MARKETING STRUCTURES AND PRICE FORMATION MECHANISMS IN GERMAN NURSERIES

In 1990, there were 3927 nurseries in Western Germany which cultivated 5.1 ha on average and 21,000 ha in total. More than half (60 %) of th e turnover of those nurseries which are organized in the ''Bund deutsc her Baumschulen - BdB'' (''German Nurseries Association'') results fro m nursery products, 32 % from trading, and 8 % from services. Traditio nally, we find a high concentration of nursery production in two regio ns which are located in Schleswig-Holstein and in Lower Saxony. Almost half of the turnover is held by nurseries located in these producing regions. Another agglomeration of nurseries can be found in North Rhin e Westphalia. In the rest of the Federal States of Western Germany the nurseries are in scattered locations. With respect to their main acti vity, one may distinguish between firms which are exclusively or predo minantly engaged in production, nurseries that specialise in trading, and other ones which concentrate on direct marketing to private consum ers. In contrast to those nurseries dealing directly with private cons umers, nurseries specialising in production or trading are mainly loca ted in the producing regions mentioned above. On the market for nurser y products, the trading partners traditionally use a price list drawn up by the ''Arbeitsgemeinschaft mittelstandischer Baumschulen - AmB''( ''Working Group of Medium-sized Nurseries'') as an instrument for orie ntation. The prices taken from this list are handled with rebates whic h vary according to the customers' position in the market. The require ment for this system of fixed prices and rebates is to act in tone wit h respect to rebates. This is only given as far as sales between nurse ries themselves are concerned. Looking at the other groups of customer s, it is not. Especially in the sectors of landscape gardening and cus tomers of public domains, the lowest rebates and greatest variation ca n be found. The AmB list and the system of fixed prices and flexible r ebates is still an important orientation platform for the nurserymen t o calculate their prices. However, in case the applicability of the pr ice list and the uniform behaviour in granting rebates will continue t o decrease, there will be no sufficiently realistic basis for price ca lculation for the nurserymen any more. Four models to reform the price orientation system have been discussed as possible solutions: a. conc ept of a 'cartel on trading conditions'', b. concept of an 'anonymous feedback'', c. concept of comparison of market and list prices'' and d . concept of . price lists for specified groups of products''. Finally , it is suggested to develop a price and quantity reporting system bas ed on regular notations of actual gross prices and of rebates in the d ifferent market sectors. This will allow for the continuation of the l ist prices which are then based on reliable market information.