Super Market or Super Mark Up?
We just got our copy of the Flower & Plants Association’s annual report through. The F&PA is the UK’s industry body, tasked with supporting and promoting the UK flower and indoor plants industry. There are a couple of interesting statistics in there:
- £2.2bn of flowers and £509m of plants were sold in 2006; and
- That means an average total spend of £30 on flowers and £9 on indoor plants, per UK head
Interestingly, the average spend per head is much higher in European countries such as Germany, France and Italy. These stats show that the UK’s flower industry is sizeable, but with room for the average unromantic Brit to spend a bit more on his/her loved ones!
Then I unearthed one statistic that really depressed me!
65% of flowers are bought through the “multiples”. This means the supermarkets. 65%! That’s incredible. Supermarkets offer great service in certain areas, but one thing that they don’t do well is flowers. Whenever I go into my local supermarket I get depressed looking at their flowers and thinking that people actually buy these products.
Supermarket bouquets are so uninspiring…and small! Our red roses are up to 90cm tall, whereas what you get from a supermarket is a puny by comparison. Lily bouquets from supermarkets have only a handful of stems in them and must look a little lonely when put in a vase, whereas our’s are bursting with gorgeous, fresh lilies. Plus no supermarket seems to offer FFP-accredited flowers like we do, which means the ethical consumer isn’t properly serviced. Here are some of the more funky things our florists have produced recently. I’m pretty sure you won’t find anything that’s even slightly similar at your local Tesco, M&S or Sainsbury’s!
I feel sorry for the recipients of supermarket flowers, and how they must have to grin and smile and say “Ooo wow! Aren’t they beautiful?!”, when they clearly are not. Given these official figures, there must be a lot of unimpressed flower recipients out there. Perhaps we should form a support group for them, to help them cope with the disappointment!
One of the reasons we set up Arena was to provide the UK flower lover with an alternative to the current UK flower buying options (supermarket or small local florist with limited range and high prices). Seeing these stats, I’m glad that we did, as a company offering what Arena does is clearly needed in the UK market. We provide a 3rd option for UK consumers, where:
- the flowers are unbelievably fresh,
- they’re great value; and
- they also provide the WOW factor that everyone wants when sending flowers.
- Plus our flexibility means we can source ethical products, so that customers have a clear conscience too.
I may sound passionate about this, but that’s because I am! I’m depressed that so many people buy flowers from supermarkets, instead of a far superior service, such as our own. So, please, don’t use the supermarkets - use Arena Flowers. Tell your friends!
Filed under: Floristry, Flowers on June 9th, 2007
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