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Trends and Research -
Fashion/Decor/Color
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If you’re among the throng of retailers who have been holding back on your holiday purchases, then it’s not too late to make sure your holiday inventory reflects the latest trends. I got a quick trends rundown from AFIA’s design guru J Schwanke, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, who knows the showrooms at the Dallas Market Center’s Holiday and Home Expo inside and out and is, consequently, one of the industry’s best trend-spotters. Whether you still have some holiday buying to do or are looking for some inspiration to drive your display strategy, J, who’s CEO of UBloom, says, “it’s never too late to be in touch with what’s cool, hip and happening.” J’s take on trends:
 Go Green. In color, product lines or even attitude, green sells, J says: “Display green plants, green trees, green ornaments.” Don’t limit your vision of green, either, because trendy greens include the entire range: forest green, grass green, mint green, chartreuse, or money green.” And, in the “for what it’s worth” category: Martha Stewart recently painted her Picket Fence in the Hamptons mint green. “That says it all,” Schwanke says. “Green is in. Use it.”
 Abide by Dried. Dried flowers are hot again, Schwanke says, and this trend connects with the green movement. Artistic wood pieces, pods, mosses, lychens, and dried flowers all speak to the reuse and recycle trend. (Ask your suppliers about where and how the flowers are harvested and preserved, so you can share that info with inquiring customers). Schwanke says natural is in, so think: brown paper bag, craft paper, greens and harvest colors. “This is an awesome look for the fall,” he tells us.
 Black is back. That’s not to say that brown is disappearing, mind you, after all, what speaks to safety and home better than chocolate brown. But black has been “patiently waiting in the wings,” as J puts it. Black Christmas trees and accessories for this holiday are “classic, timeless and speak to an air of sophistication.” And that’s not all: Black is protective, classy and “high brow sexy!” J says.
 Don’t deny tradition. Even J can admit that nothing sells like traditional Christmas. And in case you’re a true slave to trends and need a reminder of what that means: red and green, Santa, sugar plums. “When the going gets tough... we retreat to the warm snuggly memories of Christmas' past... warm cookies, soft blankets, Christmas presents and trees... all dressed in holiday red and green.” But he says you can update the look, with tomato red and apple green or other variations on the classic green, or try using acid green with holiday red, to give traditional Christmas a “spark” that draws attention.
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Trends and Research -
Business
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I grew up listening to Walter Cronkite report the evening news and like many Americans during those years, I believed in what he said from the news desk. His recent death has brought the word “trust” to the forefront of my mind more than once in the last few days. After all, during his career as anchor of the CBS Evening News various polls identified him as the “most trusted man in America.” What working journalist today would approach that high perch?
Trust is partially a matter of authenticity. For Cronkite listeners, his depth of experience and kind demeanor was the real thing, and that translated into trust.
But who do you trust now? In today’s ever-changing world of communication and social media, authenticity comes in the form of opinions and recommendations from people you know and from consumers online.
An April study conducted by Nielsen Co. found that when it comes to trust, personal recommendations and consumer opinions posted online are most valued by consumers worldwide. Ninety percent of respondents said they trust recommendations from people they know, while 70 percent said they trusted consumer opinions posted online. Branded Web sites were also trusted by 70 percent of respondents.
The twice-yearly Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey gauged opinions from 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries. The results,said a Nielsen executive, show that advertisers are being forced to use “a more realistic form of advertising that is grounded in the experience of consumers rather than in the lofty goals of advertisers.”
In other words, a satisfied customer who is eager to share that satisfaction with other is a highly credible and mostly likely very effective, selling tool.
If you ever underestimated the power of word of mouth and word of mouse referrals, this survey clears up those doubts and underscores where the trust lies these days – in the hands of the connected consumer.
The California Cut Flower Commission recently took its latest campaign right to one very connected group with a strong following online. Read here how it tapped into the live wire of mommy bloggers to California-grown flowers.
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Trends and Research -
Business
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This year’s Seeley Conference, held a few weeks ago at Cornell University, generated lots for business owners to chew on with the theme of “Chaos: Are You Realizing the Opportunity?” Thoughtful and thought provoking discussion centered around meaty terms like market disruption, consumer psyche, business Darwinism, generational evolution, information omnivores and . . . Twitter.
As always with the Seeley Conference, practical takeaway is a matter of personal review, analysis and contemplation and not something that is always immediately apparent. But that’s part of the conference’s unique character as an industry “think tank.” (And yes that’s a shameless plug for the conference on which, in the interest of full disclosure, I serve as a member of its board of directors.)
Here are a few tidbits among the many I took away:
• As a society we have moved from conspicuous consumption to conscious consumption to newfound frugality.
• 75 percent of Americans have changed their buying behaviors in the last few months.
• 91 percent of Americans wear seatbelts, up four percent from last year.
• Consumer use of coupons is way up. Reward programs are way up.
• Consumers increasingly want to be in a partnership with a business and not just in a transactional relationship. That requires authenticity and honesty on the part of the business.
• Power -- a business telling people what to do -- is out. Strength -- built from engaging customers through social media (among other ways) -- is in.
• There is no future in selling undifferentiated commodities.
• The industry is not shouting out loud enough how flowers and plants improve our quality of life – and we own that theme.
• Word of mouth marketing is considered to be one of the most effective and “truthful” methods of marketing.
Do any of these resonate with you? Are any of them actionable? If so, please share your thoughts.
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Trends and Research -
Industry Statistics
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“How’s it going?”
We ask this question pretty much every time we’re on the phone with an SAF member. Anecdotally, it gives us a sense of how the industry is doing. But toward the end of last year, we wanted to get more of a “statistically accurate” sense for how our members are doing in this recession.
So we sent an “economic outlook” survey late in January to SAF members. We asked about how business was going, what the prospects were for things improving, whether you were adjusting your staff levels. The results were interesting – and you can see them in the Spring issue of SAF’s Floral Trend Tracker.
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