There’s not a news channel you can look at without getting as depressed as the economy itself. But how does the flower business react to these developments?
According to some, flowers give a pretty good indication on peoples trust in the future. Flowers are luxury products, so maybe it’s true. The simple idea behind the statement is that when people are positive they will buy flowers and when they are negative they won’t. It seems a bit ridiculous and far-fetched, but let’s take a look at that statement for a minute.
According to information from Flora Holland, the organization behind the big flower auctions in the Netherlands, the flower business in the Netherlands was mildly effected by the financial crisis in 2008. The turnover was a good 4 billion (!!!) Euro’s, which is a small increase from 2007. For 2009 Flora Holland expects an increase of 1%. If this is the case, then the statement mentioned above seems false.
Another statistic caught my eye though: plant sales increased with 5%, while cut flower sales decreased with 3%. People seem to choose for durable in stead of short living cut flowers. If you look at it that way, flowers sales might say something about peoples trust: consumers choose to buy longer lasting objects, which they can hold on to for a longer period. When the future looks dark, people choose for steady, durable, long-lasting flowers to cheer them up. Cut flowers are the victim in this scenario.
So far our company has noticed that especially customers from Great-Britain fall back in flower sales. This is pretty easy to explain, because the British pound has decreased tremendously in value the last year, so all products from Euro nations are more expensive. But maybe I’ve got some good news: flower growers tend not to decrease their production. This means the amount of produced flowers will stay stable, while the demand decreases. In time this will result in lower flower prices. We are looking at flower prices at the auction with great interest already. Maybe it’s not such a bad idea to go for cut flowers if you look at it that way.
Of course I will always advise to buy flowers and I look at the story above from a completely different angle. It shouldn’t be like when you’re seeing a bad future ahead, you choose not to buy flowers. Especially when the future is dark, flowers can shine a light at the end of the tunnel. If everybody gets just a little more positive through flowers, we will all see the bright side of life again.
No comments:
Post a Comment