Time to turn the tide in flower sales

IFPA invites the floral industry to begin thinking about macro, consumer, and category trends that are supporting our shoppers’ needs to help increase unit sales of floral products in supermarkets.

Over the course of 2022, the supermarket floral department continued to grow in dollar sales while declining in unit sales.?At the end of 2022, the supermarket floral department was worth $7.5Bn, a gain of 260.2M over 2021.?In units, the supermarket floral department was worth 819.0M, a decline of 65.9M over 2021 according to IRI.??

Supermarket floral departments grew dollar sales during 2022 by increasing base and incremental sales with increased prices, promotional dollars, dollar trade efficiency, and promotional weeks.?Dollar growth was experienced by most of the floral categories except plants, seed, and holiday products.

The floral department was successful in raising prices in all categories except seed. ?Rose outshined other categories with a dollar growth of $149.1M, followed by arrangements (+$83.9M), bouquet (+$83.4M) and consumer bunch ($40.6).

As supermarkets work to keep the market share and volume they captured during the pandemic, some supermarkets are expanding their delivery services of floral through third parties such as Door Dash while increasing floral products available through e-commerce, while others are leaning into floral products that make a home décor statement, and others are simply reminding consumers of the joy flowers create.?Regardless of the consumer trends supermarkets are trying to leverage, they are all trying to develop the right product assortment and pricing strategy for their shoppers.?

To help the floral industry take advantage of consumer tailwinds, IFPA worked with Kantar to highlight 6 potential growth areas:

·????????Blossoming Everywhere – tapping into new channels and partnerships

·????????Flower Power – using flowers to combat anxiety and boost mood

·????????Experience Ambassadors – reimagining the role of floral employees

·????????Augmented Arrangements – leveraging digital tools with consumers

·????????Flowers for All – Reaching out to a more diverse set of shoppers

·????????Sustainable stems - providing evidence of the industry's sustainability

Check out freshproduce.com as we dig deeper into ways to increase the unit sales of flowers at supermarkets and you to will have a reason to believe that we can turn the tide and increase the sale of floral units at supermarkets.

“We should take inspiration from the beauty industry as it has successfully created a sense of community among consumers and brands. By finding new ways to create emotional connections, engaging consumers through new channels and formats, and shifting the focus to accessibility, brands can reach a boarder range of consumers.”

–Roseanna Roberts

Creative Strategist and Trend Forecasting Consultant, Roseanna Roberts Consulting