‘Higher profit despite of VAT increase’
Are you a busy man at the moment?
“We don’t have a lot of customers at the moment – we call that ”tote Hose’’ here. That’s also because of the heat; people think of other things then. We are now mainly occupied with watering, weeding and maintenance.”
You mainly sell to private individuals?
“Yes, that’s right. About eighty percent of our products is sold to private individuals. Until 1995, we and a number of other growers in the area mainly delivered our products to merchants and garden centres in Austria. When Austria became part of the EU in 1995, it became a lot easier to import products from other European countries, with a huge price pressure as a result. But then we changed course and expanded our sales to private individuals. And this worked: today we still sell about twenty percent via the Salzburger Blumenhof growers cooperation. By the way, we’re now the only grower left in the city of Salzburg.”
Why do consumers come to you and buy your products?
“I think mainly because of our wide assortment and the product quality. The price is generally less important. Although Austria has increased its VAT on flowers and plants from 10 to 13 percent this year, and we had to bump up our prices out of necessity, we still have a lot of German customers. We are located near the German border and there barely are any garden centres with a wide assortment. Furthermore, we produce in a bee friendly way and use the least possible amount of crop protection; customers highly value that. ‘Local for local’ is less important; people only consider this when they want to and the time is right for them.”
So, how are sales going so far?
“April didn’t go strong because of the weather, but May and June made up. For the past few years, the turnover dropped a couple of percent every year, but this year we had a slightly higher turnover again. Despite of the higher prices! May and June are our most important sales months. Besides that, the holiday period at the end of the year is also good for us; for example, for poinsettias, amaryllises and cyclamens. All Saints’ was also good for our sales before, but the well-known German Grafkultur keeps crumbling.”
Are product groups also shifting?
“Absolutely. The demand for shrubs and other horticultural products is growing, but our potted plants and bedding plants turnover has been dropping for several years. That’s probably because the current generation wants to have a nice garden without too much work. And if they choose potted plants and bedding plants, they are barely cared for.”
About Alois Hintringer
Company: Gärtnerei Zmugg, Salzburg, Austria
Job: CEO
Most important market: Austria, the environment of Salzburg
Sales: 80% private individuals, 20% via sales cooperation
Assortment: wide assortment of pot plants and bed plants, perennial shrubs and horticultural products. Also purchase of cutting flowers
Staff members: 10 (including his wife, Elfriede, his two sons and Hintringer himself)
Surface: 0.6 hectares of greenhouse and 0.2 hectares outdoors
Alois Hintringer: ”April didn’t go strong because of the weather, but May and June made up. For the past few years, the turnover dropped a couple of percent every year, but this year we had a slightly higher turnover again.”
