Summertime — when the living is easy?
Summertime — when the living is easy?
Congratulations — you did it. The spring holidays have passed and you are still alive. The reports coming in from around the country show that April and May were strong floral sales months, and hopefully that will reverse the flat sales trend from the first quarter of 2014.
So now that we are into June, what happens next?
The International Floriculture Expo in New Orleans is June 10-13 and in this edition of Floral Marketing in The Produce News we preview the show. We’ll be at the expo and in our next issue we’ll give you a full recap of what happened, just in case you couldn’t be there.
And speaking of great shows, we also preview several other conferences around the country this summer. This year there are many diverse events that offer supermarket floral professionals opportunities to learn about new trends and products, and afford you time to relax and network with peers.
This is only June and there is still a lot of business left this year. To help stimulate your creativity we have two guest columnists sharing their wisdom and ideas about building customer relationships and creating summer sales boosters — areas that can translate into extra profits.
This month we are highlighting the popular wedding and event flower, the peony. Look for our in-depth article on this ambrosial blossom.
We also report on two special events that occurred in Minneapolis during the same week in May.
First, we cover a classical event with fine art, fine flowers and a twist for supermarket floral. Art in Bloom was held at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and flower artists created exquisite floral interpretations of magnificent works of visual art.
Second, we cover the American Orchid Society Members Meeting & Show that took place in Bloomington, MN. Both events were attended by large crowds and also displayed a great diversity of spectacular flowers.
June is a great month to recover, reinvigorate and press on for the second half of 2014, so take a breather after surviving the past couple of intense months — you deserve it.
Please remember to send your comments to [email protected].
See you next month.
Richard Lutes is the floral editor and floral sales manager of The Produce News. He can be contacted at 763/595-9559 or [email protected].