The Effects of Inflation Upon Florists

26/10/10

Inflation has remained stubbornly high for UK consumers. With the CPI rate (minus mortgage payments) in or around 3% in 2010, flowers, a luxury to most, will not be at the top of a shopping list for most households. With UK wages being frozen, or increased below inflation, the purchasing power of consumers will continue to fall.

The question florists will be asking, is, how can we maximise profits from the customers we will have? The BPA (British Florist Association) has published results from the DHPB (Dutch Horticulture), which has identified three consumer groups shopping at florists. Named, the ’arranger’, ‘sniffer’ and ‘swift’, the site provides a strategy to maxmise profits from each.

Alongside an 'online strategy workshop' for florists, the BPA are doing their best to help florists navigate through a tough trading period. With a VAT rise in 2011, the short term indicators are of little comfort. Today's news, a 0.8% rise in the UK economy from June-August, is at least one crumb of comfort. Lets hope that the VAT increase, and job cuts in the public sector will not drag the economy back into recession.