Be a Morrison’s … keep checking the numbers!
Did I enjoy reading that Morrisons, Britain’s 5th biggest supermarket had shut 26 of their Florist shops.
Am I pleased that Freddie’s Flowers had to make more redundancies not that long ago?
Nope! In the same way it has depressed me deleting so many independent shops off our list in the last few months, truth is seeing any closures in the flower sector is bad news.
Indeed, only serves to emphasise that this is a tough sector and that no-one is safe.
Because whilst the cost-of-living crises may not affect customers of traditional bespoke florist to the point they have to choose to ‘heat or eat’, truth is even the so called ‘well off’ – are not immune.
Chatting the other day to a, on the face of it, well-heeled person, they too were bemoaning price rises. OK they were more ruled by Lurpak price hikes than cheapest own brand butter, but the root feeling was the same - costs have to be watched. All made potentially worse by the fact that this demographic is seeing their mortgages rise, their investments shrink, the bonuses not quite the same. Instagram may give off a wonderous vibe of 'all is fabulous' but I know retailers in even the most affluent areas are seeing a squeeze.
So no, I am not chortling at the news from Morrisons. It actually scares me a lot and why I am more concerned than I have been for years for the future of bespoke florists … there I’ve said it!
You see with no peaks to look forward to for another six+ months, tighter wallets and reducing weddings in both number and value, there is absolutely NO room for complacency. Some costs will come down but even the British Retail Consortium reckon it will take a few months for these to feed through to consumer level whilst another predicted interest rate hike is going to do nothing for consumer confidence and take yet more money out their pockets to pay the mortgage.
As for flower and plant costs I don’t see that changing any time soon either. Yes, I do sometimes wonder if some of the rises are more than they should be (a whole other story!!) and yes there will always be bargains to be had somewhere (just be careful of quality!) but overall, I wouldn’t expect any great news on lower COGS never mind your own increased personal and business running costs.
And don’t – well not this week as it’s another blog! – get me started on all the home workers who are undercutting left, right and centre and being encouraged left, right and centre by both suppliers and Facebook groups without seemingly any regard for the impact it has on the core - and still biggest spending - retail florist sector.
But with so many challenges and given even the mighty Morrisons realise it’s tough, it’s a reminder that every florist needs to not only look at how they can expand their offering but be even more aware of pricing, profitability, and future trading predictions. To survive means being brutally honest about staffing levels, watching debt levels and generally hunkering down as tight as you can.
Because whilst I 100% believe experienced florists can and will survive and I certainly don’t think everyone should suddenly shut the shop and move to a studio, I do reckon the next few months are going to be tough and why planning and prepping now is so important. Morrisons are looking at a three-year, £700 million cost saving programme … maybe it’s time to look at how you could save. Because as Tesco - themselves looking at cost savings - say “Every Little Helps”.
