Mintel - Flowers and Plants

Flowers and plants are aesthetically pleasing, yet difficult to maintain - 7th September 2012

http://academic.mintel.com/display/635967/?highlight

I found this study to be extremely beneficial and better than all other mintel reports I have placed onto this blog as forms of research, this is because this is completely relevant to my topic and supports the flower and plant industry in a strong way. This also portrays consumers opinions on flowers and plants which will be extremely beneficial because it is giving me an insight into what the consumers think of the industry and indicates what direction they are most likely to go in when selecting plants.

Three key points from this study are:

• 46% of those who were surveyed say that they find it difficult to make fresh flowers and plants last a long time.
• More than 3 in 10 survey respondents say having flowers/plants in the home requires too much maintenance.
• More than one-quarter of those who were surveyed say they think buying fresh flowers is a waste of money.

With these being quite high percentage to overcome this issue arising with my service would be the option of buying synthetic/fake flowers and replacing these when they feel that they need to. This would mean that no maintenance, or a very low percentage would be needed, this would not be a waste of money due to lasting as long as the consumer sans and this would ensure that they last a lifetime. However, this would not have the same effect as aha a fresh, live bouquet or arrangement would which is a shame.

Alternative uses for flowers may increase purchases

Seeing as flowers and plants are not purchased very often, retailers have the opportunity to promote flowers not just as décor but also for other uses such as air freshening. Some 35% of those who have bought flowers for themselves say they have done so to update the look and feel of their homes. Additionally, some 14% say they only buy fresh flowers when they are having guests over. Consumers appear to be more inclined to buy flowers when guests are visiting as well as to freshen up their homes.

This was another key section of the report as this indicates the reason why flowers are bought by some people. This supports that they are acted upon as a home decoration and to add bait of colour and life to the room which again is what my service for Selfridges can offer the consumer. Additionally, this would allow the consumers to show off the flowers and then speak word of mouth about the brand to allow this idea to spread. 

Flowers are bought for man reasons, each person that buys flowers may have a different reason for this which means that there does not always need to be an occasion, they could be spontaneously bought or just generally bought as a gift, a token or an act of appreciation, either way this supports how they are popular which helps again to support how they could be beneficial for my service.

'In order to improve the purchase incidence of flowers of plants, retailers can promote the functionality of floral products such as home products' This is a key quote from the report and I find this is very interesting as this is feedback given from the study which indicates that the consumers of today do not just want flowers they want more from the brands. This is something that I knew I wanted to create already but not this has been certified that this is something that I will need to create and reinforces massively due to wanting the designs and the products to stand out. Also, i want consumers to shop at Selfridges rather than going to their normal supermarket or their normal online orders. I want to change the way flowers are looked at making them more personalised, being a work of art, a decoration around the home.