Grocery store floral retailers saw an increase in Valentine's Day sales and orders, according to a recent survey released by the Produce Marketing Association (PMA).

More than 25 percent of the survey's 12,000 retail respondents to the Valentine's Day 2008 Floral Market Watch survey experienced sales increases of 10 percent or more over the 2007 holiday, the PMA reports.

Respondents listed a number of factors contributing to the increased sales, including Mother Nature's cooperation, PMA says (snowstorms across several parts of the country hurt sales in 2007). "Though suppliers ranked product availability, time and shortages as their greatest challenges, retailers did not suffer — they reported increased sales, and ranked product shortages as least challenging," says Cindy Hanauer, PMA's vice chairman and director of floral operations for Winn-Dixie, Jacksonville, Fla., in a release.

Other findings in the survey include:
• Thirty-five percent of retailer respondents reported they offered delivery service this year, and 50 percent of those respondents saw an increase in orders.
• Supplier respondents reported a 10-20 percent increase of flowers they sold to Internet companies.
• There was a 10 percent increase in mixed bouquets, bunches and arrangements this year, which PMA attributes to the economy and "some softening in sales and product substitutions."

SAF found similar increases for floral retailers in its online post-Valentine's Day survey, with more than 60 percent of respondents reporting an increase in sales, with weather getting much of the credit. For more information about this year's Valentine's Day sales results, check out "Valentine's Day 2008: Boom and Bust" in the upcoming May issue of Floral Management.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

   

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