- New Bloom
The Flower Wizard’s Wand February 2022
Valentines 2022 survey results: The Wizard wanted to know.
From the results of our survey it looks like all sectors had a decent Valentines. The weather cooperated in most places and sales seemed strong. Hopefully our chrystal ball is not cloudy and these trends will continue through 2022 and beyond!
We extend heartfelt wishes to the people of Ukraine!
How was your Valentine's this year compared to 2021?
Retailers
Better 65%
Same 20%
Not as good 15%
Wholesalers
Better 91%
Same 9%
Not as good 0%
Growers
Better 67%
Same 33%
Not as good 0%
Was logistics an issue?
Retailers
Yes 36%
No 64%
Wholesalers
Yes 60%
No 40%
Growers
Yes 50%
No 50%
What was your biggest challenge this year for Valentine's Day? (lots of different answers). The most common were:
Lost boxes and late arrivals from trucks.
Monday sales. It was a 1-day holiday.
The Super Bowl.
Product shortages. The orders that were canceled or shorted.
Driver shortages at wholesale and retail level.
Not enough designers.
Shipping delays.
Cold storage for pre-made product.
Obtaining product from vendors. Glassware was out of stock and fresh product vendors could not promise product. Everything was last minute, and several vendors did not show up with ordered product leaving us scrambling for help from other vendors.
Cost of freight, Freight was sky-high.
Deciding what to order because I didn't receive many orders early. Didn't have 1 single order for dozen red until the day of.
Cargo sitting in Quito for 7/8 days before flying was stressful (but finally not an issue). Impact of snow + Covid in production period
Handling walk-in surge on Monday the 14th.
Quality of product and staffing.
Staffing due to COVID issue.
Finding labor.
Weather.
Airline space.
Short-staffed, flowers arrived late.
Quality Roses
Mediocre quality flowers
Fighting the media. The big story of a flower shortage with higher prices had guys scared to buy.
Logistics and freight costs
What was your go-to resource for industry news during Valentine’s Day?
Flowers and Cents.
Facebook floral groups.
Just discussing things with our supplier.
Networking.
SAF newsletters.
Sales reps.
Above All Flowers.
Mayesh.
Floral Daily.
Flower Wholesaler.
Thursd
Instagram and email news.
What channel did you use to purchase most of your product?
Retailers
Local Wholesalers 66%
Miami Importers 10%
Direct from farms (domestic and International 21%
Dutch Importers 3%
Wholesalers
Direct from farms (domestic and International) 69%
Miami importers 31%
Growers
100% from their own or nearby farms
What was the most difficult product for you to purchase this year?
The number one answer was Red Roses.
Color roses.
Spray roses.
Gyp.
Hydrangeas.
Oriental Lilies.
Moon series carnations.
Heather.
Peonies.
Other: California items (genista, bupleurum, larkspur)
Some comments
Nothing was an issue if you were willing to pay the price
Glass was an issue, but we did source everything we needed and ordered much more to have for the future.
Did not have any difficulties.
How much of your product needs did you pre-book in advance this year?
Retailers
0----7%
More than 20% -- 15%
More than 50%---17%
More than 75%---61%
Wholesalers
0---0
More than 20%---25%
More than 50%---42%
More than 75%---33%
Growers
0---17%
More than 20%---33%
More than 50%---0
More than 75%---50%
Conclusions from our Survey
All sectors had a better holiday than last year.
The majority of wholesalers had a better holiday (91%).
Logistics remained an issue to growers and wholesalers but to a lesser degree for retailers.
Even though logistics were an issue most companies overcame it and survived the high costs and less than stellar service.
Covid was less of an issue in the States and Canada as numbers started coming down just in time.
Labor shortages still had a major impact on all sectors.
Good to see people follow industry news sources like our newsletter(lol), Flowers and Cents, SAF newsletters, Facebook industry pages, etc.
Approximately two-thirds of Retailers buy most of their product from local wholesalers
Approximately 70% of wholesalers buy their flowers direct from farms
Conclusion:
The most interesting conclusion we will leave you with is that in our survey 78% of the retailers prebooked over 50% of their needs while 75% of wholesalers prebooked over 50% or their needs. With that close of a percentage, it kept the market strong as there was enough product available in the open market to supply the gap, but not enough to cause the market to crash!
