Floral
Floral 2024 - Valentine's Day
A Strong Performance for the Floral Industry
66% of retailers indicated that Valentine’s Day exceeded or met expectations.
Retailers had mixed reactions about Valentine’s Day 2024 but agree the overall performance was solid. One third of retailers surveyed by IFPA indicated Valentine’s Day 2023 exceeded sales expectations. And, 33% of retailers indicated sales were below expectations. Some retailers expected greater sales with the holiday falling on a Wednesday. ixty-seven percent of retailers expressed that traffic was up in their stores. This may have to do with Valentine’s Day falling in line with the Super Bowl.
92% of retailers reported that traffic in the store was up or the same for Valentine’s Day 2023
Retailers were impressed with the quality of floral products this Valentine’s Day and did not seem to have many challenges. Some retailers are still citing labor as a lingering issue in the stores.
Roses and arrangements continue to do well during Valentine’s Day sales.
According to Forbes U.S. consumers were expected to spend $25.8 billion on Valentine’s Day this year, according to a survey released by the National Retail Federation. Overall, 53% of consumers were expected to celebrate and indulge on this holiday, with individuals aged 25-34 being more involved than any other age group.
Aligning Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl appears to increase traffic in supermarkets.
Did you meet your expectations for V-Day sales?
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exceeded expectations | 76% | 50% | 33% |
| Met expectations | 18% | 39% | 33% |
| Were below expectations | 6% | 11% | 33% |
Which categories did well/did not perform as expected the week of Valentine’s Day?
| % did well 2022 |
% did well 2023 |
% did well 2024 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Roses | 59% | 53% | 58% |
| Bouquets | 24% | 12% | 8% |
| Arrangements | 12% | 24% | 25% |
| Consumer Bunches | - | 12% | 8% |
| Potted Blooming Plants | - | 0% | 0% |
| Potted Foliage Plants | - | 0% | 0% |
| % did not perform well 2022 |
% did not perform well 2023 |
% did not perform well 2024 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Roses | - | 6% | 9% |
| Bouquets | 12% | 6% | 0% |
| Arrangements | - | 0% | 18% |
| Consumer Bunches | 41% | 6% | 0% |
| Potted Blooming Plants | - | 47% | 45% |
| Potted Foliage Plants | - | 35% | 27% |
How was traffic in the store compared to last year?
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up | 82% | 67% | 67% |
| The same | 12% | 28% | 25% |
| Down | 6% | 5% | 8% |
Were any of the following challenges for Valentine’s Day?
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | 53% | 47% | 40 |
| Cost of product | 35% | 0% | 10% |
| Getting product | 25% | 7% | 0% |
| Weather | 24% | 20% | 20% |
| Promotional space in the store since due to Superbowl |
6% | 20% | 20% |
| Supply Chain Delays | 6% | 7% | 10% |
Do you have any general comments about the V-Day this year compared to past ones? (open ended)
Cost of the product (2)
Labor getting potted plant product on the sales floor (2)
Weather was not favorable on 2/13 (2)
Other:
- Navigating when to bring product in. We loaded in over the weekend and needed to ensure high quality all the way through to the holiday on Wednesday.
- The challenging economy were the largest impacts to our sales growth.
- Volume movement
General comments about the V-Day this year compared to past ones?
- Quality of product was very good across all categories.
- Outstanding quality on roses and fresh cuts from South America. (2)
- Overall a successful Valentine's Day.
- Started strong before the Superbowl with very strong sales
- The holiday did well overall. Expected a larger increase this year due to holiday being on a Wednesday.
- Solid performance, and better than other businesses (bakery) for the holiday, but economy and massive reduction in SNAP benefits were a large headwind this year.
- Very minimal supply chain issues.
- Slower than normal start to Valentine's Day due to Ash Wednesday. Increase in evening sales.
- Staffing stores
- Customers bought more dozen rose bouquets this year, and less dozen rose vases.
- We were in a great position to break all records but were curtailed by one day of poor weather during critical selling.
- YoY cut and potted were up. But portfolio changed and that pushed up sales, but not units. $34.99 mixed bouquets sold well. Roses were down. We cut back on Super Bowl large displays, kept it simple and that helped for bigger Floral displays. The extra day Wednesday helped with merchandising early. Seemed more last minute (shopped more on 2/14) than LY.