Reminder

If Wishes Were Horses ...

 ... we would be willing to bet every florist in the U.S. could ditch those exhaust-emitting vans and deliver flowers via their very own cavalry. So tell us, what are your holiday wishes? To get someone to give your Web site a brand new look? A marketing campaign that will reach the younger generations? A fleet of Budweiser horses to help get deliveries out by carriage when the weather gets bad (see, we knew it was a good idea)? Send your business-related wishes to vmachir@safnow.org and we'll print the best ones in E-Brief. As an added incentive, everyone who writes in by Dec. 19 and includes their company's name and mailing address in their e-mail will receive a FREE copy of SAF's "The Marketing Edge" (read more about this powerful tool in this issue's Product Spotlight). What do you wish for?

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Headlines

Input Needed for National Agriculture Standard

SAF is urging the industry's growers and wholesalers to take advantage of a public comment period for the first U.S. national standard for sustainable agriculture. 

The Draft National Sustainable Agriculture Standard for Trial Use, which will apply to food, fiber, floral and energy crops, was released for comment in October 2007. This standard, scheduled for completion in 2010, will provide industry members with an opportunity to voluntarily participate in a program to certify for product labeling that identifies their company and products as sustainable.

"The current standard draft covers many areas and issues of agriculture and is, therefore, very broad," says Peter Moran, SAF CEO. "We encourage industry members to become familiar with the standard's development to ensure it is feasible and affordable for your business so you can make an educated decision on participation," he adds. 

SAF has been monitoring the process and met in September with Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), the independent, third party certifier that drafted the agriculture standard. "We stressed the importance of floral industry participation in this process," says Moran. 

An introductory stakeholder meeting was held in California in late October and a follow-up teleconference on Dec. 3. SAF was represented at both in order to gain an understanding of the process. Ultimately, the standards will be accredited by the Amercian National Standard Institute (ANSI). Once accredited by ANSI, the standards can be used by any qualified third party to create a certification program.

Two additional informational teleconferences will take place on Jan. 7, 2008, 10-11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), and Feb. 4, 2008, 10-11 a.m. PST. To register for one of these teleconferences or to receive information directly, contact Johna Roth at the Leonardo Academy, a standards development organization, at johna@leonardoacademy.org.

In addition, the Leonardo Academy will form a Standards Committee in April, made up of up to 40 members, balanced between "producers," "users" (those who use the standard to purchase), "environmentalists" and "general interest."

Applications for the committee, which will meet about four times a year, are due April 7, and committee members will be chosen by April 11. There will also be a number of subcommittees, which can have an unlimited number of attendees and will meet via teleconference, as well as advisory committees and "sector annexes."
 
Read more about the standard and gain a better understanding of the process.

--Drew Gruenburg
dgruenburg@safnow.org

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Floral Associations Working to Combat Inspection Delays

Inspection delays at U.S. Customs in Miami should not impact the movement of product through Miami during Valentine's Day, according to Christine Boldt, of the Association of Floral Importers of Florida (AFIF) and other organizations looking into the issue.

The delays stem back to 2003, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was formed and agricultural inspectors were moved from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to DHS's Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

"There has been miscommunication and inefficiency that resulted from that move, and this has slowed down the inspections process," says Drew Gruenburg, SAF's chief operating officer.

Other causes of inspection delays include training of new personnel in the Miami airport, the time it takes to address pest and disease interceptions and the fact that Congress has not yet passed a fiscal year 2008 budget for CBP, resulting in a shortfall of overtime allocations.

In response to concerns raised by members about delays in port inspections, especially in Miami, SAF, in conjunction with Wholesale Florists & Florist Suppliers Association (WF&FSA), AFIF and the Produce Marketing Association, sent out an information sheet to wholesalers and importers detailing the specifics of the issue.

Boldt says AFIF is working to get new Miami airport staff up-to-speed and sponsoring USDA pest seminars to help reduce pest interception delays at the border. Boldt says she has been assured that getting Valentine's Day and Mother's Day product out should not be a problem.

"Next week I am giving tours [with the new port director and assistant port director] of the flower facilities so they can better understand our business ... It is very important for them to see what happens when the trucks leave their airport and how fast we have to move the flowers," she says. "I [also] have a meeting next Wednesday with CBP — they have assured me they have plans from headquarters that will cover us for the upcoming holiday season, even thought their budget has not been approved."

SAF also is working with WF&FSA, AFIF and PMA to address concerns and identify solutions.

Telling the industry's story on Capitol Hill and lobbying to streamline the inspection process is part of the solution, says Gruenburg, who adds "SAF would like to see agricultural quarantine and inspection functions now at the Department of Homeland Security moved back to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Our industry, and all parts of agriculture, will be better served by returning those functions to the USDA."

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

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Writers' Strike Affects Local Economy

Florists are among the countless number of businesses affected by the six-week long Writers Guild of America strike.

On Dec. 9, hundreds of film and television production workers were joined by florists, caterers and others who have lost their income, for "Strike a Deal," a march through Hollywood urging both the studios and the writers to come to a settlement, according to Reuters.

Corrie Levelle, of Sandy Rose Floral Designs in North Hollywood, which specializes in set design and provides floral props for shows such as Desperate Housewives and The Office, was just one of the almost 500 people that took part in the demonstration.

"It felt really good to get out there and finally get our voices heard," Levelle says. "I felt we were able to be proactive, when for the last couple of weeks we've felt helpless."

Levelle says the strike has affected her business in "terrible" ways. She's laid off most of her employees, and if it continues into next week, she'll have to close her doors until there's work available again.

"I've been asked why I don't diversify and look for parties or weddings," Levelle says. "But what people from around the country don't understand is what kind of effect the entertainment industry has on our local economy. With so many people laid off, there's not a lot of parties, and if I book a wedding now, it's not going to happen for months or a year from now. That's not going to help me. Those kinds of events are drying up too."

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

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Holiday Sales Update

With less than two weeks before Christmas, it is still not clear if this is going to be a boom or bust for retailers. Here is where the season stands to date:

• E-commerce sales for the first 32 days covering Nov. 1 to Dec. 2 reached $14 billion, up 17 percent over last year, according to comScore, Inc.

• Cyber Monday turned out to be the highest grossing online sales day so far this season. Sales hit $733 million, slightly outpacing sales on Thursday, Nov. 29 and up 21 percent over 2006. Just under half of the e-commerce sales came from work locations; slightly more than that came from home settings. The number of online buyers on Cyber Monday was up 38 percent from last year; however, the average dollars spent per buyer was down 12 percent. New Cyber Monday buyers spent less than returning buyers.

• ComScore predicts online shopping for the season will be up 20 percent over last year, reaching $29.5 billion.

• Brick and mortar stores experienced the usual drop in sales following Black Friday, the Friday of the Thanksgiving weekend and the official start of the holiday shopping season. ShopperTrak RCT Corp found sales at the 50,000 retail outlets it monitors fell for the week ending Saturday, Dec. 1 by 4.4 percent from a year ago period, the largest year-over-year sales decline since March. Total sales fell 12.5 percent from the previous week ending Nov. 24. Same store sales were up 3.1 percent for the week ending Nov. 24, but fell 2 percent from the previous week, according to the UBS-International Council of Shopping Centers.

• After racking up large discounts over the Thanksgiving weekend, consumers retreated, leaving retailers with mixed sales results for the month of November.

--Ira Silvergleit
isilvergleit@safnow.org

   

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Valentine's Day Promotion Combines Flowers and Jewelry

Teleflora's Diamonds & Roses Bouquet

Last year the National Retail Federation reported that predicted spending on Valentine's Day would continue to increase, and more than half of the men planning on making purchases for the holiday of love (58.3 percent) would be spending that money on flowers, while 27.6 percent would be spending it on jewelry.

This year Teleflora, in its effort to build Teleflora as a consumer brand by tying promotions to its holiday product line, is combining these two popular gift items with its Valentine's Day program, "Diamonds and Roses" sweepstakes.

"To combine roses and jewelry sounded like a really romantic idea," Natalie Gath, director of consumer marketing for Teleflora, says. "This is completely new and unprecedented for us. This Valentine's Day we're providing more than just a vase."

Starting Jan. 14, every time a consumer purchases either Teleflora's Diamonds & Roses Bouquet (left) or Diamond Cut Bouquet, a game piece with an entry code and instructions on the back will be attached to the bouquets. Consumers will be directed to Diamondsandroses.com where they have to input the code and the vault "opens" revealing whether they are an instant winner of a diamond pendant necklace; 1,000 customers will have the opportunity to win this necklace.

Consumers can enter without purchasing a bouquet by going to Diamondsandroses.com and mailing in a request for a game piece, which will then be sent to the customer. The contest will run from Jan. 14 through midnight, Feb. 29 and the grand prize drawing for a pair of $50,000 diamond earnings will be announced on or about March 15, 2008.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

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Newsmakers

For Prosser, It's Events-Only

Juggling big budget event work alongside the retail business is something some florists can relate to — and others wish they could. High-end event designer and retail florist Ian Prosser, AAF, AIFD, NDSF, PFCI, is tired of the juggle. The Scotland-born florist, whose clients have included the likes of Tom Cruise and the Backstreet Boys, is leaving retail to focus solely on event work.

"My job [now] is to be the face of Botanica and sell the parties," Prosser says.

Prosser opened Botanica International Florist in Tampa, Fla., in 1989, and added a second location, Botanica Boca Grande, in 2005. Event work steadily grew and comprised about 60 percent of total sales.

Prosser says it became difficult to run the retail flower shop and address the demands of the labor and time-intensive event work — which, for him, is both a labor of love and profits.

"There's a lot of money to be made in it," he says. "With an event, there's no speculation. When the product comes in the door, it's sold — that's the wonderful advantage to it."

Prosser bought a new space (formerly an art gallery) for Botanica International Design Studio in Tampa, which opened its doors on Nov. 19, where he and his design team create events and see clients, by appointment, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Just last weekend, Prosser did the event design for the wedding of pop singer Howie Dorough from the Backstreet Boys, and the celebrity news reporters and photographers were there to capture every moment of it. In fact, Prosser's designs from the wedding were featured on Monday's edition of Entertainment Tonight and will be in next week's issue of OK! Magazine.

Doing celebrity events isn't anything new for Prosser. He has done high-end design work for celebrities such as Tom Cruise (three days of parties, leading up to his birthday celebration), and he led SAF's Inauguration Floral Design Team that did the floral décor for George W. Bush's 2001 presidential inauguration. 

Prosser says he wins high-profile events because his team is well educated in floral design and knows how to apply trends to event design. "We just offer something different from everyone else," he says. "We tend to be ahead of the curve."

Prosser says 30 percent in event sales is about as high as a retail florist can handle, without having to rethink his or her business model. Controlling cost of goods is key, however, "The cost of goods has to be absolutely, perfectly in place. Your cost of goods should be no more than 20 percent."

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

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Penny's Flowers Celebrates 70 Years with Good Press

Sometimes free publicity falls in your lap. Ask the Pannepacker family, owners of Penny's Flowers in Glenside, Pa. The business is celebrating its 70th anniversary, and, thanks to a recent news article, the whole community knows it.

The Glenside News ran an article, "Business is Blooming," in its Nov. 28 issue, about Penny's, which was opened in 1937 by Vincent, Sr. and Emily Pannepacker. "With a customer base of 32,000, Penny's draws orders from all over the United States ... for nearly a decade, the Glenside business has ranked in FTD's Top 100 of about 20,000 U.S. flower shops," the article says.

Vincent and Emily's son, Rick Pannepacker, who now runs the shop with sister Joanne Jurich, and brother Bob and his wife Dottie, says he's not sure how the newspaper got hold of the news about the shop's anniversary. "Since we have been around a long time ... there have been other articles over the years," he says.

Pannepacker attributes the shop's ability to stay competitive over the years to its involvement in the community, making it a well-known fixture in Glenside, and that "we don't do mass distribution — we have one designer per piece, and each piece is a work of art."

To help celebrate its longtime success, Penny's has been recognizing a "Teacher of the Month" from two local elementary schools every month since the school year started. The winning teacher is presented with a bouquet of flowers and has a picture taken with his or her class. Dottie Pannepacker says that this could draw even more publicity — when she mentioned "Teacher of the Month" to Glenside News reporter Melissa Brooks while being interviewed for the anniversary article, Brooks offered to send along a photographer to capture the presentation ceremony.

The shop also held an open house in honor of its anniversary and the holiday season on Dec. 8 and 9, during the community's Christmas ceremony. During this event, Penny's sponsored one of four horse-drawn carriages to take community members around the neighborhoods to view Christmas decorations.

In addition, the shop has put up some memorabilia from its past, like vintage photographs taken when it first opened. "It's a lot of fun," says Dottie Pannepacker. "We have a large walk-in trade, so people like to come in ... and reminisce."

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

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Trends and Tips

Tune Up for Turquoise?

Break out the legwarmers. Warm up your cassette players. The '80s are back, sort of.

According to the British trend forecasting Web site Trendwatching.com, turquoise — that staple of '80s fashions — is coming back in a big way, primed to take its place in fashion and home décor over the course of the next three years.

"If you're into fast or faster fashion, read our lips: turquoise," reports the Web site. Trendwatching.com goes on to report the color will hit consumers in full force in Fall 2011. And if that date seems too far off to care, think again, says Kathy Dudley of The Bloomery in Butler, Pa.

"Any progressive florist that is aiming to serve the younger generations needs to be aware of the color trends and offer product accordingly," Dudley says. "A few pieces of colored glassware, ribbons that coordinate, etc., are easy ways to incorporate the current trend into the normal offerings of a florist business without completely changing the interior decor and shop image just to match the current trend."

Dudley says color predictions are particularly relevant to wedding segments — an area in which The Bloomery thrives.

"We are most often affected by the color trends when we are working with weddings," says Dudley, adding that Butler is usually several years behind New York in terms of color trends. "Bridesmaid dresses are the first places we see the color trend appear. I suspect, based on the number of chocolate and pink combinations we have done over the past year, that turquoise will be in our sights in a year or two."
 
For more on 2008-2009 color trends, see the January issue of Floral Management magazine, which will feature the American Floral Trends Forecast.

--Mary Westbrook
mwestbrook@safnow.org

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Mark Your Calendar

Resistant Bugs, New Pests Threaten Floral Crops -- SAF Pest Management Conference has the Answers

Just as soon as growers learn to fight one bug or plant disease, new or resistant strains show up. The good news is, better pest and disease control techniques, as well as tools and products, are being developed to help meet the challenge. Growers can get up to date on the latest science and talk to experts in the field at SAF's 24th Annual Pest Management Conference in Atlanta, Feb. 28-March 1. Get the complete conference schedule and register online or download the full brochure now.

--Shelley Estersohn
sestersohn@safnow.org

 
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On the Horizon

• Deadline for SAF Awards nominations and PFCI and AAF applications: Feb. 1, 2008.
• SAF's Congressional Action Days: Feb. 25-26, 2008, in Washington, D.C. Register online.
• SAF's Pest Management Conference: Feb. 28-March 1, 2008, in Atlanta. Register online.
• SAF Palm Beach 2008: Sept. 17-20, 2008, at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla.
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Regular Features

Reader Feedback: Eating at Work

BJ Dyer, AAF, AIFD, of Bouquets in Denver was interested in our story in the previous week's issue of E-Brief about workplace eating. He says it got him thinking about allowing food in the workplace, the inefficiencies it sometimes causes — and whether businesses should have a policy about it. See this week's E-poll so you can tell us what you think.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Product Spotlight: The Marketing Edge

Want to start an innovative, effective marketing campaign in the New Year? Get an edge over competitors with SAF's "The Marketing Edge" (Click on "How-to Marketing Kits and scroll down). This complete guide to local marketing features a 32-page booklet that details marketing options, steps for developing a marketing plan and tips on building effective campaigns. Plus, you'll get two CD-ROMS with 100 holiday and non-holiday ads, a library of illustrations and photos, and marketing plan worksheets.

Resounding 'No' For Cyber Weekend Promotions

One-hundred percent of florists responding to the previous week's e-poll said they do not offer any special promotions for Cyber Monday or Cyber Weekend.

--Vanessa Machir
vmachir@safnow.org

 
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Poinsettia Sales on Track

Poinsettia sales remained somewhat steady in 2006, according to SAF's post-Christmas online survey of retail florists. Almost half the respondents reported sales of Poinsettias "about the same" as the year before. A quarter of the florists saw their sales improve from the previous year (24 percent) while almost a third (31 percent) reported declines. Roughly 59 million Poinsettias were sold for Christmas 2006. 

Poinsettia Sales, 2006

Source: SAF 2006 Post-Christmas Online Survey of retail florists. Based on 358 responses (response rate 9 percent).

--Ira Silvergleit
isilvergleit@safnow.org

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