With Valentine’s Day just over a month away, it’s time to get your department and team ready for your most profitable day of the year. Merchandise planning will help streamline display setup as product starts to arrive. The goal should be to create displays throughout the store that entice customers to shop floral.

Create your floral displays. This is the holiday to show creative floral talent by building amazing displays. Whether it is using balloons to build a large heart shape display, or grapevine hearts and floral topiaries hanging from the ceiling — create a visual field that draws customers to floral. Red roses accounted for 61 percent of Valentine’s Day sales in 2014 according to aboutflowers.com. Floral departments should reflect this and make roses focal to at least one display.

Secure floor space. Floral is the star of the grocery show just a few times a year, so make it count. Because the majority of sales will fall on Valentine’s Day proper, multiple displays throughout the store are needed to ensure customers have easy access to product wherever they are. Entrances, register areas, bakery, the liquor department and card aisle are all key areas for auxiliary displays. Secure these spaces this month with appropriate store personnel to help streamline setup as product arrives.

Create a plan-o-gram.Drawing a simple outline of the department by hand, or creating one on the computer, will help organize the large volume of Valentine’s Day product set to arrive. Review your Valentine’s Day order and give everything a place within your department or auxiliary displays. Go over the plan-o-gram with your floral associates to help expedite setup as product starts to arrive. Make sure to have key items, such as roses and mixed bouquets, front and center.

Secure cooler space. Valentine’s Day sales can be up to five times normal everyday sales, all on one day. There will be a lot of product coming in and it is imperative that fresh flowers stay in refrigeration. While storing flowers in the dairy cooler is ideal, seek out other coolers throughout the store and secure areas this month to make sure you have enough refrigerated space for everything.

Design a Lovers Lane.Help your customers get in and out by creating an exclusive Valentine’s Day checkout lane. This lane should be decorated, signed, and merchandised with flowers, bakery items, candy and cards. Think of it as a one-stop shop for the customer on the run and make sure to include all of the staples. This month, determine which checkout lane will be designated and the associate’s working the register. A short training session covering key products, pricing, and common questions will help speed up the checkout process.

Making a good impression on your customers during Valentine’s Day not only helps increase sales on that day, but also leaves a positive long-term impact. While most customers only buy flowers a few days a year, Valentine’s Day being one of them, their positive experience will help influence their future floral purchasing decisions.

Karli Nelson and Denise McPartland are account managers at The Elite Flower in Miami. They can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected].