The Product Board inquired with 175 customers and came to a number of interesting conclusions. For one, buyers nearly always stick to their original plan regarding the product they are looking for and the amount they wish to spend on it. Seducing these people into spending more than they originally wanted to is difficult, but can nonetheless be achieved by improving the shop layout and the presentation of the products.

Offering more flower-related entertainment in the stores would be another potential point of improvement, according to the research. But perhaps the most meaningful change would simply be a greater understanding of the various types of customer that exist, on the part of all the personnel. Three main types can namely be identified, which we might describe as ’the flower arranger’, ‘the flower sniffer’ and ‘the swift flowerist’.

It is the ‘arranger’ that already knows quite a bit about flowers, so is fairly confident in dealing with them. He is also the most open to learn more about them. The ‘sniffer’ is the most common type of customer; they enjoy flowers a lot, but are more conventional in their choices. This is because they simply tend to lack the expertise and creativity to choose something truly special and unusual. The ‘swifters’, lastly, tend to give themselves little time during their visits to the flower boutique: they are the ‘rush-rush’ buyers.

Training staff to recognize these various shoppers, and the different approaches required to optimize their purchasing behavior, would be the best possible strategy for florists to adopt, the Product Board suggests.

The whole report (in Dutch) can be downloaded at: www.tuinbouw.nl/showdownload.php.

The international congress will be titled “Mass retailing and the possibilities for the flower industry”, and span one day. Topics to be discussed include the developments regarding flower sales to and by supermarkets, as well as the potential problems solved by supplying flowers to supermarkets. Both the more conceptual needs as well as the pragmatic issues, regarding the logistics of delivery for example,  will be addressed.

The intention of the organizers is to gather all the key decision makers in the flower industry for a thorough discussion, including plenty of room for questions. Notable authorities from AC Nielsen, Fresh Retail and Flora Holland as well as Sierex, Schuitema, and Deen Supermarkets have been invited to speak. The key question to be addressed by the various speakers may be summed up as: ‘what are the opportunities and threats in the changing distribution patterns?’

Some time has been reserved within the schedule in order for attendees to visit the IFTF tradeshow as well. For more information as well as registration, you can visit the event website at http://www.mass-retail-flower.com/

The flower, which was believed to be extinct since 1962 already, was spotted by the couple while they were walking around Land’s End, near Cornwall. Laurie Oakes, who initially noticed the flower, explains: "We were mystified at first, but we knew we had found something unusual. Luckily we went back and were able to look it up and see that it would be worth telling the experts about".

They subsequently took a few pictures of the flowers, and sent those to the specialists at the Botanical Society for the British Isles. Unsurprisingly, the botanists were stunned to receive photos of a plant they deemed no longer existing, and quickly arranged an expedition to the site. Getting to the actual flower, which grew on the side of a steep cliff, proved to be no simple task for the expert either. "When he came to see it, he had to use guy ropes to lower himself onto the cliff location, so it was quite exciting", Laurie relates. 

The perennial centaury is usually found in the Azores and along the coast of western Europe, particularly in Portugal, Spain and north-west France. Within Britain, it is found only  along a small part of the Welsh coastline, or so it was believed. It is possible that the recent cold winters, coupled with a dry spring, have allowed the plant to come out of ‘hiding’, the experts theorized.  

Jane Ngige, CEO of the Kenya Flower Council, points out that the proportion of the country’s exports getting to the market directly in this manner has already risen to between 40 and 50 percent. “Branding is taking place at farms in every small way and most of our flowers are now getting to the final consumer in clearly marked bouquets as opposed to bunches sealed in boxes,” she continued.

The primary reason why the Kenyans have intensified the search for alternative ways of getting their flowers to the customer, has to do with significantly shrinking demand. Compounding the problem is the fact that the competition from other countries – significantly, Ethiopia - has been increasing

It was the Dutch who introduced floriculture in Kenya in the beginning of the 1980’s. Virtually all the country’s flower exports therefore initially found their way to the market through the auctions in Amsterdam. Over the years, growers have increasingly become worried that lumping their products together with all the other produce at the Dutch auctions may have been costing them market share. The unique character of the Kenyan flowers, which sets them apart from those originating in other regions, has been completely eclipsed in the process. The new drive to step up flower branding seeks to leverage these unique qualities.

Traditionally, the high cost and complex logistics involved in directly marketing the flowers posed a problem for the relatively small-scale growers in Kenya. It was those issues that made selling through the Dutch auctions attractive. Many larger sales venues also prefer to obtain their flowers from the auctions rather than directly, as it allows them to buy in bulk.

Statistically, The Netherlands is by far the biggest player on the global flower market, accounting for 54 percent of all supply. Colombia comes in second, with 16 percent, followed by Ecuador and Kenya, both with 6 percent.

It would take a whopping 30 cars to transport all the flowers, which needed to be flown in by airplane from the other side of China, to the location of the wedding service. Faced with that prospect, the groom advertised on the internet for car owners and potential volunteer workers to help him stick the flowers to the vehicles. Apparently, with much success.

Speaking on his motivations for undertaking the somewhat grandiose project, Xiao Wang stated: “I remember that Liu loved these special roses and the idea just grew and grew. It was worth it all just to see the look on her face when she saw the cars.”

The loving couple - both 24 years old - met at university, and has been together since. The exact number of roses carries symbolic value as well: for the Chinese, 9 is a lucky number, and 99.999 therefore obviously exponentially more so. The groom, moreover, donated an additional 20% of the cost of the roses to charity, in the hope that this would bring even more good to his marriage.

If that were to not work out for some tragic reason, perhaps he can still find solace in the knowledge that he single-handedly helped China’s florist industry stay afloat in these times of economical crisis!

The promotional activities will focus on the domains of television and the internet, especially in The Netherlands. Florists that are interested in joining the campaign are encouraged to download promotional material for in their flower shops through the website mooiwatbloemendoen.nl/retail, which was created for the purpose of this campaign. (Note that it hasn’t been updated as yet, and still describes the campaign for mother’s day. This will soon change however.)

An element that has been preserved from last year is that the Flower Council collects exceptional tales related to them by consumers. The thousand most amusing storytellers will be rewarded with a beautiful flower bouquet, which the winners can subsequently address to anybody they deem deserving of it (meaning: not themselves!). The slogan “Beautiful isn’t it... what flowers can do?”, has been retained from last time around as well.

The fall campaign that the Council organized in 2009, focused particularly on convincing the customer that flowers are an adequate gift for a variety of occasions. It was evaluated and deemed quite successful by the Dutch Product Board for Horticulture (Productschap Tuinbouw).

The board has inquired into the familiarity with, the perception of, and the consumer behaviour regarding the chrysanthemum, both among florists and buyers. While a massive 80% of the Dutch florists suggests the flower to be boring, antiquated and overly simple, customers completely disagree with the charge of old-fashionedness. They claim the flower to be simple and uncomplicated, yet simultaneously joyful.

While both shopkeepers and customers say they prefer the fluffy chrysanthemum types, florists nonetheless tend to buy those of the green variety. This is a pity considering that customers indicate they do not like these at all, and vastly prefer the purple kinds.

The small margin on cluster chrysanthemums is also mentioned by florists as a point of critique, as is the weak rate of turn-over. The price and the long storage life are generally considered plus-points however. Nonetheless, in over 17 percent of all flower shops you will never find a single chrysanthemum, according to the Product Board's report.

The report (in Dutch) can be accessed here: click.

Authenticity

A sure-fire way to score with the public is to offer products that express a sense of authenticity and craft, in one way or another. Many of the shopkeepers that responded to the poll identify this as one of the key values of their customers. Unique pieces tend to do very well in the poll as well, but nonetheless frighten people off with their sizable suggested retail prices. Scoring the highest are products with a sober design and subtle, authentic look, that can nevertheless be mass-produced on a large scale.

‘Givability’

Another essential factor when it comes to marketability is how well the new product functions as a gift: what are the chances that somebody would buy this product in order to give it to someone else? A lot of enthusiasm is reserved for creative gift-wrapping concepts that also have a stand-alone function of some sort. Articles that leave ample room for the user to get creative with on their own, receive similar praise as well.

Niche marketing

Thirdly, there is a bit of a trend among shopkeepers to sharply delineate what they have on offer. An increasing amount of vendors in the deco industry focus on particular sub-categories of the broad domain of home and lifestyle products. Retailers that do so are also more confidant as well as more positive in their evaluation of new products, both regarding design and sales potential.  

Twenty decorative products from various household categories were selected for the poll, which the professionals could give their opinion on. The only two questions that were asked were: one, is the design of this product appropriate, and, two, is the suggested retail price realistic? Participants in the Connoisseurs poll then judged based on a scale ranging from ‘very interesting’, to ‘not interesting at all’.

The idea behind the initiative by Brussels Fairs & Exhibitions is to help their exhibitors assess the commercial chances of their new products better. Despite their long experience and undoubtedly good taste, producers and importers of decoration and consumer articles still often have a hard time doing this, according to the BFE.

The second DECOoh! Connoisseurs poll has been put online as of recent. You can place your vote on the website, found at www.decooh.eu.

Designing the carpet requires many months of preparation, while its actual construction takes only one day, with hundreds of expert craftsmen following the painstakingly detailed plans. A whopping 800.000 live flowers - begonias and dahlias - were used in the process of making it.

This year’s carpet was designed by Marc Schautteet, a renowned Belgian designer. 23-year old Antoine Durieux crafted the three European Union logos – this year’s theme is “Europe” - which form the center of the display. Other decorative themes include the holy Saint Michael battling with a dragon; a captivating human iris in yellow and blue, and Gothic patterns reminiscent of architectural styles that are prevalent in the region.

A similar but smaller decoration, designed by Mr. Schautteet as well, will also be on display in the Old Town Square in Prague (Czech Republic) from September 3rd to 5th.

More information about the flower carpet and its history can be obtained from the official website, for which you can click here.

The carpet as it looked the last time around, in 2008.

Speaking on those topics will be representatives from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality; the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV); the Community Plant Variety Office; the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property and the Dutch Board for Plant Varieties.

The conference will run from October 11th through 13th, with the schedule including one day for bulb company visits, one day with the presentations of the invited speakers and, lastly, a day for visiting the nearby Hortifair. The setting is the 'center of bulb and perennial research' at the PPO Lisse, located not far from Amsterdam.

The symposium was announced on the occasion of the KAVB's 150th anniversary, which it celebrates this year. The association was founded in 1860 with the purpose of organizing flower shows, and only decades later started to register varieties of bulbous species. Precise naming and description were considered to be conducive to the trade process, as well as important for adequate handling and preparation. The KAVB has obtained an official status as registration authority and been highly involved in the ornamental business ever since.