This is a pivotal time of year for the flower industry, with Mother’s Day following closely after Valentine’s Day, and suppliers are anxiously holding their breath to find out if the economic squeeze will put the brakes on ornamentals spending.
With Mother’s Day falling later than usual on 3 April, there has been a good break between the two key events. But with pressure mounting on the industry and returns tighter than ever, will consumers still be looking out for premium varieties and can sales give producers a much needed boost?
Sarah Fairhurst, chairman of the British Protected Ornamentals Association (BPOA), believes the overall mood of the industry is upbeat. “There have been a lot of tulips in store and growers are positive looking towards Mother’s Day,” she says. “I wouldn’t go as far as saying that cut flowers are recession proof, but there doesn’t seem to be a reduction in sales.”
The sector is slowly regaining any ground lost over the past couple of years, according to Helen Evans from New Covent Garden Market. “Corporate hospitality, while not back to its pre-recession levels, was coming back slowly [at Christmas 2010]. There are more events, but the budgets are still limited.”
Bunches.co.uk, the online flower seller, says its mood is one of optimism despite the VAT rise and cost increases putting a slight dampener on things. “I do think that if you’re proactive, innovative and understand your customer and their wants then any flower business can come out the other end of the current economic storm a stronger business,” says managing director Danielle Turner.
Not everyone is quite so upbeat however. According to Caroline Marshall Foster from the Flowers & Plants Association (F&PA), the mood is “cautious and nervous”. She explains: “The industry is wary of increased fuel costs, which have a major impact on transport. The flower sector is incredibly determined and while it’s undeniably tough - some major names went bust in the first quarter - they simply get on with it. Officially, we’re estimating a drop in sales of circa 18 per cent year on year, but I suspect in some areas and lines, it will be more like 22 per cent.”
Varietal mix
The mix of flowers being selected by consumers and retailers is also changing, but Mother’s Day remains a traditional occasion. Evans says the emphasis is on spring flowers and pastel colours “and as such is good for British growers. Easter this year is late so there should be a plentiful supply.”
Specialist breeder David Austin Roses expects to quickly sell out of all seven varieties for Mother’s Day. “Last year Juliet was our most popular,” says head of marketing Susan Rushton. “Keira has limited stock, but is a wonderful choice for Mother’s Day. Just a single bloom arranged in a tiny jug with a few pennies worth of filler can be stunning.”
Customers at Waitrose tend to choose seasonal spring flowers for Mother’s Day, although there is a focus on roses and lilies, according to Sue Steptoe, horticulture buying manager.
Trends for Mother’s Day are for light, bright, energising colours with home-made or wild look arrangements, according to Marshall Foster. “The cold weather earlier in the year has pushed the whole season back a bit, so the chances are spring flowers like daffodils and narcissi will still be available, as well as UK-grown tulips, stocks and hydrangeas. In terms of imported flowers, the standards like roses and lilies will always be popular, as well as lisianthus, rununculus and phlox. A new emerging species is Dubium being promoted by Israel, while Holland is promoting Iris.”
Views vary as to whether consumers have cut back on buying flowers because of the recession. “Flowers are a great way to lift the spirits, so we have so far found the economic climate has been kind to us - though my fingers are crossed,” says Rushton. “Perhaps people do want a little affordable luxury to cheer themselves up.”
At Waitrose, Steptoe says flower sales are consistent throughout the year but there is a real focus on value. “For instance, customers are seeking out bunches of cut flowers and bouquets which offer good value, including less expensive lines and more expensive bouquets.”
Marshall Foster’s view is that the flower market is tough, with 67 per cent of sales generated through supermarkets. “When consumers see their essentials bill go up, flowers are one of the first things to fall off the shopping list,” she says. “At independent florists, order values are dropping, so while there’s a certain degree of fireproofing at events like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, the average sales value is affected.”
Although she believes buying British flowers is important for consumers, UK production is shrinking. For example, last December to all intents and purposes saw the end of the chrysanthemum industry in the UK following the decision of Alan and Colin Frampton to sell Donaldsons to a fruit grower. According to Marshall Foster, only about nine per cent of flowers are home grown as they struggle to compete with their overseas counterparts such as South America and Africa where land, heating, lighting and labour costs are lower. “Sadly, consumers are neither willing nor able to pay the cost of buying British across the board, but that applies to everything, not just flowers.”
Another issue for UK growers, according to Evans, is the impact supermarkets have had on flower sales. “Tesco is running a price promotion on daffodils which must be below the cost of production,” she says. “It’s the grower who pays for this. All it does is drive down the price throughout the supply chain and devalues the products in the eyes of the consumer. There is a growing demand for UK products. The way forward is for many producers to specialise in niche products, for which they can command a premium and which bypasses supermarkets either because the volumes are too small or the shelf life is too short - for example, sweet peas.”
So suppliers and retailers will be watching nervously what happens over the coming three weeks, but with Mother’s Day, Easter and the Royal wedding to look forward to, there is real reason to believe that April could well be a memorable sales month for the industry.
FLOWER INDUSTRY FINDS REASONS FOR OPTIMISM
In a poll run by Florist & Wholesale Buyer magazine, nearly half (49 per cent) of florists thought sales of flowers on Valentine’s Day had improved, with 30 per cent saying it was the same and 20 per cent saying it was worse this year. According to the latest figures from Kantar Worldpanel GiftTrak, more than 2.3 million bunches were bought for Valentine’s Day in 2010 - 29 per cent fewer than in 2009.
Caroline Marshall Foster from the Flowers & Plants Association says: “Given last year was a Sunday, we’d expect this year’s Valentine’s Day to have outperformed it. It was pleasing to see it held so high considering the economic climate is far worse. Many florists said they were surprised how many men bought the top end bouquets and when it came to the middle price point (£30 to £40), consumers switched to mixed hand tied bouquets.”
For David Austin, a specialist rose breeder, new raspberry red variety Darcey performed well. “We offered a larger Darcey bouquet for the first time at a retail value of £189.95 to test the market and sold a surprising number of them,” says Rushton. The popularity of roses was reflected at Waitrose where sales of red roses were strong and at Bunches.co.uk, where red roses experienced a 150 per cent sales increase on last year. Red tulips and carnations were also popular.
No comments yet