Harvesting seasonal sales
We don’t normally associate the autumn months with boom
times for the floral industry. Sandwiched between Mother’s Day and
Christmas, September to November is typically less hectic. In a perfect
business world, we’d have a steady level of business all year round
instead of peaks and valleys but the nature of the floral industry
doesn’t really support a more constant flow – or does it? There are
many trends afoot that can help generate more floral volume in the
autumn months and targeting these trends would help drive activity into
this slower time period. It’s all about looking for undeveloped avenues.
Sometimes opportunity comes disguised as a business challenge. Starbucks offered its customers wireless technology resulting in many SOHO (single operator home office) self-employed business people treating the coffee shop as their own working space. They would fire up the laptop and stay for hours. Starbucks found that these people were driving business into daytime hours that were usually very slow. In an industry that’s geared to “turning tables” the very thing they were trained not to allow (loitering) is the very thing that became an opportunity. Where are your hidden opportunities for the fall season? We know that September, October and November are still busy months for weddings. According to Hallmark.com, almost 28 per cent of weddings take place in September, October and November. Are you continuing to advertise your wedding services during the fall? Your ads will probably stick out because nobody else is talking about wedding flowers at this time of year. You’ll also get noticed by those newly engaged couples who are planning weddings for next year. Fall is a busy time for graduation ceremonies and loved ones often choose to send flowers to the graduate to say congratulations. Create some floral arrangements using the school colours of the institutions in your area as a nod to the graduate’s alma mater. Autumn’s events tend to be all about family, hearth and home.
According to IPSOS-Insight Floral Trends Consumer Tracking Study, 2005, Thanksgiving accounts for six per cent of all floral transactions and five per cent of dollar sales. Most Thanksgiving flowers are used as a centrepiece for the dinner table. Jackie Marr, executive manager of Canada Flowers sees “fragmented families” as a venue for the floral industry. “With so many families living apart from one another, we see people sending flowers at Thanksgiving when they can’t be there in person. The flowers attend the celebration in their place.” This same study reports that more flowers are purchased for home decoration (13 per cent) than for birthdays (five per cent) or anniversaries (three per cent). With fall being a very busy month in the home décor sector as people prepare for the holidays, why not partner with a local home décor centre and hold some seminars on colour trends? You could also display some arrangements at these centres to help to show off their floor models. A small card saying “arrangement courtesy of…” would be an excellent means of promotion. There are so many a wonderful exotic options for fall floral arrangements says Marr. “Golden sunflowers with bright orange Tiger Lilies look wonderful accented with red roses or carnations for an impactful fall arrangement.”
Marr also sees a growing opportunity with a surprising sector – the baby boomer children otherwise known as Echo Boomers. According to Marr, the echo boomers, now in their 20s, are sending flowers “just because.” They’ve often got the disposable income and they place a value on sentiment. It’s a trend that’s validated by a recent Visa research study. In its survey, “How America Spends,” Visa discovered that 88 per cent of Echo Boomers like to buy things for others more often than buying things just for themselves. The survey also reports that if they had extra money to spend, 63 per cent of Echo Boomers would most likely spend that money on something for others. Echo Boomers may offer a fertile opportunity for growth but the floral industry isn’t limited to just that area.
Fall is the perfect time to also create some signature arrangements using local berries, flowers and grasses. Eating locally grown food is one of the strongest consumer trends right now and it’s spilling over into other industries. Promote an arrangement using locally sourced materials and try naming it after a beloved local landmark or famous local personality. If you advertise this arrangement as being “100 per cent locally grown” you’re sure to click with an emerging trend.
Much of what we do as retailers is dictated by what our industry has traditionally done. Our opportunity for growth will depend on our ability to find the gaps in the market that are wide open for the taking and to address them with floral solutions. The autumn months give us the gift of time and a blank canvas on which to chart our own path. With its lack of “preordained floral occasions,” this time of year is perfect for looking beyond the obvious for the unmet consumer needs.
|
