Shopping for Christmas presents at the local mall and watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” on television are an integral part of this holiday season for most Americans. But there is one tradition that seems to be slipping away: A real tree. During the last decade, sales of freshly cut Christmas trees have fallen an alarming 34 percent as more consumers are drawn to lower-cost artificial trees for convenience as well as their trendy innovative design and colour.

In an effort to bring back customers and attract new ones, the National Christmas Tree Association has embarked on its first major advertising campaign in its 50-year history. “Nothing Says Christmas More Than a Real Tree” is the catch-phrase for the advertising blitz aimed at kids ages 6 to 13. It highlights the nostalgic connection between Christmas trees and the holiday season through scholarships, essay contests and a tie-in with the movie “Polar Express.”

“Nobody is arguing that artificial trees are here to stay. We just want to minimise their impact,” said Ron Hudler, a North Carolina Christmas tree farmer who is helping to orchestrate the tree association’s new marketing program. Nationally, 23.4 million American households displayed live trees in 2003, down from 35.4 million in 1990. During this time, the number of artificial trees jumped to more than 51 million from 36.3 million.

Traditional consumers

A major reason for the shift to artificial trees, according to the industry, is a generational divide. Traditional consumers who grew up with real Christmas trees are aging, while younger Americans are adopting new holiday rituals or dropping them altogether. Still others have abandoned real trees because they fear a fire hazard. The growers association, however, notes that only one one-thousandth of a percent of all trees fall into that category each year.

The growing popularity of artificial trees, manufactured mostly in China, is in large part down to convenience. They come preassembled with tinsel and lights, and in a variety of colours such as orange, pink and purple. And, in the end they save consumers the time and effort spent picking spiky pine needles and shards of broken ornaments out of the carpet, or untangling strings of lights.

And increasingly, Christmas tree growers are adjusting to the popularity and convenience of so-called big-box retailers. Grocery stores and giant retailers including Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot and Lowe’s command an ever-growing chunk of real Christmas tree sales, now ringing up $166 million (86 million pounds). That’s 21 percent of sales, versus 14 percent in 2000.

Their success leads to the encroaching demise for the once popular corner lots often sponsored by churches and scout groups, which just four holiday seasons ago amassed 27 percent of the market. Last Christmas, they rang-up only 13 percent of tree purchases. “The artificial business is definitely on the rise, and we’re seeing that,” said Bob Jacobson, who oversees live goods at Home Depot. “But our future is to still do both businesses. I don’t ever see the real tree business going away.”

A big reason it may be premature to write off the Christmas tree stems partly from tradition, but also because more Americans are buying multiple trees each year for their homes.

With all the gloom and doom clouding the industry on the retail front, Christmas tree growers could face another challenge: a supply glut in the United States as a large number of trees are nearing harvest in the next few years. In Oregon, far and away the country’s largest grower of evergreens, the surplus during the next four years will exceed current sales levels of 6.7 million trees annually, by 3 million to 4 million a year.

Kent Hoddick, a statistician with the Agriculture Department’s regional office in Oregon, said the surplus of trees underscores the importance of better marketing, promotion and sales efforts. Convenience could be key, said Hoddick, who suggests growing trees that retain their needles longer or that come with a stand already attached on the lot. “It’s time for (the industry) to think outside the box, like they’re starting to do,” he said. Hoddick, incidentally, has purchased three Christmas trees for his home this year — all of them real.

Christopher DOERING