Increasing flower prices?

Lizi

Lizi

Well-Known Member
Nov 28, 2007
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Matthews
www.matthewsflowerboutique.com
State / Prov
NC
I'm not sure how things are going in other parts of the Country but where I am, we are seeing increasing prices, and am being told to expect more increases. There are a lot of bucket trucks (which I don't use)that service this area and their prices and low, but so is the quality. I don't mind paying a little more for a quality product, but absolutely will not pay higher prices for crap.

My understanding of the higher prices are the exchange rate of the US dollar and higher demand in Europe and Russia. Higher demand brings higher prices. My broker says the flower industry is fixing to see some huge changes in availability and pricing.

I know the industry has faced many obstacles in the last few years, farms closing, wholesalers closing, shops closing. I asked my broker, what is the answer for florist and wholesalers as well as the farm, he said he didn't know, but that something has got to change or we will loose even more.

How do we keep rolling with the punches? What are you hearing from your wholesalers or brokers? How will the price increases effect your business, especially weddings that we already have booked. One other thing, for those of you who have weekly standing orders, what are you hearing about pricing above your weekly order?
 
Lizi said:
I'm not sure how things are going in other parts of the Country but where I am, we are seeing increasing prices, and am being told to expect more increases. There are a lot of bucket trucks (which I don't use)that service this area and their prices and low, but so is the quality. I don't mind paying a little more for a quality product, but absolutely will not pay higher prices for crap.

My understanding of the higher prices are the exchange rate of the US dollar and higher demand in Europe and Russia. Higher demand brings higher prices. My broker says the flower industry is fixing to see some huge changes in availability and pricing.

I know the industry has faced many obstacles in the last few years, farms closing, wholesalers closing, shops closing. I asked my broker, what is the answer for florist and wholesalers as well as the farm, he said he didn't know, but that something has got to change or we will loose even more.

How do we keep rolling with the punches? What are you hearing from your wholesalers or brokers? How will the price increases effect your business, especially weddings that we already have booked. One other thing, for those of you who have weekly standing orders, what are you hearing about pricing above your weekly order?
Click to expand...

my bucket truck is not saying price increase yet.. but he buys mostly Canadian grown items. THE tropical 3 inch pots he gets in from florida , those have gone up and up since i bought the store 3 yrs ago! To the point where my mixed planters now pretty much start at 50 and up.

I don't have any more wedding book and i'm ok with that.. oh wait i have ONE in silk.. and my weekly standing order for roses i cancelled right before mothers day as I was throwing out way to many roses.
 
this has been on the horizon for over a year now, and we have already made the switch to "global pricing" whereby, supply and demand dictates the final selling prices. I have been "warning" about these domestic AND international pricing increases for ahwile now, and some shops made the changes, and some did not!! Much of our global supply stream has been disrupted, transportation costs have ballooned, and the Eurasian continent now has the preferential treatment for 1st choice flower supplies now....goes where the money is!!
Healthy flowershops, needs to be lean and fit to compete, and "financial obesity" is cause for "art failure"......
 
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We have not had to increase prices as of yet but are very close on roses. We have changed our ordering process as of the first of the year. So instead of buying 2 bunches of red roses and 2 bunches of color, for example, we now buy 1 red and 1 color. We have also trimmed down on our "sure we can get that for you", for people wanting less then 1/2 a bunch of anything, it's not worth it to pay higher prices to have them go bad. For us this type of buying lets us carry more variety and allows us to create the arrangements we have deemed our "staples". When I took over they only had recipes for V-day and Mother's Day. Even though we make our fare share of "unique" arrangements are are also now pushing our "staples" more and more. This allows for better production and better flower ordering. Helps eliminate waist and lets us by with prebooked specials. If you are not buying on some kind of prebook, even if it's a weekly special from a wholesaler you are leaving money on the table. (IMO, signed a newby)
 
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We have raised our prices accordingly. the increase in cost was just to much to absorb. We are also looking at more vendors, more from the auction and more from direct farm suppliers. I also cancelled a long standing rose order with my supplier because the quality of the variety versus the increase in price just made it not worth it to buy from them anymore. It was a tough decision, but I am very happy to have found some new sources and some nice deals. So every once in a while it is good to "sssssssshake things up".
 
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Thanks Mikey. That kinda summed it up better.

We have been trying to adjust prices, I notice the difference in a say for instance 50.00 arrangement, I'm sure the customer does also. Just trying to keep the arrangements looking like our style without having to skip or use less expensive flowers that most of our customers tell us to do not use.

We must make the increases with supplies, flowers and delivery charges before they eat us up and we don't have customers or business. I've been in the industry of 24 years and have gone up on prices when I had too, however, no florist can afford to loose on this, either money or customers. We don't have a lot of waste of product here, my husband keeps the cooler super clean and is constantly rotating stock so nothing is wasted. But I don't buy old product either. I am very careful about what we buy and are looking back at last years sales, happily seeing an increase for 2011. Will need to make some adjustments in supplies that we purchase, as those have been increasing also.

Just another storm for us to weather, praying we all come through it.
 
Lizi said:
Thanks Mikey. That kinda summed it up better.

We have been trying to adjust prices, I notice the difference in a say for instance 50.00 arrangement, I'm sure the customer does also. Just trying to keep the arrangements looking like our style without having to skip or use less expensive flowers that most of our customers tell us to do not use.

We must make the increases with supplies, flowers and delivery charges before they eat us up and we don't have customers or business. I've been in the industry of 24 years and have gone up on prices when I had too, however, no florist can afford to loose on this, either money or customers. We don't have a lot of waste of product here, my husband keeps the cooler super clean and is constantly rotating stock so nothing is wasted. But I don't buy old product either. I am very careful about what we buy and are looking back at last years sales, happily seeing an increase for 2011. Will need to make some adjustments in supplies that we purchase, as those have been increasing also.

Just another storm for us to weather, praying we all come through it.
Click to expand...

Lizi, you say you have increased your prices. You also say you are up for 2011. Are you sure that is not due to your increased price?
 
I'm sure it's not the reason since I only increased pricing on flowers and supplies the first of May. Our sales are up 25 to 30% over last year, but we are still fairly new and growing our customer base.
 
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No kidding Liz,way to go is right!! I have adjusted prices and have really tighten up on buying. Just gotta watch your p's and q's more.
 
We've also went up on our prices 25% over the last 2 years. Some sales have suffered, but for the most part only a small "bleep" on the screen. Profit is not a dirty word..........................some stores have summer prices, we only run specials for certain types of flowers and only when able, otherwise prices stay the same and like Eric said, we adjust before the two majors.......
 
In the UK are prices have been raising for around two years. About 3 years ago Mother's Day and International Womens Day were very close together. This had horrendous consequences for European flower prices as Womens Day is massive in Russia. Russians were paying upto £15.00 a stem for roses which is about 5 times higher than we would be looking to sell to our customers. As the Euro becomes stronger against the Pound and our economy floundering we are facing escalating wholesale prices and fuel and utility costs also going through the roof. Massive impact on the wholesale prices - some of the prices have gone up by as much as 50%.
I have switched how I buy. I use a cheaper wholesales as well as my original main wholesaler - the cheaper wholesaler I have to go down and cherry pick the stock which means I'm working about an extra 6 hours a week more, but it worth it. My other wholesaler I could just order and they would deliver. I have reduced my COGS by about 20% a week so it has meant that I have had to do very little price hiking as I can offset the expensive products with the cheap. I just aren't pasting on that many deals.
 
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