Sample: Retail Florists with email addresses

256 Completed Responses
8% Response Rate
Survey Monkey Online Survey

Mother’s Day sales in 2013 compared to 2012

51% of the florists reported sales increases
31% reported sales the same as last year
18% indicated sales decreased
1% didn’t know

Sales compared to 2012 by Annual Sales Level of Business and Location (%)

Of the sales changes…

The average increase was 11.8 percent vs. 12.6 last year
The average decrease was 10.5 percent vs. 9.4 last year

Reasons for Sales Increases* (%)

Multiple responses allowed
Shop reputation 51
More online (Web-site) sales 34
Higher average sales 25
More wire-in orders 22
Regional economy 24
More walk-in sales 25
E-mail campaigns 14
National economy 15
Public optimism 17
Weather 24
Word of mouth/buzz 17
Fewer competitors (including fewer florists) 19
Improved shop management/operations/planning/preparation 19
Shop advertising/promotion 13
Social networking 18
More telephone sales 16
Reduced overhead 11
Local PR 12
Networking 10
Product quality 22
Other 8
Price points 8
Higher delivery charges 5
Wire service product 6
Industry advertising/promotion 2
Coupons – 4
Product availability 9
Reminder calls 3
Improved product mix/offerings 9
More wire-out orders 3
Cost of goods 4
Profit margins 2
More toll-free telephone sales 1
More gift sales 3
Loyalty program 3

Reasons for Sales Decreases* (%)

National economy 31
Regional Economy 28
Higher fuel and delivery costs 19 vs. 42 last year
Competitoin from order gatherers 38
Competition from supermarkets and mass merchandisers 31
Competion from online floral vendors 26
Competion from other gifts 17
Competition from wire services 29
Lower avg sales/price points 12
Wire service factors 24
Calendar timing (incl. competing holidays or events) 6
Less walk-in traffic 26
Fewer wire-in orders 30
Wire service offerings 18
Cost of goods 14
Fewer orders from order gatherers 10
Availability of labor 4
Not enough industry advertising/promotion 15
Product availability 2
Weather 7
Other 21
Competition from street vendors 5
Dropping or adding a wire service 6
Competition from other florists 11
Fewer Web-site orders 10
Product quality 4
Decline in importance/observance of holiday 8
Less shop advertising 6
Shop management/operations/staffing 2
The Wars 2
Cost of labor 5

Change in delivery charges from last year:

Higher 23%
Same 72
Lower 3
N/A 3

Promotion

Fifty-eight percent of the shops did the same amount of holiday promotion as the year before.
Thirty-six percent did more than last year
Four percent did less promotion than last year
The remainder didn’t know or didn’t promote the holiday (3%).

The most used promotional vehicles for Mother’s Day by retail florists were*:

Indoor signage, posters or displays 57
Window displays 49
Web-site promotions 50
Social Networking 52
E-mail promotions or campaigns 43
Outdoor signage 42
Statement stuffers or mailers 35
Newspaper/Magazine Advertising 30
Coupons 24
Direct mail 19
Radio 18
Online ad 22
Reminder Service 16
TV 5
Other 4
PR/Media Interviews 4
Telephone Campaign/Telemarketing 5

Of the fresh flower sales:

78 percent were fresh flowers
8 percent were green and flowering plants
15 percent were bedding and garden plants

Wire Orders:

Shops reporting an increase in incoming wire orders from a year ago: 25 percent
Shops reporting a decrease in incoming wire orders: 44 percent
Shops reporting no change in incoming wire orders: 26 percent
Shops reporting didn’t know: 6 percent
Shops reporting an increase in outgoing wire orders from a year ago: 14 percent
Shops reporting a decrease in outgoing wire orders: 39 percent
Shops reporting no change in outgoing wire orders: 43 percent
Shops reporting didn’t know: 5 percent
Percentage of orders coming from website: 24.2

Business Hours on Mother’s Day*

Open part of the day (28%); Open all day (26%); Closed (43%); Open extended hours (3%).
Shops that were open did about 14.7 percent of their Mother’s Day holiday sales on that day.

Average sale was $58.42.

Sources of Orders:

Phone 45%
Walk-ins 21
Fax or e-mail 1
From wire services 17
From Web-site 15
From Toll-free phone services or order gatherers 6
Total may not sum to 100%. Independent questions.

Extra Staff for Holiday*:

77% of florist shops hired extra staff for the holiday.

Outlets Florists See As Their Main Competition:

1. Order gatherers

2. Supermarkets and grocery stores

3. Online florists (Internet and 'Dot coms')
4. Wire services

5. Direct floral shippers (like Proflowers)

6. Other 

*=2012 data (Not asked on 2013 survey)