"The plant sector is strengthened by the change in consumer habits"

More Valero is a Valencian nursery that has 25 years on the path of growth and know-how. With a template of more than 275 employees, offering over 200 different plant species, whose varieties and presentation formats have been selected to meet a wide variety of climatic and ornamental requirements. Iberflora has spoken to Javier Lara, director of the nursery and member of the Organizing Committee of Iberflora.

"I see the next face-to-face edition as a rebirth, a new opportunity to feel part of a society that enjoys personal contact again, shaking a hand or being able to chat. We have seen that the market remains the same without the face-to-face part in fairs or meetings, but they are basic and necessary to make the customer and the provider feel that they are more than two elements of a chain, with many years of anecdotes, problems, joys and more feelings."

Lara also values the campaign 2020-2021, both nationally and internationally, highlighting a lower seasonality in the market compared to previous years: “The year 2021 has been an exceptional year in every way. Sales have been higher than the most optimistic forecasts and the lack of plants at the beginning of April is a clear sign. In these two very complicated years that we have been going through the pandemic, the plant sector, in general, seems to have been strengthened by the change in consumer habits. Both at the level of exports and domestic sales the volume of sales has increased considerably, and above all, it seems to stop being so seasonal in the domestic market."

For Javier Lara, the garden center and the florists and shops in the neighborhood of proximity have been the ones that have most noticed a change in consumption during the pandemic: "Being confined to our homes and not being able to do much in the way of social life has made people value having a careful garden much more, a nice terrace or a more attractive and healthy interior. And that's why the consumption of plants (either indoors or outdoors) has increased markedly. The channel that in my opinion has most noticed this change in the consumer has been the garden or garden center, the neighborhood florist, i.e. the final point of sale."

However, Javier Lara is more skeptical when it comes to talking about a new consumer profile: "I think the profile is the same, but that he has realized that the needs have changed. That it is more valued to spend quality time in our house with ours, but with a more pleasant environment."