State of the Industry: Florists in the U.S. Published September 2013
Drivers of Industry Growth The U.S. florists industry posted a modest sales gain in 2012, following two years of incremental increases. Prior to 2010, the industry experienced a threeyear period of declining sales. In the early to mid 2000s, retail florist sales grew at a steady pace, but industry growth fell into negative territory from 2007 to 2009.
Competition
from
supermarkets,
Internet
retailers,
and
mass
merchandisers contributed to declining sales in the retail florist industry during this time, however, it was the poor economy that further impacted the industry in 2008 and 2009, as high unemployment and shrinking disposable incomes led to negative florist sales growth. During the 2002 to 2006 period, the industry was positively affected by a growing economy, which ultimately led to rising personal disposable incomes.
Although flowers are not always expensive,
florists tend to sell their products at higher than average prices. rising disposable incomes will benefit these establishments.
Therefore,
Whether it is for
personal use, a gift, or a special occasion, consumers are more apt to spend money on flowers and similar products when their disposable incomes are high. The massive spending power of the Baby Boomer generation, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as persons born between 1946 and 1964, will continue to impact the retail florist industry for the next several years, but other generations are becoming more and more important to the industry’s success.
While
Generation X consumers (persons generally born between 1965 and 1978) are next in line, it’s the Millennial generation (persons generally born between 1979 and 1994) that actually rivals the size of Baby Boomers and are the future of the florist industry.
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, will be an important
group of art consumers in the coming years, as the population of this group
© Sundale Research, 2013
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