Apr 18, 2014

Study Offers Strategies to Win Over Non-Flower BuyersSource: Floral Marketing Research Fund

The Floral Marketing Research Fund (FMRF) highlighted additional results from its Purchasing Barriers for Non-Flower Buyers study. The findings offer insight into what discourages or encourages customers to purchase flowers by examining consumers who have not purchased flowers in the past 12 months.

The study aimed to:

• Identify the demographics of non-flower buyers;
• Examine transactional factors like purchase channel and amount spent;
• Determine why consumers choose non-floral gifts over flowers; and
• Propose strategies to convert non-flower buyers to flower buyers.

“The study results revealed that an alarming eight in 10 adults surveyed do not plan on buying flowers in the next year and offered suggestions on how to possibly sway them,” Gabriel Becerra, FMRF committee member and president of Golden Flowers, said. “The full report contains troves of information industry members can use in attempts to boost floral sales. The results are available online today, and then we should do our job!”

Maintain a Strong Online Presence

Today, most adults are comfortable shopping online, making it even more crucial to display some of your most eye-catching and creative designs or products on the web. Plus, results of the study indicated that having a strong Internet presence, glowing customer reviews and great social networking skills are key to capturing the business of young adults.

Encourage In-Store Browsing

Across genders and age ranges, browsing products and arrangements in the store is what most inspires customers who are searching for gift ideas. Recommendations from others and customer reviews were also noted as especially important.

Flowers are for Everyone

Most survey responders did not view flowers as an appropriate gift for men. Marketing efforts to position flowers as the perfect gift for holidays like Father’s Day could be helpful in curtailing this belief.

The good news, however, is that flowers are considered a versatile gift that is appropriate for a variety of occasions. One survey responder, age 50-54, was asked to describe a situation when she might give flowers to someone and replied:

“A friend who needs a ‘pick me up.’ A granddaughter who does something special (competition, award in school). Mother for Mother’s Day. Family member or friend who deserves recognition for an accomplishment. To soothe the loss of a loved one or loved pet.”

To access the full report and executive summary, create a free account at www.floralmarketingresearchfund.org.