if you’re planning on buying a christmas tree this year start thinking about it now and maybe even put some money aside supplychain disruptions and global inflation have affected the supply and prices of christmas trees this year both artificial or real ones industry experts said with inflation at a 40year high and prices on consumer goods and services up 82 in september compared to last year americans are cutting back on discretionary spending and dipping into savings to pay for rising bills but they are also hunting for bargains 58 of consumers said sales and promotions are more important to them compared to last year according to the holiday season survey by the national retail federation while americans say they are trying to cheat inflation this year by buying more practical gifts for loved ones andor cutting down on their giftgiving this year consumer demand for christmas trees remains strong industry experts say even if americans cut back on other items it’s likely that they will keep the traditional fir tree mac harman ceo of balsam brands a holiday and homedecor retailer that owns the artificial christmastree seller balsam hills told marketwatch “maybe they’re gonna have fewer presents” harman said a badlooking or half dead tree or worse no tree at all is a “really scary signal to your kids because it’s such a part of tradition” he added here’s how to secure a nice tree this christmas if you’re buying a fir tree it will cost you real trees are likely to get more expensive due to increasing costs such as fertilizer and labor all 55 growers polled by the real christmas tree board which covers about twothirds of the us market share in total in august said their input costs had increased compared to last year more than a third of growers said costs rose 11 to 15 while more than a quarter of growers said costs rose by 16 to 20 compared to the previous year to put that in context the median price for a real tree for consumers last year was 6950 according to a consumer survey by the national christmas tree association a national association representing christmas tree growers this was compared to the median price of an artificial tree at 70 the trade group improved its methodology this year so it did not provide comparable prices from previous years as a result 71 of the polled growers expected wholesale prices to increase 5 to 15 compared to last year 11 expect prices to rise 20 more while the same percentage see prices rising no more than 5 “of course prices vary based on location and type of tree” tim o’connor executive director of national christmas tree association told marketwatch in addition to the potential increase in wholesale prices transportation costs and other retailrelated costs including rent energy and labor could further push up the cost of trees this year harman said some good news the supply of real trees should be broadly in line with last year said marsha gray executive director of the real christmas tree board although there have been reports of extreme weather affecting tree crops the christmas tree industry is big and farms are scattered gray told marketwatch what’s more farmers use longterm strategies to account for shortterm weather disruptions the heat wave in the pacific northwest last year was unique for the industry it affected seedlings and scorched some tree branches gray said but because of the long life cycle of the crop 8 to 10 years farmers had time to manage their inventories to prevent a shortage “the real christmastree industry is bigger than any one farm retailer or region and we’ve never run out of trees” she said supplychain issues could however disrupt the artificial christmas tree market this year said mac harman last year boxes of artificial christmas trees arrived at retailers after christmas because of pandemicinduced supply chain disruptions harman said since then retailers have storing trees in their distribution centers “which is not what you want because christmas trees are bulky” he told marketwatch and it’s not just artificial trees the inventorytosales ratio for general merchandise stores reached a 15year high in the second quarter meaning retailers were losing money sitting on unsold supplies “if you have a specific tree in mind that will make your holiday shine the brightest we recommend shopping early to secure your ideal tree at the right price for your family” jami warner executive director of the american christmas tree association said in a statement consumers started searching for artificial christmas trees online last summer a lot earlier than usual said dallin hatch head of communications at ecommerce accelerator pattern the search for artificial christmas trees on amazon amzn spiked in july and august it said searches were up 60 in july on the year and up 41 in august the spikes in searches coincided with news reports of drought and heat waves affecting tree farmers hatch said “we haven’t seen consumers shopping in this volume for christmas trees this early and i doubt that is something that these christmastree manufacturers could have foreseen beforehand” hatch said at the same time more consumers are displaying multiple trees as more people moved out of cities and into larger homes during the pandemic mac harman added people want to celebrate old traditions let loose after a rough two years of the pandemic “and sometimes a tree is a symbol of that” hatch said