Supermarket floral departments continue to drive sales and provide retailers with an opportunity to offer another fresh, convenient service line to customers.
According to International Fresh Produce Association’s (IFPA) latest Supermarket Floral Benchmarks report, in 2023 supermarket floral departments remain very profitable, driving a gross margin of 48%. In addition to maintaining a healthy gross margin, floral departments have been able to stabilize shrink at 9%, and now account for +2% of store sales; the highest percentage of store sales since IFPA began tracking benchmarks. Bolstering a grocer’s floral department can greatly benefit overall revenue, but getting started or further developing this service may seem difficult. Continue reading to learn more about capitalizing on floral departments and the technology that can help.
If your grocery business already offers floral and plant services, or even if you’re just starting out, consider creating an annual holiday calendar to promote this service line during the holidays. Whether Valentine’s roses, bright Easter centerpieces, Mother’s Day bouquets or Thanksgiving floral décor, you could supercharge your floral department by marketing holiday-specific arrangements.
If creating a full blown holiday promotional calendar is too much, consider offering build-your-own bouquets with some standard selections of greenery, feature flowers and filler items. By offering a custom option you are providing your customers with another opportunity to connect with your store and brand as they can receive a beautiful arrangement exactly to their specifications. You could even pre-build a few different bouquets each day depending on your floral stock to help inspire and help customers who may not be as familiar with designing their own.
Another unique opportunity for grocers with floral and food service departments is to create packages! Ideas such as holiday desserts with a poinsettia, appetizer platters and centerpieces, or even romantic arrangements with chocolates could help boost sales. There are so many ways to combine floral and food, the only limit is your imagination.
By simply offering online ordering for floral items, retailers open up a huge opportunity for sales growth. Whether you put pre-made arrangements and potted plants on your e-commerce website or offer custom built bouquets via FoodStorm, which offers functionality for customizable products, you are adding a popular and in-demand sales channel for another lucrative service offering.
If your grocery business offers any type of food service, chances are you’re using manual processes or a digital order management system (OMS). You can bring your floral department online and connect these teammates to your OMS through FoodStorm’s Department Orders functionality. This allows your in-store employees to see orders for items just in their department, while being a central order repository for all your order ahead and food service items.
FoodStorm brings unparalleled functionality and feature depth to the grocery industry and helps retailers unlock every counter to grow revenue and streamline processes.
