WHAT FLORISTS SHOULD UNDERSTAND ABOUT THEIR FLOWER WHOLESALER

I remember being a florist and working with my flower wholesaler and really not having a clue on how the industry worked from the flower wholesaler's point of view, how they order, how their relationship is with the farms. I just learned very quickly that my relationship with my wholesaler was key to my success.  I recently sat down with Sahid Nahim of New Bloom Solutions to chat more about the floral industry.

The Problem with the Floral Industry

One complaint that Sahid had when it comes to the floral industry is that it is far too segmented. The florists aren’t communicating with their flower wholesalers and are not having an open conversation.  The flower wholesalers are not having open conversations with the flower farms.  And the flower farms are not looking for open conversations.  Because of this, Sahid believes the floral industry is far too segmented and that we need to come together as a community.  It shouldn’t be just a transactional industry, it needs to be more intentional about creating relationships and using empathy of sorts to understand what we all need.  The more information we know about the florist, the flower wholesaler, farms, distributors, and the logistics that are all involved, then we are so much more empowered to make the right decisions when it comes to our businesses because we all fall under one umbrella. 

What Should Florists Understand About Their Flower Wholesaler

First of all, it’s really trusting and understanding that when the flower wholesaler has a circumstance where they say, “put your pre-orders in early” it’s not a sales technique.  By putting in your orders early, you are helping them help you, by making sure they are able to source and get the flowers to you in time. Because the reality is we are dealing with perishable goods, and every sector of the floral supply chain takes risks.  But what happens is because the flower wholesaler is almost the final frontier, in a sense, it’s the last passage to get to the florist and they are often working with time constraints and many other variables. So, in this situation, when they say “get your orders in early” try to believe them and work with them. For example, if you have a wedding coming up for Sunday, your orders should have been put in two or three Sundays ago because what you are doing is allowing your flower wholesaler flexibility and you are allowing them to find you the best price, and more important you are allowing them to find you the best product.  

It’s also important as a florist to be open to options and allow yourself to be flexible when it comes to color, for example.  In the Hotel Florist Profit Method, I share with my students the importance of setting expectations for your hotel clients.  Let them know that the exact flower or color they have in mind, may not always be possible, and a lot of that depends on the flower wholesaler, the farmers, the whole supply chain in general.  By doing this, if there is a change of plans with your flower wholesaler and the flower or color you requested isn’t available, it won’t be such a huge upset for you or the hotel client, and also the flexibility will help create a very good working relationship with the wholesaler so that in another time of need, they will be more willing to help you out. 

How The Hierarchy of Wholesale Works

There are so many different business models when it comes to wholesalers nowadays, but the wholesaler is really going to be that person, that company that's always going to be there for the florist as a resource, and are always gonna be there whenever the florist needs flowers on the spot as well.  The best thing a florist can do is find a wholesaler that works for their business.  Some wholesalers have different customer service cultures.  Some focus on doing just high-end products, while others offer more of a variety and price ranges.  When it comes to wholesalers, it’s best for the florist to not put all their eggs in one basket.  They will want to have their eggs in a couple of different baskets because wholesalers all buy from different farms.

So it's understanding what works best for you with that wholesaler, and how you like to work with that wholesaler. Sometimes you never even have to speak to them and it's all through email or they have portals that you could buy direct from the farm, but it's going through them. So there are so many different options. Again, the secret sauce is the communication of what you need, what you want, what your expectations are, and be very thorough when you're communicating with the wholesaler. 

The Floral Supply Chain

There are so many moving parts when it comes to the floral supply chain and it starts with labor at the farms.  What we saw during COVID is that there was a situation with not having enough labor. Employees weren't going to the farms and they had to cut production down, in some cases, by 50%.  Another thing to consider is that mother earth dictates the entire process and weather is a huge factor.  Then it comes to the logistics factors within the farms and then it’s the external factors of getting the flowers to the airport.  Then it falls on the airline, how they manage the boxes and how they put them into the airplane, and if they happen to get re-routed — they unexpectedly stop in New York but the flowers are meant for Miami and now the flowers have been left outside on the tarmac in 20-degree weather.  Then it gets to the airport in Miami, they have to inspect it — that’s a human factor, and we can’t forget about the pest factor — if they find a bug then that whole shipment has to be thrown away.  After the airport, it goes to the warehouse of the distributor and then eventually loaded onto a truck, and eventually, it arrives at the wholesaler.  The wholesaler has to process the flowers, cut the flowers, and put them in water. That's why there's a premium because they're taking care of it. It's all within the supply chain. If there's a break within the chain, something might happen.

In summary, it’s important to note that wholesalers aren’t intentionally marking up their prices (especially around valentine’s day) the cost of flowers is determined by the labor costs, the freight costs, and typically when it comes to high demand holidays, floral prices increase. I hope this sheds some light on the floral industry and helps you to create a better relationship with your flower wholesaler.

Working with a great flower wholesaler is key when it comes to hotel partnerships.  You can learn more about how to land hotel partnerships and create consistent 5k months by watching the FREE masterclass I offer for florists.