Florist News

Dont know who you went to, but bloooody hell.
I am just above Aberdeen so come and stay here

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www.floralpride.co.uk

While I think £1.20/£1.50 is on the high side I equally think 50/60p is too low as well and would urge caution to all of you over all flower prices. In my humble opinion a carnation should be in the region of 80/90p.

You see I am actually interviewing all the importers and wholeslers at the moment and there is a clear signal that flower prices will continue to rise because of four elements totally out of our control

Euro rate which impacts on Dutch)
Dollar rate which impacts on Ecuador/Kenya
Peso rate being squeezed dry and seriously affecting Colombian growers
Oil Prices which affect EVERYONE including you.
As of yesterday oil stood at $120 a barrel compared to $30 dollars only a few years ago. That alone puts 5 cents on the transport costs alone which are already going up weekly becasue of the pressure on belly space. There simply aren't not enough planes in the air and what space there is is being taken by emerging countries like China and Russia.

This coupled with all the other problems will and can only result in prices increases at wholesale level.

Therefore please don't think it is the grower or wholesaler taking the piddle ... it is a set of economic scenarios that are suddenly all coming together and as a result they simply can't absorb the increased costs any more.

For your own protection please review your prices and start edging them a bit higher because the alternative will be to buy second tier flowers (which I know a lot of florists already do to make their relay work make money) but that to me is a short sighted policy and will come back and bite you.

JMHO

Carrington

Still a couple of hundred miles away from me. I think that florist is taking the perverbial ( spelling ) though! Sure she wasn't getting her carnations and her xanths mixed up??

My cars are 60p, only at peak times have I had to up them to 70/75p. That could be cut but I dont want to

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www.AmandasFlorist.co.uk

We bring our creations to life.

Mine are 75p ea, and at peek times 1.25-1.50ea, thats for the columbian, i very rarely buy dutch cars.
but if someone only wanted 12 cars delivered, it would still be my minimum price of 20.00 for g/w, or 25.00 for h/t plus del.

Right thats it... im putting mine up as of now

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www.AmandasFlorist.co.uk

We bring our creations to life.

In reply to Carrington's reply(!) As florists we are quite a kindly lot and think a great deal about our customers and what they can afford (or at least I do!). However we must realise that not only are we in this business because we love what we do but we are here to make money at the end of the day.

I grant you that we all have to look at our demographics to determine whether our customers could afford - I know I couldn't charge London prices here in the Valleys of South Wales!! But we all have to make a living so we must review our prices regularly. After all the large supermarket chains all do that on a weekly basis and we all pay the prices they charge.

BTW - we charge 50p - 60p per stem for a carnation!

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LilyLady

Happiness is Petal Shaped

I think I may have confused some of you. I agree with what has been said and just feel that we must all be aware of market forces and not blame the price increases on the wholesalers.

Sorry if I have upset anyone!!! Definitely not my intention.

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LilyLady

Happiness is Petal Shaped

mine were 50p but as of roughly 30 seconds ago they are now 60p. I agree with Lily Lady with the demographic comment. I look at what my customers would pay (both high end and low end) and i stock this type of flower for the lower end order , otherwise i feel that the people who dont want to pay that much but yet still support us florists and not go to supermarkets would buggar off to asda or tesco etc... Hope this makes sense

Why make Carnations the cheapie. Chances are every week you can buy another flower as, if not more, cheaply. If you stock the funky carnation varieties (ie feather edged/bi colour/rippled) they are every bit as sexy as gerbera, just as big and last a lot longer. Is there not a commercial argument to say that actually it's in everyones interest to up the anti on Carnations.

no because i am an independent florist. i wont give away all of my pricing strategies but suffice it to say that i make a good profit per stem and think that if all florists were to do the pricing exactly the same then why stop there, bouquets the same, minimum prices the same, wedding prices the same, vase hire the same etc etc we could run the risk of becoming a chain imo of course!!

Dont want to appear rude and do know where you are coming from but i just prefer it that way.

Thanks for advice though Carrington. I do always listen to everyones advice and then sometimes take it and sometimes dont.