Busy with Valentine's Day? Norway has Mother's Day first!

Some think Valentine's Day (February 14) and Women's Day (March 8) succeed each other quickly, but have you ever thought of the Norwegians? They have just a few days - and sometimes even no days - between their Mother's Day, which is celebrated on the second Sunday in February, and Valentine's Day. It increases the workload of the flower importers but does not always result in double sales. Sometimes it even affects the consumption of flowers, but this year, the sales are expected to be higher than last year. This is explained by Norwegian flower importer Erlend van Deurs Lindberg of Svein Nesse.

Erlend van Deurs Lindberg. Picture taken this morning in Svein Nesse's cold storage.

High flower consumption
Norway is one of the highest flower consuming countries in Europe; it has the highest per capita total consumption of flowers and like many other countries, the demand for roses increases for special holidays like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father’s Day and national holidays. Annually, Svein Nesse imports 20 million Kenyan roses and 15 percent of this volume is especially used for these kinds of holidays.

Mother's Day and Valentine's Day
Even though Norway has the same holidays as many other countries, these are celebrated on different dates, which sometimes affects the consumption of flowers. Mother's Day and Valentine's Day for example succeed each other quickly. "For ages, we'd celebrated Mother's Day on the second Sunday in February, but about 20 years ago, Valentine's Day was introduced and this happens to be celebrated on February 14. So we often have just a couple of days between these holidays and last year, both even fell on the same day. This is a pity as it will not double our sales", says Lindberg.

As both holidays are so close, Lindberg also has to take into account what colors to put on the market. "For Mother's Day, bouquets in all kind of colors are in high demand. So, in order to have enough flowers for Valentine's Day, only 10 percent of these color mixes consist of red roses."

For Svein Nesse, Mother's Day is still a more important holiday than Valentine's Day. "We sell twice - or even more - as much flowers for Mother's Day than for Valentine's Day. However, the same might not apply to florists who can have a higher turnover making special romantic flower arrangements and selling single packed red roses during Valentine's Day."

Good sales expected
This year, there are two days between Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, which resulted in slightly higher sales for Svein Nesse. "We have had a bit better season, but I expect the flower shops, florists and retailers to have even better sales. The temperatures have been higher than usual and we did not have any heavy snowfall in southern part of Norway this year. However, it seems that the winter is coming with cold weather and snow the following days, so we hope that the consumers anyway can find their way to the shops. At least they have two chances this year."

For more information
Svein Nesse
Erlend van Deurs Lindberg
Email: erlend@nesseblomst.no