Seventy percent of floral industry members responding to a Society of American Florists survey reported an increase in Mother’s Day sales — with many saying they could have sold even more flowers if they’d been able to source additional product or bring in more staff. “I don’t know if I could have planned for this year,” wrote one Arizona retailer. “It hit me like a tsunami.”
“I was anticipating pent up demand for flowers due to quarantine, and we got it,” wrote a retailer in Florida. “This was my best Mother’s Day ever.”
In Washington, “it was a huge week proms, weddings, graduation and funerals that we usually have” this time of year, explained another retailer.
The survey was emailed to SAF members representing all segments on May 15 and had a response rate of 7.0 percent. About 93 percent of the respondents to the survey said they were open for business Mother’s Day week. Nearly 90 percent of the respondents to the survey were from the retail segment.
SAF also partnered last week with Ipsos for a Mother’s Day Consumer Poll. Read more about that effort and review the results. Make plans to join industry leaders on Thursday, May 28, at 2 p.m. EDT for an SAF webinar focused on taking a deeper dive on holiday results, including best practices, advice on interpreting the data and practical tips on how you can use these insights to plan for future success.
‘We Could Have Sold More.’
Ahead of the holiday, about a third of respondents to SAF surveys were predicting increased Mother’s Day sales, but with fewer competitors operating, consumers eager to connect with loved ones and florists uniquely suited to deliver products in contact-free manners, thanks to delivery options and e-commerce capabilities, the returns seem to have been a bright spot in the pandemic. Indeed, roughly 86 percent of florists who experienced an increase this year credited people’s desire to bridge physical distance with flowers as a reason for their sales increase. The primary barriers to more sales: product, labor — and time to plan and adapt.
“The biggest problem we had was getting product,” wrote a retailer in Pennsylvania. “A lot of things weren’t available, and shipments were late.”
A retailer in Missouri agreed, explaining, “We reached capacity by Thursday due to short staff and supply.” The business pivoted at that point to “virtual Mother’s Day bouquets,” with emails delivered to recipients on Sunday and physical flowers the following week.
This year’s survey found that about 60 percent of respondents had suspended incoming orders by Thursday, May 7, with an additional 30 percent suspending orders that Friday. About 32 percent cut off orders completely by Friday, May 8 — another 36 percent did so on Saturday, May 9. By comparison, last year, when about 62 percent of retailers saw holiday sales increase, 35 percent of respondents never suspended incoming orders and 55 percent never cut off orders completely. Nearly 50 percent of retailer respondents said they sourced more product from their wholesaler — and about 30 percent said they sourced more product direct from farms/growers, compared to 2019. In write-in responses, retailers also detailed last-minute hustles to local supermarkets and mass retailers to buy flowers and fill supply gaps and scrambling to work with other floral industry companies if their go-to suppliers couldn’t help them.
Owners Focus on Efficiency
With evolving local and state regulations and restrictions, some businesses had to go from zero to 60 in the days leading up to the holiday. Even business owners with more lead time and those accustomed to clockwork-like holiday set-up and execution had to adjust and find new ways to be nimble: “It was hard to go from 20 percent staff and quiet to instant 120 percent staff and crazy,” wrote a retailer in Arizona.
Overall, the SAF survey found that 62 percent of respondents had at least 75 percent of their pre-COVID-19 staffing levels for the holiday. Staff safety, enhanced sanitation measures and physical distancing were the names of the game throughout the holiday as florists looked to streamline and improve operations.
“We changed some procedures to make us more efficient,” wrote a retailer in Colorado. “For example, we reduced employee overlap in workspaces. We also optimized and reduced items on our website — and we’ll keep many of these new ways of operating intact.”
Sales Move Online
The survey found that on average, retailers received 46 percent of holiday orders via their websites compared to 20 percent last year, and many florists noted just how critical their websites were for the holiday, and how important it was to limit their offerings and direct customers (online and via the phone) toward more flexible options, such as Designer’s Choice arrangements.
“Reducing the items on our website and offering Designer’s Choice sped up production and raised profits,” wrote one florist in the Northeast.
That’s a reality a florist in Illinois said isn’t going away soon, as he shifts his focus from Mother’s Day and into the summer and fall.
“Now that we are through Mother’s Day, we need to work on building up our website with a gift category to help our giftware sales that have been nearly $0,” he explained. “We are not planning to attend the summer gift shows, as we have lost most of the spring selling season and will be holding merchandise until next year. We are wondering when retail businesses will officially re-open and how we can operate safely both for employees and guests and successfully.”
Other highlights from SAF’s Mother’s Day member survey:
Promotions and New Customers
About 27 percent of respondents increased promotional efforts. Those efforts, combined with the circumstances of the holiday, could open new pools of prospects for some florists moving into the summer: About half of respondents said as many as 20 percent of their Mother’s Day customers were new this year. (SAF has not surveyed its members on this question in the past.) Find out more about consumer sentiment, including future flower-buying intentions, in the SAF/Ipsos Consumer Poll.
Average Transaction
About 42 percent of respondents said their average transaction was between $51 and $70; 36 percent said it was $71 to $100. Fifteen percent said it was $101 to $150. Eight percent said it was $21 to $50. The average transaction last year was almost $76, compared to $68 in 2018. (SAF requested the information in ranges this year to allow for more consistent reporting.)
Products Sold
Cut flowers were the most popular floral gift item this Mother’s Day, as they were in 2019, with respondents saying on average that 79 percent of holiday sales came via that segment. Flowering plants made up about 20 percent of fresh product sales on average; green plants made up about 8 percent.
Look for more coverage and ideas on how to manage the new retail landscape in the June issue of Floral Management.
Mary Westbrook is the editor in chief of Floral Management.
Hi that article in very interesting. However, it is difficult to know how many retailers were closed in the area of service the respondents were. if 50% of retailers were closed i can understand that the others that are open would have a significant increase. Although we did see excellent movement for post Covid-19 it was not nearly as strong as last year. Even though we could have sold more flowers if we had them at the end, we would have never been at 70% increase over last year.
I looked at the FTD listings for Miami that week. My perception was that 20% of the FTD shops were closed the whole period. (I am not a Teleflora or Bloomnet member, so I have no way of gauging their level of openness). Even accounting for that 20% closing, I still think it was an industry wide success story–people wanted to celebrate their mothers.
Chaim Casper
Surf Florist, Inc
Miami Beach, FL