Market Report-3

U.S. Consumer Floral Purchasing for Proms & Dances

Rebounds from Recession: A P&P Mini-Report

Insight from the 2014 Prince & Prince U.S. Consumer Floral Tracking Survey

Drs. Tom & Tim Prince, Prince & Prince, Inc., Columbus, OH, U.S.A.

www.FloralMarketResearch.com

Special Note: This mini-report is based on new market research findings from the 2014 Prince & Prince (P&P) On-Site Seminar, “The U.S. Consumer Floral Tracking Survey, 2014 Edition”. The consumer floral purchasing metric for the “Proms & Dances” category is just one of over 100 purchasing metrics surveyed by P&P, and explored, analyzed, and discussed in the updated P&P on-site seminar, now available to members of the floral industry. For the 2014, 2010, and 2007 P&P consumer floral tracking surveys, the market research was sponsored by Smithers-Oasis, North America (SONA). P&P sincerely thank SONA for their continued support in making this consumer floral research possible, providing benefit for the entire floral industry.

This report shows the overall U.S. household incidence of floral purchasing for Proms & Dances in 2013, as well as consumer purchasing trends from 2010, 2007, and 2000[1]. Figure 1 shows that for 2013, about 16% of U.S. floral-buying households made at least one floral purchase for “Proms & Dances”, the highest percentage since P&P began tracking this consumer floral-usage category back in year 2000. P&P estimates that in 2013, about 12.7 million U.S. households made floral purchases for Proms & Dances, the highest in over a decade, and likely the highest number of households ever. P&P estimates that about 10.4 million households purchased floral for Proms & Dances in 2010, and a somewhat higher number in 2007 (11.8 million households), and about 11 million households way back in year 2000[2]. In fact, for 2013, consumer floral purchasing for Proms & Dances made a statistically significant rebound from the post-recession period of 2010, when it registered only 14%, down from the 15% registered in the prior two P&P surveys (year 2007 and 2000).

The consumer purchasing rebound for Proms & Dances in 2013 was largely pervasive throughout the U.S., registering purchasing gains in four out of five major U.S. regions. While these regional gains exemplify the broad rebound in consumer floral purchasing for Proms & Dances, the floral industry is quite far from “topping out” on this floral occasion, as the

current regional purchasing levels are far from the 25% level obtained in the Northeast region back in 2007 (prior to the U.S. recession).

Several consumer demographic groups drive floral purchasing for Proms & Dances, including annual household income, age of householder, and composition of the household, all of which are fully analyzed and discussed in the “Proms & Dances” report, available from Prince & Prince. This report clearly identifies market opportunities for the floral industry in expanding floral sales, and in helping to re-build the U.S. floral market.

To obtain this free report in pdf format, just e-mail Tom Prince at floralmktresearch@att.net and request the Proms & Dances report.

The updated 2014 Prince & Prince consumer floral seminar is also now available to members of the floral industry as a one-day (or half-day) on-site presentation to a management team. See Table 1 (below) for seminar description. Please contact P&P for seminar fees and scheduling.

Table 1: The Updated Prince & Prince Seminar

The U.S. Consumer Floral Tracking Survey, 2014 Edition*

Study Objectives, Survey Methods, and Survey Reliability

Demographic Profile of U.S. Floral-Buying Households

Age, Education, Income, Urbanization, US Regions, Singles, Social Media Usage

Annual Household Dollar Floral Spending

Annual Household Dollar Cut-Flower Spending

Annual Household Dollar Potted Plant Spending

Incidence of Floral-Product Purchasing

Arrangements, Bouquets, Cut Roses, Corsages, “Stems to Arrange”, Poinsettia, Azalea, Potted Mum, Easter Lily, Potted Orchid, Potted Spring Flowering Bulbs, Potted Hydrangea, Potted Hibiscus, Green Plant, and Dish Garden/ Planter

Incidence of Floral Purchasing for Holidays, Events, And Occasions

Mother's Day, Birthday Gift, Funeral Tribute, Valentine's Day, Anniversary, Get-Well Gift, Home Decoration, For Self Use, Christmas, Romantic Gift, Party Decoration, Easter, Cheer-Up Gift, Thank-You Gift, Wedding Ceremony, Proms & Dances, Thanksgiving, Host/Hostess Gift, New Baby Gift, Co-Worker Gift, Secretary's Day, For Church/Synagogue, Office Decoration, and Halloween

Channel Shares of Total Household Floral Spending

Cut-Flower Channel Shares and Potted Plant Channel Shares

Channel Classes: Florist Shops, National 800 Numbers, Internet (On-Line), Garden Centers, Farmers Markets Home/Hardware Centers, Discount & Super Discount Stores, Wholesale Stores, Street Vendors, Mail-Order Catalogs, and Convenience Stores

Floral Channel Performance (Households Evaluate Each Channel on 30 Attributes)

Defining Performance Factors (15 Factors): 24-Hour Access, Bouquet Selection, Delivery of Custom Orders, Do-It-Yourself Flowers, Ease of Buying, Fashionable Colors, Lacking Desirable Colors, Over-Priced, Plant Quality & Selection, Poor Quality, Premium Pricing, Sales Assistance/Courtesy, Unusual Flowers, Useful Web Site/Catalogs, Value

Channel Performance Factor Scores (Scores on 15 Factors for Each Channel Class)

Scores for Each Channel Class Overall

Scores for Each Channel Class by Consumer Demographics

Scores for Each Channel Class Over Time (2007, 2010, and 2013)

Modeling the Priorities of Consumer Floral Buyers

Key Performance Drivers to Consumer Satisfaction/ Floral Purchasing

Comparison of Drivers Across Consumer Demographics and Study Years

Consumer Satisfaction Scores for each Floral Channel Class

Consumer Intentions to Recommend Floral Business to Friend (Loyalty Measure)

Consumer Intentions for Future Purchasing from Floral Businesses

Increase Purchasing, No Purchasing Change, Decrease Purchasing

Question & Answer Session

* Survey metrics tracked from 2007 to 2010, and to 2013.

[1] The Prince & Prince U.S. Consumer Floral Tracking Survey. 1,065 randomly-selected U.S. floral-buying households responded to the survey in year 2000, 1,208 in 2007, 1,280 in 2010, and 915 in 2013.

[2] Purchasing estimates based on number of U.S. households in survey year, estimated household participation rate in the floral market in survey year, and incidence of household floral purchasing for Proms & Dances in survey year.