By all accounts Women’s Day 2014 was a glowing success for the floral industry. Supermarket floral departments saw their efforts resonate with customers who were already familiar with the holiday, and they witnessed a substantial increase in customers who were new to the holiday.

Traditionally, Women’s Day has been very popular in regions with large eastern European and Russian influences; however, this year Women’s Day gained mainstream traction in the United States from coast to coast.

Behind the Women’s Day push were some of biggest and most respected retailers in the nation.

A poster used in Safeway stores to promote Women’s Day 2014.“We are happy with the progress we are making in celebrating this holiday with our customers. We’re confident the holiday will grow in importance in the future,” said Joe Don Zetzsche, director of floral for H-E-B in San Antonio, TX, and chairman of the Produce Marketing Association’s Floral Council.

H-E-B saw good sales numbers for its consumer bunches, and also saw customers taking advantage of its “H-E-B Blooms” shops, which offer custom floral design in their locations.

Nationwide, Safeway used in-store signage in the majority of its locations in the week leading up to Saturday, March 8, to drive its tulip program. Tulips are a big offering for Women’s Day, since they represent spring and have a great value for the consumer.

Women’s Day was also trending very high on social media. With the theme of “Inspiring Change,” women and men alike celebrated Women’s Day by purchasing flowers and participating in events. Looking at Twitter and Facebook, Women’s Day grew exponentially from last year, and this translated into greater involvement from a larger segment of the population.

1-800 Flowers.com teamed with California flower grower Sun Valley Floral Farms to make a big splash in New York City promoting awareness of Women’s Day as a floral holiday. The two companies distributed over 10,000 tulips in high-traffic areas, including iconic New York City landmarks such as Central Station, Penn Station and Union Square.

“This was one of the most fun promotions we have done. One of our goals as an organization is to deliver smiles, and we surely delivered a significant amount of smiles on this day,” said Julie McCann, senior vice president of product development at 1-800 Flowers.com in Carle Place, NY.

“We were thrilled with the customer engagement we saw this year for Women’s Day, and we are already planning for next year,” McCann said.

Flower retailers across all different sales channels took note that Women’s Day has matured into a solid floral holiday. 2014 saw unparalleled growth, and the momentum looking forward to 2015 is greater than ever.

Bill Prescott is the marketing and communications associate for Sun Valley Floral Farms in Arcata, CA. He can be reached at [email protected].