MARKET ACCEPTANCE AND CONSUMERS' WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR PLANTS IN BIODEGRADABLE POTS

In the last decades, society-driven topics like recycling and reduction of plastic waste increased efforts to utilize biodegradable materials. Up to now, a successful introduction of biodegradable flower pots on the German plant market has been hampered due to insufficient processing and marketing efforts. Although most plant buyers disclose high ecology-oriented attitudes, this does not result automatically in a higher willingness-to-pay for higher-priced biodegradable pots. In our study, 562 customers of six retail flower shops and garden centers in western and southern Germany were asked directly after buying certain potted plants (ornamentals, young vegetable plants, and herbs) offered in the shops – side-by-side in standard plastic and in biodegradable pots. Interviewers recorded the customers’ choice in their shopping trolley and asked questions about the intention of the purchase, knowledge of biodegradable materials and characteristics of the buyer himself. The analysis exposes that the respondents showed both high interests in biodegradable pots and an increased willingness-to-pay additional price charges of 15-48% depending on the kind of potted plant. Especially for edible and vegetable plants the consumers showed an increased willingness-to-pay within the range of the additional costs of producing plants in biodegradable pots. Furthermore, the survey results revealed that quality and environmental aspects are higher-ranked product attributes than the price of biodegradable pots. An extended market potential can be created by combining these biodegradable pots with organically produced plants.