Floral update: Colors, Consumers, Conferences and Councils

February 26, 2024

Everyone has a “color of year,” from Pantone to Sherwin Williams to HGTV – the list goes on. It’s not so much the color that is important, it’s how the color speaks to us.

Some people like to spend time in the outdoors and may gravitate towards earth tones.  These people would love the collection of soft muted tones of browns, greens, and mustard yellow – or even a sky blue to add lightness.  They may also prefer potted plants – foliage or blooming.

If you know the people you serve, you can provide these types of offerings, driven by color and tone but truly enmeshed in the experience of purchasing and enjoying your product.

Talk to your customers, find out what they like and the type of people they buy flowers and plants for.  Listen and plan your products based on this feedback and your customers will understand you care about how they enjoy your product.  This will help turn customers into clients, that want to do business with your company because you treat them as more than just a transaction.  

If you’re planning to join us in Anaheim, we will learn more about this from an expert at the Floral Conference on February 27th . If you’re not registered yet, get yourself signed up for our Floral Conference in Miami because Anaheim is sold out!

There are other ways to use color to attract customers to explore your floral department.

Utilizing trends in color to attract customers.  Color in Merchandising is what attracts people to your display.  It can be up to 80% of why someone has come to take a closer look. Taking a closer look, of course, drives your likelihood of purchasing – especially if you’re on trend and aligned with your customer’s interests.

Color of flowers have meanings rooted in cultural experience. Now, I’ve been in this industry since dirt was invented, and while I never utilized this approach personally, there is an opportunity to think about how to help your customers connect with your product for a variety of different reasons and occasions. Here are some of the culturally connected meanings behind colors:

Red- passion, desire, love
Blue- relaxation, peace and calm
White- purity, innocence and bereavement
Green- renewal and youthfulness
Orange- excitement and enthusiasm

Purple- success and admiration
Yellow- joy and happiness
Pink- gentleness, femininity, and love

We just passed Valentine’s Day, the holiday for floral sales making up 20% of a supermarket’s annual floral sales. Red and pink are inextricably tied to the holiday and red does sell! We see it represent 40-50% of sales! This is not surprising when we consider how connected the color red is with the holiday. Many times, partners are thinking “I have to get red because love = red.”

Some companies did test this theory and found that color IS really important to the recipient. When you consider what results in future purchases, the delight of those receiving floral has a huge impact on whether someone will purchase floral as a gift again.

Color rules aren’t fixed! You’ll find, especially with younger generations, that while people enjoy buying colors associated with holidays, many love all colors all year round. You can still sell orange in December because some people really like orange, or purple, or aqua. Keeping your mind open and testing your customer’s interests is a great way to uncover new customers and build stronger connections with those existing customers who may have personal or cultural preferences to other colors not always available all year round.

If you’re looking to find out how to use color to help your sales, IFPA will have a (free) webinar on color on March 19th to discuss ways to use color to help sales.  Experts on the webinar will share many ways they’ve successfully utilized color to sell floral. Register now for this webinar.

On another note, did you know that the Floral Council and its many volunteers is one of the largest committees in comparison to size of membership at all of IFPA?  That is powerful representation of our industry. Right now there are 6 Floral Task Forces that are dedicated to doing one thing to move the industry and there are some openings on these task forces.

Floral Sustainability Task Force
POS Data and information Task Force
Updated Potted Plant Guide Task Force- currently working on Blooming Indoor
Floral Demand Creation Task Force
Floral Global Expansion Task Force
Floral Global Show- currently working on ways to keep Saturday exciting for Retailers

If you have any thoughts on what else needs a task force, we welcome your thoughts.

If you want to become a part of something bigger than yourself and make a change, or just network with others, please join a group to make a difference. I’d be happy to help you find the right spot if you’re curious.

On a final note, I mentioned that we sold out Anaheim taking place this week. If you’re coming to the Conference, I look forward to seeing you. We definitely want to see you in Miami, too! Register now to join us on June 18 in Miami, Florida.

Floral update: Colors, Consumers, Conferences and Councils

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