Red, pink and purple heart-shaped pots. Plant tags featuring the word 'love'. A heart-shaped Hoya. A Sansevieria with pink velvet tips. Even a bouquet of wooden flowers designed to last indefinitely. Valentine's Day has become increasingly visible in the product range at Plant World in recent years.
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"Valentine's Day has never been a major moment for us," says Wendy Duijvestijn of Plant World. "It is, of course, primarily associated with cut flowers. But we offer an attractive love-themed assortment, and over the past two years we have focused on it more deliberately. That segment is growing and has been well received, particularly by garden centres and exporters in the Netherlands and Belgium."
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Heart-shaped Hoya
A consistent feature in the range is the heart-shaped Hoya kerrii, which returns around both Valentine's Day and Mother's Day. "That Hoya remains the most popular," Wendy says. "But we thought: why not place it in an attractive red heart-shaped pot? We then extended that idea to other plants in pink and purple tones."
Plants are combined with love-themed pots and complemented with heart-shaped plant tags or other decorative elements. In addition, plants can be supplied with printed messages such as 'I love you'. "With these message prints, we can really create a gifting moment. You are not just giving a plant, but also a message."
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Longer in the store
What Plant World notices is that retailers are looking for ways to keep the love theme in the store longer. "With flowers, you see a huge peak around the day itself. In plants, those peaks are less sharp. A houseplant is saleable for longer, and there is less wastage. That makes it interesting to extend the Valentine's moment a bit broader."
The assortment mainly consists of smaller pot sizes, ranging from 5.5 to 12 centimetres. "These are true impulse purchases and easy add-on items," Wendy says. "In addition, margins on houseplants are often more favourable, as you can work with added value."
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New concepts
In addition to the Hoya, other products at Plant World also respond to the romantic theme. One eye-catching example is the Sansevieria Velvet Touchz, featuring pink and red velvet-textured tips. New to the range are Sansevieria Bouquetz, finished with wooden flowers. "That makes for a strong story on the shop floor," Wendy says. "They are wooden flowers, essentially a bouquet that lasts a very long time. It offers something clearly different from a traditional bouquet."
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Pink- and purple-toned plants such as Tradescantia and Callisia are also part of the love-themed assortment. Plant World is already working on the concept for the next season, with a particular focus on retail.
"We really have a well-developed range," Wendy concludes. "Valentine's Day will never be as significant for us as it is for the cut flower trade, but we do see the love theme gaining ground in plants. That is something we are keen to respond to."
For more information:
Plant World
0174-625895
[email protected]
www.plantworld.com
