Do You Want to Pay Through the Nose for a Rose this Valentines?Red Roses the symbol of love, or a flower that strikes terror in the hearts of independent florist’s world wide?
Red Roses, luscious deep red blooms on long stems, exquisite, elegant, desirable and “reassuringly expensive” purchased from professional florists. There are also those other red’ish roses, tiny heads, screwed up mean petals, skinny short stems that are most importantly cheap, snatched up at the checkout and shoved in the trolley.
The question is, is your love worthy of desirable, exquisite and expensive or mean screwed up and cheap?
The trouble is florists don’t know the answer to this question either, as a rule we understand our customers, they want the very best, long lasting, beautifully presented, hand delivered bouquet of fresh red roses, the exquisite variety, they want this 51 weeks of the year. But for some reason at Valentines the rules change, could it be media hype or peer pressure?
The fact is Valentines customers are terrified of being “Ripped Off” they don’t want to pay through the nose for a rose.
Pretty much all flowers from every corner of the globe go through the largest flower auction on earth in Aalsmeer, Holland.
The sale is by definition a Dutch auction the flower prices start off high and the price drops every fraction of a second, the buyers bid when they feel the price is right. Consequently the best grade blooms sell to the highest bidder, the more demand for the flowers the higher the price. In effect you get what you pay for.
There is however an alternative to this, flowers can be grown specifically for a buyer, usually one of the big multiples or internet mail order companies, the roses are bought at a fixed low price, these roses are not good enough to make the grade for the Dutch auctions but they are considered good enough for the British mass market, the British male is not famous for his romantic gestures moreover he is famous for being frugal.
The difference between these roses is like the difference between Vicky Pollard & Kate Winslet, one is common and crude whilst the other posh and beautiful.
We are very lucky here on The Fylde we are in possession of the most “Romantic Men in Britain”, I know this because my customers always want the very best for their significant others!
Support your independent local florist shops this Valentine's Day
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