2020 has been a roller coaster year, but when looking back it has been a fun one and figures confirm it. By the third quarter of 2020, the floral industry not only rebounded, but supermarkets started to see it surpassing sales when comparing to previous year. It shows that US consumers are now purchasing more flowers and floral products for every day and are not just focusing on holidays that much anymore, like they used to. So, what was the most surprising about floral sales in 2020? Will consumers continue this type of buying behavior? What are the new trends and challenges in 2021 and what are the expectations for 2022?
In last Wednesdays (May 26) Produce Marketing Association’s virtual Floral Roundtable, four panelists discuss today's challenges and opportunities facing today's floral departments. Panelists who participated were Jerry Callahan (GVP Produce/Floral) and Debora Steier (VP of Floral) with Albertsons Companies and Martha Hilton (VP Produce and Floral) and Steve O'Malley (Produce & Floral Group Manager) with Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. The moderator was PMA's Director of Floral, Becky Roberts.
The panelists: Cockwise: Jerry Callahan, Debora Steier, Martha Hilton and Steve O'Malley.
Increase in sales
Before sharing the experiences of the retailers, below some statistics first. According to the IRI Supermarket Floral Sales Data, sales have increased over the last year. After a big dip in March and April, they started to rebound and increase. When comparing March 2020 to March 2021, they report a 39% increase in sales. More importantly, when comparing March 2021 with March 2021 we still see an increase of 26% in sales.
When looking at the products per category, figures clearly show that all categories (rose, bouquet, outdoor plants, arrangements, bulb) except consumer bunches experienced dollar sales growth. Also the prices increased in the all categories except potted plants and bulbs. All in all, bouquets and roses were certainly the two categories that outperform the other ones as they saw an increase in sales in dollars in unit sales and a somewhat increase in prices.
Will consumers continue this type of behavior?
This is the big driving question that we are hearing today. So, in order to help answer some of those questions, PMA, together with the Retail Feedback Group, conducted a research. They surveyed consumers and try to get some input from them on where they are regarding purchasing flowers. It reveals that 94% of the consumers who responded to the survey said they had purchased flowers. Of those, 72% purchased floral products at least once for themselves and 44% of these purchases took place in a supermarket. Additionally, 85% of the consumers who purchased floral products for themselves spent more than 10 USD in 2020. All in all, these figures indicate that their buying behavior shifted from holiday buying to every day buying. These are just some highlights of the research. Eager in hearing more? PMA will hold another event on June 17, sharing more information.
Panelist: Demand is high, but there are still challenges end things to work on
So, what about the experiences from the retailers? All in all, they are very pleased with last year's and this year's sales so far. They all agree that it has been a roller coaster year and it surprised them how much the consumers bought and how much they are still buying. It's all hands on deck to get the products in the stores. Before it used to be the supplier calling them, and now it is the supermarket is that is reaching out to them, saying "whatever you have, we'll take it". And consumer does not seem to be as particular as they tough, regarding variety and specific colors, "they just want flowers".
Also the price point is what surprised the panelist the most as they did not expect the consumers to go for the higher range items. But they did and are still doing.
Another change they noticed is the change in days of the week that they shop; it shifted from heavily driven weekend sales to heavily driven weekday sales. Also more and more has gone online, a trend many supermarkets feared from as floral purchases are impulse purchases. However, the shift to e-commerce did not seem to stop the consumers from buying flowers and they still want to go to the stores.
The panelists love to see that flowers are becoming part of the lives of the US consumer and they will do their utmost best to keep giving them a good experience with their product. And with freight - all aspects of freight - still being an issue it is sometimes a challenging task. Here again, communication and flexibility is key. During the midst of the pandemic, but also afterwards, it became very clear that having an open dialogue with their suppliers and be flexible enabled to get the products in their store.
Another challenge they are encountering are the increase in labor costs and the changes in their customer shopping habits.
Expectations for 2022
The panelists expect the consumers to continue buying flowers as it has become part of their lives now. The only thing that they expect to may change is the mix of flowers they are demanding for. When larger gatherings will take place again, the demand for different types of flowers will arise, the expect.
Next Town Hall.
The topic of next week's (June 2) PMA Virtual Town Hall is: Creating a Culture to Retain Your Young Professionals, June 2, 2021. Click here to register.
For more information: 
Produce Marketing Association (PMA)
www.pma.com