Mother's Day '21 ... the perfect start to the New Year
I'll explain the headline in a minute but first I'm going to be honest and say I HATED Valentine’s Day when I had shops. It always seemed so bally last minute not to mention painful on the hands ... in my day it was ALL red roses so blood was spilled on more than one occasion!!
This year it took the biscuit and not just the UK. Speaking to florists and suppliers around the world, whilst many said it was fab there were also an awful lot who were either burned ... or frostbitten ... as sky-high prices took out the profit whilst snow, ice and storms took out the delivery trucks.
In fact, the whole event was a perfect storm. A HUGE global uplift in order numbers coupled with worldwide shortages of flowers either because of poor weather .... 1.5 million tulips from one grower alone just didn’t happen ... or because growers are still not fully back on track.
Lack of flights due to pandemic travel restrictions limited capacity coming out of Kenya and South America so yet more shortfalls, Brexit paperwork and charges were another headache and drivers throughout the chain were under huge pressure both in terms of volume and road conditions .... not just delays but even flowers frozen in transit!
2021 Valentine’s was the stuff of nightmares so if you (and that's everyone from grower to florist, importer to wholesaler and every amazing delivery driver) have made it through and live to tell the tale huge congratulations. The pic at the top is for you!
Now though we are just 25 days away from UK Mother’s Day!!
Bally close .... it’s all to do with the Church calendar ... plus there's Women’s Day on the 8th! Not quite the same perfect storm but still challenging; be it on pricing or availability.
But that is no excuse to give up ... quite the reverse in my opinion.
Mother’s Day is the BIGGEST single flower buying event in the flower calendar in normal times. With Lockdown rules still in place, those sales are set to be even bigger which means UK florists have one final major sales opportunity to go for.
And making it a bumper one will also be a very fitting end to the most surreal and scary year I have ever seen in my 40+ years of working in the flower industry.
You see, it was Friday March 13th, 2020 when the Dutch auction crashed and the world as we knew it came to a grinding halt. In that time flowers have been a natural connector for people around the world and never has the sector seen its services needed so much, by so many.
Mother’s Day will be another test of mental strength, financial savviness and potentially long hours but strikes me it could be the perfect ending to a very imperfect year and the most wonderful way to start a new one!
We've prepared a Mum's the Word Hints and Tips feature with loads of ideas to make it a brilliant one ... and yes we do say put your prices up!! ... but if anyone needs a willing pair of (socially distanced) hands I’d love to be back on the shop floor for this one! The smiles of joy when those gorgeous gifts arrive would be more than worth battered hands!
