FLORAL BLOOMING IN LARGER PMA ROLE

Amy Sung

NEWARK, Del. -- Four years ago, the Produce Marketing Association's floral division reorganized to become the PMA floral council. Now, floral is making a bigger statement at the retail level and at PMA's annual Fresh Summit International Convention and Exposition.

"Floral came about in PMA because the produce executives at the retail level back in the '70s, which was when floral really started to emerge, were really ahead of their time," said Bryan Silbermann, PMA's president. "The produce directors were suddenly told, 'We want you to sell floral in your supermarkets,' so they were really involved in PMA."

The PMA's floral division was created in response to this transition, Silbermann said, and became a learning community for the suppliers and buyers of floral, and for the merchandisers of floral products.

When the change occurred, the floral council began reporting to the retail division. Retailers within that division wanted the PMA to bring more focus to the floral department by generating value and programs for that part of the membership.

"It was the retail division that we felt could house the floral area and would be most effective," Terry Humfeld, PMA vice president, told SN. "We reorganized earlier in this decade to bring the floral group under the retail division so that we would have more, if you will, retail support for the kinds of activities and programs that would be put out into the industry."

Floral departments haven't come close to reaching their potential for supermarkets, noted one industry observer who thinks the profit potential could be at least double the current levels.

"Floral departments have grown to the point where from a profit standpoint, not counting the pharmacy, a good floral department run correctly can be the most profitable department per square foot in the store and it can return very, very impressive contribution to overhead," said Tom Lavagetto, president of The Floral Consulting Group, Spokane, Wash. "It's a very lucrative department to have as a part of your produce department because it complements the perishability of produce, and produce in general is a very impulse type of department anyway."

Consistency in overall quality brings consumers back to a produce department and, according to Lavagetto, the same rules apply to the floral department. "That's not easy to do consistently, but that is the mantra and you can never get away from that," he said. "If you can't do that, then your program's just not going to go anywhere."

Many floral departments in supermarkets fall under the produce umbrella. "It's just a very common way for supermarkets to illustrate, to demonstrate freshness in their store, and what better way to do that than with flowers," Humfeld said. "It's heavily an impulse item so there's a heavy emphasis on the industry to try to figure out ways to drive those impulse sales that we're experiencing."

Floral, which is part of the produce department at Save Mart Supermarkets, is an important category and plays a crucial role in the chain's success, noted Steve Junqueiro, vice president of operations at the Modesto, Calif.-based chain.

"It's a part of our culture," Junqueiro said. "We run a self-service floral operation and we think we're one of the first, if not the first, supermarkets to offer floral products in our stores. That started in 1952. We think [displaying product outdoors] is a point of differentiation for us and we are very elated to see it continue to grow."

Floral at Clemens Family Markets, however, is not a part of the produce department. In the past five to 10 years, the floral departments have grown with the addition of giftware and an expanded offering of unique products, bouquets and arrangements.

"With all that being added, it necessitated making it a separate department, tracking the numbers a little more carefully and keeping it separate," said Rose Clayton, director of floral at Kulpsville, Pa.-based Clemens.

There are a lot of advantages to being a separate department within the store, including having a sense of ownership, a staff that's completely focused on floral, accountability of finances and autonomy in making decisions, Clayton said.

Through educational programs, the PMA floral council is busy addressing some key issues that can help build floral sales within the industry, including floral container labeling, international trade, standardization and coding. The PMA has also recently awarded research funds to the University of Florida to explore best handling practices for floral products in the supply chain.

This year's Fresh Summit is focused on innovation and learning what consumers want, Silbermann said.

"The way we're doing [Fresh Ideas Marketplace] this year is a first," he said. "We're actually using store-level people to come in and do it. Before, we had consultants and staff putting this together and now we're turning to the experts and a section of it will be floral as well. There'll be store-level people and some merchandisers from the supply side of the floral business working on it as well."

A few years ago, fewer than 10 floral companies participated at the first summit. PMA expects 70 or more companies exhibiting their floral products this year, Humfeld said.