Part 2: The Floral Industry
In Part 1 of this blog series we shared some of the philosophies that have shaped us as a florist here in Bournemouth. In this instalment we’ll be discussing some of the wider challenges facing florists in the UK in 2023 and what we’re doing to combat them. As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts so please do drop us an email or jump in to our DMs to add your voice to the convo!
Before we get into it, there is so much to be positive about within the flower industry in the UK right now. The sector has withheld a pandemic, a near-recession and a cost-of-living crisis; a new wave of floral designers and retail stores have brought a fresh buzz to the industry; florists are increasingly buying-in to adopting sustainable methods; new subscription services have made their way into the mainstream; contemporary floral designers are compelling new creatives into the industry via affordable training courses; and the UK’s (lockdown-prompted) return to ‘supporting local’ has tempted customers to put down the floppy supermarket bouquets and pop into their local florist on their way home. Big wins!
So this isn’t a doom and gloom post. Rather, we’d like to let you in on some of the conversations florists in the UK are having right now, and tell you about some of the challenges facing our beloved industry.
Rising costs.
Is there an industry that hasn’t seen costs sky-rocket in the last couple of years? The floral industry has seen average stem-prices hit an increase of roughly 30%. You can add this on to the list along with higher import/delivery costs post-brexit, rising inflation; the energy cost crisis; fuel costs fluctuating and several other factors colliding to make cut stems more expensive than ever. It’s a story repeated across sectors, and isn’t really showing signs of slowing - so for businesses like ours it’s a case of adapt or die. So adapt we have!
We’re very aware that amidst the cost-of-living crisis people are more cautious about where their money is going, and what they’re actually getting for their money. We’ve naturally had to increase our bouquet prices over the last two years (by around 12.5%), however we have worked hard to make our customers very aware that they’re still getting amazing value for money. We use high-quality stems, we get a number of fresh deliveries across our two stores each week (ensuring maximum longevity), we meticulously plan and design our bouquets (more on that here), and we are flower-focused in our arrangements (not just padding our bouquets with lots of cheap foliage). When the alternative is budget supermarket flowers that only last a few days, or carbon-copy arrangements from Interflora sites, we’re finding that our regulars are more than happy to pay a small amount more for beautiful, quality bouquets that last well!
There are a number of other strategies we’ve adopted behind the scenes to try and combat the rising costs in the floral world, and keep our costs as low as possible. They have enabled us to keep our own price-increases super low, whilst keeping all 10 of our staff employed and our suppliers paid. The reality is though, that high quality, well-designed bouquets will cost a little extra. But boy is it worth it!
A slow move towards sustainability.
It’s been the buzz-word of the decade, but the floral industry has been in desperate need of an overhaul in the sustainability department for a long time. From the move to eliminate floral foam and plastic wraps, to a greater push towards environmentally-friendly farming, the industry is making positive inroads towards a sustainable future - but we’ve still got a long way to go! At Little Perth we’re making small steps to ensure we are as sustainable as possible at every step of our offerings. This determines how we choose our suppliers, and seek to source locally-grown British flowers whenever possible. It drives us to aim for zero-stem waste each week. It directs the materials we use (and don’t use) - such as wire rather than foam for installations or bowl-arrangements, and paper wraps over plastic. Consumers are more concerned than ever that the products they’re buying have been sourced as sustainably as possible, so this is an area we try to be super transparent about. And super careful not to exaggerate our efforts for marketing purposes! We’d love to source only British flowers, but right now the availability, variety and consistent year-round quality just isn’t available (more on this in Part Three). We’d love to have peonies available in December for you, but they’re simply not in season.
For now it’s all about small steps with big intentions.
Challenging consumer expectations.
When we opened Little Perth in early 2021 we decided to do things a little differently in response to where we saw the floral world, and consumer expectations, heading. The more floral designers we’ve gotten to know over the last few years, the more we’ve found ourselves having the same conversations about getting the balance between satisfying customers, operating more sustainably, and maintaining required profit margins. We decided early on that we would just offer one floral design per week - our Florist’s Choice - in three sizes. We don’t offer ‘design-your-own’ bunches, rarely work to budgets set by customers (fellas, stop asking for big bouquets for £15!), and once our bouquets have sold out that’s it until the next delivery! We observed that in the UK, consumer expectations with regards to retail bouquets hadn’t evolved much for decades. There’s still the expectation that you can wander into a traditional florist, with walls laden with stems of every shade imaginable, and have your every wish met within your budget. Where change has occurred it is towards low-quality, short-life bunches from supermarkets who are able to sell at a fraction of the price of florists. Or, increasingly towards Interflora websites where you can pick a bland bouquet from a stock image and have it delivered the very same day. As we’ve written about before, we found ourselves completely uninspired by the way retail floral experiences were heading!
So how are we seeking to counter and re-shape consumer expectations at Little Perth?
By simplifying our menu. Less choice means less deliberating, less awkwardness, less waste, and encourages customers to choose stems and combinations they may not have ordinarily opted for.
By prioritising high quality. We’re unapologetic about the fact we select the best possible stems from suppliers we trust - they’ll be a fraction more expensive than your supermarket bunch, but will last considerably longer!
By charging realistic prices. Our pricing structure reflects the quality of our flowers, the skill of our designers, and the growing cost of stems globally.
By communicating well. We chat through our floral philosophy with everyone who comes to us for flowers, in an approachable and helpful way, and try to do the same via our marketing channels too. Educating (without patronising!) is a huge part of shifting people’s expectations.
Over to you…
As a lover of flowers, how can you play a part in engaging with the challenges facing British florists right now? We are blessed with so many amazing customers who have got on board with how we do things here at Little Perth, so if you come to us for your flowers and gifts - thank you! Here are a few things everyone can consider next time you’re heading out to get flowers for an occasion, or planning florals for a big event like a wedding…
Buy local. Tesco flowers have appealing price-points, but poor longevity and zero artistry. Keep supporting your local designer who is striving to source from trusted farms and will pour their heart and soul into every arrangement!
Trust your florist. Remember the analogy in Part One about the chef? Trust your florist to arrange something beautiful for you based on all their years of training, their stem knowledge, their design-eye and their understanding of seasonality.
Pre-order whenever possible. It takes the guess-work out of the ordering process for florists, and makes the big occasions like Valentine’s and Mother’s Day that fraction less stressful!
Expect to pay for quality. As with all things, you get what you pay for, and gorgeous long-lasting, expertly-arranged flowers are a luxury worth paying a little extra for!
Beware of greenwashing with those big online sellers. More on that over here. Personally, we never want to mislead or misguide our customers, so we are very transparent about where our flowers come from and the steps we are taking to be more sustainable.
Consider the seasons. We’ll dedicate a whole blog to this one another time, but just like you don’t expect a Gingerbread Latte in July, don’t expect vibrant, citrusy Summer palettes in December or peonies in your Autumn bridal bouquet. Talk to your florist!
Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for Part Three where we’ll dive into some of your most commonly asked questions about all things florals…