EARLY MARKETING SEEN KEY TO GROWTH IN BULB SALES

AMY I. STICKEL

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. -- Floral departments can improve flower bulb sales through frequent and early marketing campaigns, according to the International Flower Bulb Center here.

The potential U.S. market for flower bulbs is $85 million, and only 15% of that potential market is currently being tapped, according to a study recently conducted for the center.

The study found that 25% of the 2,000 Americans polled intended to buy flower bulbs, but simply forgot to. The center recommended an "early and often" marketing campaign to reach these consumers.

"Retailers don't understand what to do with the bulbs," said Cindy Smith, North American consultant for the center. "They don't realize the profit potential that exists."

Lack of a garden and leftover bulbs from last year are the other main reasons Americans don't purchase bulbs. The center recommended building displays to demonstrate uses of bulbs in containers for indoor and outdoor settings.

According to Smith, bulbs are very high impulse items, and should be marketed in highly trafficked areas outside floral departments.

She said she recently visited several British supermarket chains, which do a highly-profitable bulb business, through private-label bulb programs and by marketing bulbs near the front entrance and in the produce department.

Despite the largely untapped market, current trends are working in favor of greater bulb usage, the study found.

The first is the "cocooning" trend, which puts the home at the center of American life. The second is the increasing popularity of flower bulbs in pots, which can be purchased by apartment dwellers who don't have the garden space to plant bulbs.

Nearly 60% of all bulb purchases are made in the fall, when spring-blooming bulbs must be planted, according to the study. That appears to correlate with the four most-recognized bulbs, the tulip, daffodil, crocus and hyacinth, which bloom in spring.

The study recommended marketing summer-blooming bulbs, such as lilies, begonias, gladioli and dahlias, which are planted in the spring.