Ohio green industry grew 48%
Rosy reports continue to surface about green-industry growth. Ohio Nursery & Landscape Assoc. reported sales revenue grew 48%: from $2.79 billion in 2001 to $4.13 billion in 2005. The largest segment of Ohio's green industry is landscape services, racking up more than $1 billion in sales in 2005. Retail garden centers grew 6.6% annually during this 4-year stretch, and had $677 million in sales in 2005.

Consumer confidence up in October
Consumers' outlook on the economy continued to improve in October, according to BIGresearch's October Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. Almost half (49.9%) of survey participants said they were confident or very confident in chances for a strong economy in the next 6 months. Joe Pilotta, v.p. of research, said this usually translates into greater spending for the holidays. The survey also showed gas prices are having less impact on spending, affecting 29.3% of respondents, vs. 24.4% last month.

SafeLawn campaign kicks off in 2007
SafeLawns.org, an internat'l. coalition of for-profit and nonprofit organizations, plans to promote organic lawn care and resource conservation throughout 2007. The effort is being led by HGTV host and People Places & Plants editor Paul Tukey. The campaign will be touted by more than 100 garden writers and industry professionals. The group hopes to spur interest in organic lawn care through television, radio and print publications. Tukey is working with lawn-care experts to create how-to videos on natural lawn care. Videos will be available on the coalition's Web site and on DVD by early 2007. A national kickoff is planned for March 2007 in Washington, D.C.

Americans turn to plastic for small purchases
More customers are whipping out plastic for $10 worth of annuals. A report in USA Today discusses how consumers are increasingly using credit and debit cards for purchases less than $25. The article cites statistics from CardWeb.com that show customers will use Visa cards to buy $60 billion worth of items that cost less than $25 each this year, nearly 11 times more than in 2000. To deal with demand -- and speed up checkout lines - card companies are allowing more no-signature transactions at movie theaters, pharmacies, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants. Earlier this year, card companies made fee structures more small-purchase friendly for vendors.

Average holiday spending to hit ...
The average holiday shopper will shell out $791.19 this year, according to Nat'l. Retail Federation's 2006 Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions survey. This is up from $738.11 last year. Shoppers will also take advantage of holiday sales and spend an additional $99.22 on themselves. Not surprisingly, most of the Yuletide budget is earmarked for gifts. However, the survey found that most Americans plan to increase spending on flowers ($18.98 vs. $15.78 last year) and decorations ($46.49 vs. $40.86 last year).

Worth a visit
Retail consultant Robert Hendrickson urges retailers to take a hard look at what their store really makes during the holidays. Only on GreenBeam.com.