|
Elections Update
Republicans lost control of the House Tuesday after holding it for 12 years. Democrats gained 27 seats -- only 15 were needed to gain control.
As of 5:00 p.m. today, Senate Democrats -- who've lost no seats they already held -- had gained four seats, and two are still undecided. The margin is razor thin, with only six seats needed for the Democrats to win the majority. There may be a recount in Virginia as Senator George Allen has not conceded, and recounts can take several weeks. The other outstanding race is Montana, where Senator Conrad Burns is behind but has not conceded even though several news organizations have declared his opponent the winner. If both Virginia and Montana go to the Democrats, the Senate will have a Democratic majority of 51-49.
Here are a few key races whose outcomes may impact the floral industry's lobbying strategy:
House
Deborah Pryce (R-15-Ohio) narrowly won her bid for re-election. She is a friend of the floral industry and a staunch ally of the Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative. Several SAF members have developed and nurtured a strong working relationship with Rep. Pryce over several years of visiting her office during SAF's Congressional Action Days.
John Hostettler (R-8-Ind.) lost his re-election bid. Hostettler was a vocal opponent of immigration reform and even voted against the House enforcement bill because it wasn't strong enough. His departure may enable more moderate voices in the House to prevail on passing comprehensive immigration reform legislation supported by SAF.
Anne Northup (R-3-Ky.) lost her bid for a sixth term in the House. Northup was on the Appropriations Committee and always a strong supporter of small business tax reform and health care reform. Widely respected on both sides of the aisle and by SAF members, Northup's defeat is seen as an anti-Bush vote.
Sue Kelly (R-19-N.Y.) lost her re-election bid. Kelly is well known to the floral industry as Congress's only former florist. She served on the House Small Business Committee and supported legislation beneficial to businesses in the floral industry.
Senate
Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) was ousted by Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-13-Ohio), signaling the voters' desire for change. DeWine was a friend of the floral industry in his support for the immigration reform bill and the AgJOBs bill and as a staunch supporter of small business health care reform.
Jim Talent (R-Mo.) ceded the race early this morning to Democrat Claire McCaskill. Talent, a strong voice for estate tax repeal, first served in the House as chairman of the Small Business Committee. He was an original author of the Association Health Plan legislation.
Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) was trailing Democrat Jon Tester by about 3,000 votes at press time. If Burns falls, the industry loses a strong supporter of the AgJOBs immigration bill and the Small Business Health Fairness Act in the Senate.
Stay tuned to upcoming issues of E-Brief for additional analyses of races important to the floral industry.
Jeanne Little Ramsay
jeanne.little.ramsay@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
Voters in Six States Say 'Yes' to Hike in Minimum Wage
Voters on Tuesday in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio voted for ballot initiatives that increase the minimum wage. These six states join 20 other states, plus the District of Columbia, that have set higher rates through legislation. The federal minimum wage, which last saw an increase in 1997, is now at $5.15 per hour.
Here's a breakdown of the percent of voters who passed the initiative, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the wage increases:
• Arizona: 65.6 percent/$6.75
• Colorado: 52.7 percent/$6.85
• Missouri: 75.6 percent/$6.50
• Montana: 74.2 percent/ $6.15 (for businesses that see annual gross sales of $110,000 or less, the minimum wage rate stays at $4 per hour)
• Nevada: 68.4 percent/$6.15 (for businesses that do not provide health benefits)
• Ohio: 56.5 percent/$6.85 (for employees 16 and older and employees of businesses with annual gross receipts of more than $250,000)
"In general, we already pay our employees more than the $6.85 per hour new minimum," says Kevin Priest of Cleveland Plant & Flower Co. in Parma, Ohio, and an SAF board member. "But any forced increase in wages can and probably will have an effect on small businesses that may have to cut staff in order to accommodate the new higher wages. It can also have a ripple effect that will raise all wages as other employees hear about certain staff receiving a raise and then feeling like the relationship between their wage and the rest of the staff is out of balance."
Priest says a forced hike in the minimum wage can also cause "adjustment to total employment, as a business has to balance its total wages against its ability to remain reasonably profitable."
All of the hourly employees at Bouquets in Denver make at least $9 per hour, says co-owner BJ Dyer, AAF, AIFD, so he doesn't anticipate an immediate impact on payroll. But as the gap between the minimum wage and Bouquets' minimum hourly of $9 closes, it could make them less competitive to some prospective employees. "When we hire again it may affect who we can draw to our basic support positions," he says.
Dyer anticipates a broader impact of the minimum wage increase on employment in Colorado, because the amount is annually increased for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index. "When the economy goes into hyper inflation, like it did in the '70's," Dyer says, "this law will be the main cause of very high unemployment for unskilled workers. In the future, this law could have dire consequences for our state economy."
--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
Home Ecology of Flowers Gets Double Hits in East Coast Press
Editors at more than 800 colleges and university news outlets got the word that "Flowers may help ease winter blues" on October 31. The syndicated wire service "U-News" picked up an article published in the Daily Free Press at Boston University which began: "As the last leaves fall from the trees...people are searching for new ways to battle the winter blues, and according to researchers, the cure could be as easy as stopping and smelling the roses."
The article is one of the first print news stories generated from a public relations campaign by the SAF/FPO Alliance, recently launched to promote its new Home Ecology of Flowers research conducted in partnership with Dr. Nancy Etcoff of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Reporting on the study findings, the Daily Free Press article notes that "people who have flowers in their homes 'feel
more compassionate toward others, have less worry and anxiety and feel less depressed.'" It continues with information from two earlier Rutgers University research studies sponsored by the SAF Fund for Nationwide Public Relations: The Emotional Impact of Flowers and Seniors and Flowers. SAF member Dennis Minihane, of Minihane's Flower and Garden Shop in Brighton, Mass., is quoted talking about the "immeasurable" impact of flowers on people, and the soothing effect and "spiritual message" conveyed when even a small gift of flowers is delivered.
Meanwhile, on November 3, an article titled "Flower Power Budding Research Shows Bouquets Lift Moods" ran in the Hartford Courant newspaper in Hartford Connecticut. "Feeling a little blue? Get thee to a flower shop..." it begins, going on to discuss research results that "participants who received flowers felt an increase in feelings of compassion and kindness for others." It quotes Dr. Etcoff noting that: "People also reported feeling happier, more energetic and more compassionate at work.''
The SAF/FPO Alliance Home Ecology public relations campaign was launched last month with a 15-city satellite media tour featuring Dr. Etcoff as spokesperson. The campaign continues with the distribution of a press kit and targeted pitching to national and local media nationwide. For more information on the study, visit www.aboutflowers.com and www.flowerpossibilities.com.
--Shelley Estersohn
sestersohn@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
1-800-Flowers Reports First Quarter Revenue Increase
1-800-Flowers.com, Inc. reported record revenues of $137.1 million for its fiscal first quarter, an increase of 21.6 percent, or $24.4 million, compared with revenues of $112.7 million last year. Revenue growth for the quarter was aided by the contribution from Fannie May Confections Brands, Inc. acquired by the company in May. ". . . we achieved this growth in a period that is our lowest in terms of revenue," says Jim McCann, CEO.
During the fiscal 2007 first quarter, revenues in the consumer floral category increased 8.2 percent, to $82.5 million, compared to $76.3 million last year. The company's BloomNet wire service saw revenues increase 58.7 percent, to $7.2 million, compared with $4.5 million a year ago.
--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
FTD Group Inc. Reports First Quarter Revenue Increase
FTD reported that its first quarter fiscal 2007 consolidated revenue grew $22.9 million, or 26.7 percent, to $108.8 million, compared to revenue of $85.9 million for the same period of fiscal year 2006, according to a company press release. Interflora, which the company acquired on July 31, accounted for $17.6 million of this increase in revenue. Growth in the company's domestic business contributed to the remaining $5.3 million increase.
Revenue from FTD's domestic consumer unit, which markets flowers and specialty gifts online and by phone, grew 14 percent to $47.4 million. Growth was driven by an 11.5 percent increase in order volume, with the Internet accounting for 88 percent of combined Web and telephone orders.
"We are pleased to begin fiscal 2007 with such solid results," says Michael J. Soenen, president and chief executive officer of FTD. "Our ability to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace allowed us to generate strong growth across all business segments."
Revenue from its domestic florist-to-florist segment fell about 1 percent, to $43.8 million, compared to $44.3 million in the same period last year. The prior year included $2.1 million of revenue related to the Renaissance Greeting Card business, which FTD sold last December.
--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
Holiday Hiring Slows?
Worried about rising interest rates, the conflict in Iraq and a "cooling" housing market, some retailers are cutting back on holiday hiring, according to a recent story in the Honolulu Advertiser.
"With fewer jobs being added to retailers' payrolls, competition for jobs will be higher," John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm, said to the Advertiser.
The newspaper reports that retailers added 692,800 temporary employees last year for winter holidays, including Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, compared to a hiring peak of 849,400 in 1999. This year, "seasonal hiring will be stagnant at best," according to the story.
To land reliable help and keep training costs in check, retailers will be looking to specific people for their hiring needs: former employees and loyal customers.
Still, some experts are more optimistic. The National Retail Federation is predicting that the average U.S. consumer, encouraged by factors such as decreasing gasoline costs, will spend $800 this year on holiday merchandise, an increase from about $740 last year. Read more about NRF predictions in the Nov. 1 issue of E-Brief.
"We will have to wait and watch," Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers, said to the Advertiser. "A lot can change by Thanksgiving weekend."
Weigh in on how your seasonal hiring trends are playing out by taking part in this week's E-poll.
--Mary Westbrook
mary.westbrook@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
Making Dollars From Scents
Logo? Check. Jingle? Check. Fragrance? What comes naturally to florists is fetching thousands of dollars from wanna-be-fragrant retailers. According to the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, smell has a greater impact on purchasing than everything else combined, Forbes recently reported.
A recent Time magazine story labels scent "the new Muzak." Companies jumping into the scent fray include Westin Hotels & Resorts (their white tea-scented ads appeared in the New Yorker and Vanity Fair), Pepsi (a cherry vanilla scent wafted from inserts in People magazine, for its new soda, Jazz) and Verizon, which paid for a chocolate scent to entice consumers into buying its chocolate-colored phones.
Stores, hotels and even museums (a children's museum exhibit on dinosaurs asked for the scent of dino dung and got it) have turned to a company called ScentAir, in Charlotte, N.C., to create a custom scent. At Bloomingdales, shoppers are surrounded during the holidays by the smell of sugar cookies, chocolate and evergreen. (ScentAir CEO David Van Epps told Forbes his BMW is scented with lavender and ylang-ylang.)
The company starts by asking clients to select from scent categories ("Fresh," "Environmental," "Floral," "Bakery," "Drink," "Candy," "Fruit," "Fun Food," "Holiday," and "Simulation.") The categories are further broken down into specific scents ("Jasmine" and "Rose" are included in the "Floral" category). The company then blends scents to create a custom aroma, charging from $5,000 up to $25,000. Retailers whose pockets aren't so deep go the off-the-shelf route, choosing from the 1,500 available fragrances, for about $100 a month, including equipment. ScentAir's year-to-date revenue is $12 million, quadruple the figure for the same period last year.
--Mary Ann Barton
mbarton@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
Americans Look Beyond Web for News
Thinking of ditching your ads in the local paper and focusing your money on local news Web sites instead? Not so fast. While Americans may be going online more to get news, the Web is rarely their only source of current event information -- or exposure to advertisements.
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press recently found that nearly one in three Americans regularly get news online, compared to 10 years ago, when one in 50 went online for news.
"For the most part, online news has evolved as a supplemental source that is used along with traditional news media outlets," according to the group's report. "It is valued most for headlines and convenience, not detailed, in-depth reporting."
Other findings include:
• When interviewed by researchers, 3 percent of respondents reported they had read something on a local or national newspaper site the previous day.
• While some experts place daily newspaper readership for print and online readers as high as 43 percent, the number is still well below daily print newspaper readership 10 years ago (50 percent).
• Fifty-seven percent of traditional newspaper readers claim the experience is "relaxing," compared to 44 percent of regular radio news consumers, 41 percent of TV news consumers and 33 percent of Internet news users.
Read the Pew report.
--Mary Westbrook
mary.westbrook@gmail.com
[return to
top]
|
|
Reader Feedback
Last week's story on a national florist certification generated this feedback, via e-mail, from a reader:
I think a program of this type is needed for the general public to be able to buy with confidence from a quality, reputable and reliable source.
However, I have some concerns. I am a shop owner that doesn't design but have grown the business with the use of good business and hiring practices. I employ, I feel, the best designers available, maintain the highest quality products and have fair and honest customer relations.
Many good designers are out of business because they could not run a business. It takes both to make a successful florist business. It is like an automobile dealership, the owner may not be able to work on cars, but his dealership has the best service because his employees are good mechanics, thus the dealership is a certified service center. This dealership is strong because of the owners' knowledge of the industry and of good hiring and business practices.
If certification could be tied to the design quality of the employees, services provided and the working knowledge of the florist industry by the owner/management, I would feel more comfortable with the program.
The wholesale florist industry and wire services might like to see a rating of business stability added to the certification, such as, years in business, annual sales (Rank by size), credit ratings (D&B rating), business reputation (BBB), etc.
Rod Bradshaw, Owner
Gilliland Flower Shop, Inc.
gillilandinc@bellsouth.net
[return to
top]
|
|
The Talk on the Forums: Curling Gerberas
A troubling problem with petals curling on Gerberas was resolved as the result of a round of conversation on the Care and Handling Discussion Forum on www.safnow.org. Even though the flowers had been properly processed, wrote a member, "within a few hours of being in the cooler, the petals curl down." Several possible solutions were offered. The last, spraying them several times with clear Crowning Glory, did the trick. Read the full "Gerbs" discussion.
Also on the forums:
Tips for posting web pix
When to wrap arrangements for cold-weather delivery.
Visit the Discussion Forums and post your own question.
--Shelley Estersohn
sestersohn@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
Product Spotlight: Custom Print Marketing Center
SAF makes direct mail marketing a snap with its Custom Print Marketing Center. Simply choose one of our attractive postcard designs, customize it with your information, decide who it's going to, and place your order. The process takes minutes, and your postcards will be in the mail within a few days. For more information, visit the Custom Print Marketing Center Web site.
--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
T'was the night before Christmas ... and florists are open!
Almost 67 percent of readers responding to last week's e-poll said that they would be open on Christmas Eve, while 33 percent said they would not be open.
--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
How do consumers buy floral products at Thanksgiving*
*includes all retail outlets for flowers
Source: IPSOS Insight FloralTrend Consumer Tracking Study, 2005
--Ira Silvergleit
isilvergleit@safnow.org
[return to
top]
|
|
