The heart of the matter
Among the most popular seasonal spikes that we notice at Boughey Distribution’s warehouse and supply centre is the boost in sales for the February celebration of Saint Valentine. It’s another of those festival celebrations, like Halloween and Easter, during which there’s a dramatic upturn in demand for certain goods. For Valentine’s this especially applies to flowers and confectionary.
As anyone who knows what’s good for them is aware, Valentine’s Day is an annual celebration on 14th February. It’s origin is actually in a Christian feast day that honoured saints named Valentinus. Part of the mythology surrounding the day recounts that Saint Valentine was imprisoned and executed for performing weddings in pagan Rome, where Christianity was outlawed. He reputedly healed the daughter of his jailer and left her a note before his death, signed ‘Your Valentine’. English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (of ‘The Canterbury Tales’ fame) and his circle popularised the idea of a day devoted to loving relationships and courtship in the 14th century. Such romantic notions became expressions of love (with declarations of “Be my Valentine”), which have since become vastly commercialised, with the accent on cards, gifts and romantic, expensive dinners out.
Not everyone gets into the romantic spirit however. An opinion poll conducted in January 2017 revealed that 52% of those asked weren’t going to buy their loved ones a present on Valentine’s Day, while 48% weren’t going to buy a card. Don’t panic retailers, however, as an annual average of 25 million cards are still sent on the Valentine’s Day. By far the most prevalent flowers to be sent on Valentine’s Day are red roses, while chocolate and jewellery are also very popular choices.
Warehousing and distribution specialists such as Boughey have to get the balance right in such circumstances – it’s essentially a tightrope walk between supply and demand. Boughey and its stockists must also be aware of current trends, which must be taken into account too. In an average week, Boughey processes around 2,500 orders, to deliver consolidated loads to some of the UK's biggest supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose. It is also a Primary Consolidation Centre for Tesco. Consolidation packages provide dedicated, individual services, no matter how big or small. Our customers can always see where their orders are up to, how stock levels stand and pinpoint specific POD information in real-time. Boughey’s sophisticated ordering and dispatch system is geared up to address sudden increases in demand, using a day one for day two, three, four or five delivery service that is available 364 days of the year. In this way, we know that we’re 100% guaranteed to have the right gifts on the shelves in time for the 14th February, to help make someone’s day special.