively) of their sales by nursery-
 owned vehicles and substantially less (11.4% and 15%) by common carrier. Very large firms relied
 more on common carriers (50%), which tend to have larger, specialized equipment capable of making
 longer hauls (Rahmani, Beilock, & Strain, 1987). This pattern is consistent with the results discussed
 earlier for geographical market distribution: smaller firms sold products close to home, and very large
 firms targeted markets at a greater distance.