More than 60 percent of retail florists said their Valentine's Day sales increased compared to last year — and just under half (47 percent) said sales were slightly or much better than their expectations. That's according to SAF's post-Valentine's Day online sales survey. Slightly more than 20 percent said sales decreased, while 17 percent reported sales about the same as a year ago.

Some additional findings from the survey:

How Florists' Valentine's Day Sales Comapred To Their Expectations

Average increases, decreases. For shops reporting an increase, sales were up an average of 15 percent; for those reporting a decline, the average was 17 percent.  Last year, fewer florists (45 percent) reported increases and more (35 percent) reported decreases. More than 40 percent of shops stopped taking orders or turned away business on Valentine's Day.

Transaction amount, gender purchases. The average transaction amount was $64.18, about $1 less than last year's average. Three-quarters of the orders came from men.

Positive factors. The four most cited factors that influenced the increases were:
* Weather
* Day of the week
* Increased shop reputation
* Walk-in sales

Negative factors. Decreases were most attributed to:
* Regional economy
* Competition from mass marketers
* Competition from online floral vendors
* Fuel and energy costs
* Fewer wire-in orders
* Competition from order gatherers

Rose sales. Close to 70 percent of orders were for roses (69.1 percent), which is about 10 percentage points more than last year. More florists reported their proportion of rose orders was higher than it was last year.  Of those rose orders, 69 percent were for red roses and 17 percent  were for non-red mono-colored roses. Both figures were the same as in 2007. Just under 10 percent were for a mixture of colored roses.

Mixed flowers. Almost one out of three businesses reported an increase in sales of mixed flower arrangements over 2007. Those orders made up about 29 percent of sales, on average. Arrangements of non-rose single flower types were 9 percent of orders.

Rose prices. Prices for roses averaged $76.34 for a dozen arranged long-stemmed roses and $61.89 for unarranged.

Day of the week. Just over half of all orders came in the day before or day of Valentine's Day.  Three-quarters were delivered on Thursday, Valentine's Day. Sixty-three percent of florists did not offer discounts or incentives to customers who ordered early, and florists were evenly split on whether they limited or streamlined what products customers could order on Valentine's Day.

Featured specials. The most promoted items for the holiday were, in order:
* Store-designed arrangements
* Plush and Teddy Bears
* Balloons
* Wire service arrangements

Non-floral items. The most popular non-floral gifts were chocolate or candy, balloons and plush.

Additional coverage of Valentine's Day sales can be found in the April issue of Floral Management and on www.safnow.org.

--Ira Silvergleit
isilvergleit@safnow.org

 

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