THREE HOLIDAYS CAUSE FLORAL SALES TO SPRING

AMY I. STICKEL

Spring floral sales are blossoming, with supermarket florists reporting better performances from Easter, Secretary's Day and Mother's Day promotions this season compared with last year.

The three holiday periods fell within April and May, keeping retailers busy with merchandising schedules. Retailers in spot interviews said the effort generally paid off.

Easter sales were stronger this year than last, and initial reports for Mother's Day looked good as well. Secretary's Day was still something of a mixed bag, however. Floral buyers said it is a holiday that is gaining importance, but still does not compare in sales to Easter or Mother's Day.

Cut-flower bouquets proved more popular for all three holidays, in some cases taking the bloom off sales of the more traditional Easter lilies and mums, retailers reported.

Floral sales at Dierbergs Markets, Chesterfield, Mo., increased 9% over last year for the triad of holidays, according to Glenn Mueller, general manager of Dierbergs Florists.

Mueller said Dierbergs scheduled four weeks of continuous floral promotions, and supported them with radio and newspaper advertising. The promotions proceeded rapidly with Easter, followed by a Secretary's Day event, then a tropical plant promotion and finally Mother's Day.

"We're all ready for a vacation," he said with a laugh.

Mueller attributed the increase in sales volume to a stronger economy, as well as Dierbergs local standing as a floral marketer. "Our reputation proceeds us in this town, so we're just getting more of the market share," he said.

Cut-flower sales were strong this Mother's Day at Dierbergs, he said. In some stores, he also installed open coolers, right before Easter, and he attributed cut-flower

sales increases to the new coolers. Mueller put an emphasis on roses.

Still, Mueller said, his Mother's Day business was so brisk that it would be difficult to pick one item that sold significantly better than others. "From blooming plants to cut-flower arrangements to green plants to corsages, everything went well," he said. In a new promotional twist, Mueller included a free phone card for all Mother's Day orders he received that were heading out of town. The phone card, good for five minutes of long-distance time, arrived with a greeting card; the idea was that the recipient of the flowers could call the sender back, he said.

"Our out-of-town orders were up, but whether it was a result of that, I don't know," he added.

Ron Gleeson, produce supervisor for C&K Markets in Brookings, Ore., said when interviewed by SN early last week that he did not have accurate figures for Mother's Day floral sales. However, the preliminary reports looked encouraging.

"There wasn't a store I talked to that wasn't totally wiped out," he said. "It was gone. There seem to have been very, very good sales."

Gleeson said he put a strong emphasis on cut flowers for all his holidays this year.

"We tried to promote roses more on this Mother's Day than we have in the past," he said. "Mums have always been a big deal. But we've found that our cut flowers this year moved much better than they have in the past." For Easter, cut-flower sales were also strong, he said. Gleeson said the entire cut-flower category will be a new focus for C&K Markets this year.

"We're doing a lot better job with our cut flowers this year than we've done in the past," he said. "I see it growing, and a lot of opportunity there that we haven't been very aggressive on."

He said he is equipping stores with new merchandisers, portable containers for cut flowers, and is including a stronger ad campaign for cut flowers this year.

He said he did not put major emphasis on Secretary's Day this year. "There was some product moved, but there wasn't a big thrust in our advertising format to promote Secretary's Day," he said.

Floral sales for both Easter and Mother's Day were up this year over last at Food Circus Foodtown in Middletown, N.J., according to Betty Massell, floral buyer and merchandiser.

"For Mother's Day, it was our best year for bouquets ever," said Massell, who priced the bouquets from $4.99 to $12.99.

Massell introduced gift packages of gardening items for Mother's Day, in the separate Garden Center that Food Circus operates in one store. The packages, which came in terra cotta pots, included gardening tools, gloves, seeds, kneeling pads and geraniums.

"That was good for Mother's Day, particularly for the mothers who garden," she said. "It was something different."

Massell said cut flowers sold well for Mother's Day, while bulbs were the stars for Easter, including tulips, hyacinths and lilies, both Easter and Asiatic. "I really feel Easter is more of a bulb holiday," she said.

Secretary's Day was not a major holiday for Massell; she said most of her stores are located away from office complexes.

However, she does carry small items that will fit on a desk, like violets and arrangements in mugs, and those do sell, she said.

"Fantastic" was the word Larry Olson, vice president of Minneapolis Floral in Minneapolis, used to describe Mother's Day sales. Olson leases floral departments in 13 area supermarkets, including Lund's, Cub Foods and New Market stores.

He said wild-flower bouquets were hot, and gave a shot in the arm to a weakening bouquet category. "We went away from the carnations, and more toward delphiniums, asters, more fun things," he explained.

"Secretary's Day was also good," he added. "We never do exceedingly well, but it was good." He said he offered Secretary's Day bouquets at a lower price this year, in the $6.99 and $9.99 range, which helped sales. He described Secretary's Day as "a blip," instead of a major holiday.

For Easter, Olson said, he offered higher-quality Easter lilies, which improved sales.

"We went from a single-stem lily to a double-stem lily, so we weren't competing with the Wal-Marts," he said. "We differentiated our products. It increased our costs, but it improved our retail. It was one of our best years ever."

The Eastern division of Safeway, based in Lanham, Md., also promoted cut flowers for Mother's Day. "We run a large floral ad for almost every holiday," said John Deckard, manager of public affairs. "It helps emphasize that we are a full-service floral department, and of course promotes flowers that are special to each holiday season."

Olson and other merchandisers said they detected this year that traditional holiday items like mums and lilies are losing some of their appeal, perhaps as shoppers are becoming more sophisticated.

"You do have to carry Easter lilies. But I think traditional lilies have been beat up for years, and will continue to get beat up," Mueller said. "Mini carnations are a good seller, but people are losing their enthusiasm for them. Now, I think, the market has opened up."

Not every floral executive had a good triple holiday period. The buyer at one large Southeastern chain said the one-two-three punch hurt sales for Secretary's Day; and Easter sales suffered from the holiday falling later than usual. The retailer said it was still too soon to know about sales performance for Mother's Day.

"Secretary's Day is a good holiday. Unfortunately, it always falls too close to another holiday," the floral executive said; this year, Secretary's Day was the week after Easter.

"We could not give Secretary's Day its just due," the retailer said. "The stores did not have enough time to react to it. It's very hard to walk in [the day after Easter], clean up, remerchandise and be ready." The timing of Easter also affected sales negatively. "In this area, Easter stinks. People go to the beach. And the later Easter is, the worse it gets," the retailer said. "A lot of our customer base is seasonal. The holiday is not nearly as good as when it falls at the beginning of March.

"On top of all that, it was incredibly warm here. People got a three-day weekend, and they headed out," the executive said. "They didn't go to church and then Mom's for lunch."