Valentine’s Day is an important "floral holiday" for the floral industry, with an estimated $2.9 billion dollar market value (retail value) in the U.S. Prince & Prince (P&P) has been tracking U.S. consumer floral purchasing behavior for Valentine’s Day (and 20+ other holidays and occasions) periodically over the past two decades with their national consumer floral purchasing surveys, and are able to identify salient purchasing trends for the industry. For the most recent P&P survey in 2013, the percentage of U.S. floral-buying households making a floral purchase for Valentine’s Day was 49%, down three percentage points since P&P’s prior survey in 2010, and the lowest purchasing incidence since P&P’s initial consumer survey in 1996 (53%). Statistical trend analysis of the historical consumer purchasing data reveals a slight downward linear trend in household floral purchasing for Valentines Day since 1996.
P&P suggest that the floral industry is largely unaware of this loss in market penetration for Valentine’s Day due to three factors: 1) the considerable size of the Valentine’s Day market, 2) the number of households in the U.S. continues to expand, thus bolstering the size of the overall market over time, and 3) shifts in the number of households that participate in the floral market over time. All of these factors mask the decline in household floral purchasing for Valentines Day, but the slow decline in market penetration for this holiday is real, and according to P&P, troublesome. P&P forward reasons for the decline, and proclaim that the long-term consumer trends represent a "wake-up" call for the industry. In addition, P&P reveal key consumer segments that are "bucking" the long-term decline, and expanding their floral purchasing for Valentine’s Day. P&P also suggest marketing strategies to garner these specific consumer segments.
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