Market Update: European Indoor Vegetable and Decorative Plants
The indoor vegetable and decorative plant market is seeing an uptick since the global pandemic, especially in Europe. But there have been obstacles with finding the appropriate distribution channels. Here, we talked with Carsten Leth, Key Account Support Specialist at PanAmerican Seed.
1. Where do you think the small-edibles market is going into the future?
In Europe, growth in this segment is within the grow-it-your-own-type of product as more consumers started to get into gardening during the pandemic.
For the tabletop veggies, like Kitchen Minis, this market is quite stable. Finished products end up pretty pricey and it’s a challenge to find growers with the capacity in spring as it will compete with bedding, etc.
You need pretty good greenhouses to grow these products and growers who are familiar and on top of use of biological control as chemicals are a no-go on edibles in the EU.
2. What purposes do you see that these edible/decorative plants serve?
I always consider these plants as kind of fun and educational plants, which often get attention from consumers with kids in the household.
3. What is the general sales reaction you’ve observed?
In general, people love this final product, but right distribution channels and positioning at retail can be a challenge.
In the past when I spoke with retailers, the challenge was if this type of product should be displayed together with flowers or veggies. If it’s a vegetable, it will also be distributed as such to the store = cool chain and that’s a bit too chill for most of the items in this category. This is definitely a challenge in the market.
I’ve also heard that not all stores are staffed to take proper care of plants, and the Kitchen Minis products do not handle drought very well. So as a result, when the plants get dry, they get top heavy due to the wait of the fruits and tip over. This can cause damage to the final product. Although this can be a problem, some stores do have special displays for this type of product.
4. Do you have any personal favourite plants in this category? If so, which ones and why?
Yes, for sure. My favourite above all is Hot Fajita, which besides being super decorative, produces lots of great peppers with medium heat. It’s also good to know that peppers and chillis offer very good value for the cost.
