Create Beautiful and Professional Floral Proposals with Floranext New Advanced Proposals

Floranext has the new florist proposals solution to let your floral wedding and event business bloom! We have been hard at work enhancing our wedding and event proposals service and we are excited to announce the completion of our newest software: New Advanced Wedding and Event Proposals.

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Features of Floranext’s New Advanced Floral Wedding/Event Proposals

Make Your Job Easier

With Advanced Proposals, florists can create beautiful and professional proposals in a matter of seconds. No more lost and cluttered information, keep track of your clients requests in one location.

Easy to Use

With the new Floranext Proposal user interface, Floranext Advanced Proposals are easy to create, organize and manage. Florists are able to build a floral arrangement from the bottom up with flowers and supplies.

Customize Each Proposal Email

Add your business’ personal touch by adding a personalized message to each proposal with a customizable email template. Each client is different and adding that personal touch matters.

Take Payments

Track and take customer credit cards and payments for deposits and payments. Create florist payment schedule and florist invoices. 

Increase Your Floral Profits

Add markup, labor and then easily check to make sure you are pricing your flowers correctly. Making sure your weddings and events are fairly priced yet profitable.

Flower Catalog

With the Floranext Advanced Proposal’s flower catalog, it gives you the opportunity to record your pricing for your flowers and use these to help build your beautiful and professional proposals.

Building Components

Build components like bridal bouquets, boutonnieres and more by adding the specified number of flowers for every arrangement.

Shopping Lists

Flowers and supplies composed to build your proposals can help generate a shopping list to order flowers and supplies.

Cloud-Based Software

Use Floranext Advanced Proposals on your own computers, choose the best platform for you. 

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Why try Floranext’s New Floral Wedding/Event Proposals?

We understand that florist wedding and events are a core part of a floral business and creating beautiful floral proposals can be challenging.

We’ve all been there before: notes, images, spreadsheets, word documents and countless emails sent back and forth between your clients can be a nightmare. So why not use one program to make professional proposals and keep everything organized?

Get rid of the multiple programs and keep everything organized with Floranext Advanced Proposals. Our newest software allows you to create beautiful and professional proposals in a matter of seconds by adding images, components, personalized messages and more letting you focus on what’s really important, your floral business.

Start giving your wedding and event proposals more impact with Floranext’s newest Advanced florist wedding/event software today!

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Attracting floral wedding business begins with reaching recently engaged couples! Tap into this $100 billion industry now by marketing to the recently engaged.

Facebook

In addition to using your Facebook business page to share pictures of your events and wedding designs, you can use Facebook to create targeted ads.

Click the Create Promotion button on the right sidebar in your Facebook feed.

Choose a promotion type. We recommend any of the following:

• Boost a post
• Set up an ongoing promotion
• Promote your business locally
• Promote your page

Under the Audience section of the promotion, you can target the ad toward Facebook users by the following criteria:

• Area
• Age
• Gender
• Language
• Other pages liked

Most Americans get engaged between the ages of 25 and 32. We recommend targeting the promotion toward women ages 24-34 in your area.

Also, the most common days of proposals are Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and Valentine’s Day. You can either target your ads for these days in particular days (or the days and weeks following), but in the big picture, you’ll want to focus your advertising on the winter months to attract recently engaged couples.

Next, you’ll choose a daily budget for the promotion. Facebook will calculate the number of users that can be reached at each price point.

Like Google AdWords, creating paid ads should be more than a zero-sum game. Be thoughtful of how much you’d like to spend on boosting.

Image via Shutterstock

A Note on Google AdWords

Google AdWords is a paid advertising service that can help get you clicks on your floral website. Because it is a paid service, you will want to use it carefully to maximize the return on your advertising investment. Click here for more specific instructions on using Google AdWords.

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Connect Customers to Other Resources

Besides flowers, the newly engaged couple will need to locate many different services to plan the wedding:

• Stationery and paper products
• Venues
• Catering
• Gowns and tuxedo rentals
• Travel and lodgings

A dedicated wedding florist may offer some of these other services in-house, but every florist offering wedding and event florals can forge partnerships with other resources and services in your area.

Image via Shutterstock

Prepare Deals and Discounts

The average length of engagements is 14 months. Planning a wedding is an open-ended process, and the deadlines are entirely self-imposed.

Craft a few deals for customers to get them in the door and take action. Could the customer get cheaper flowers the sooner they sign a contract with you, for example?

Florists, do you have any important advice on reaching recently engaged couples? Please share your feedback, tips or any marketing questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

The Results Are In!
Floranext Valentine’s Day 2018 Survey Results

Thank you all for participating in our Valentines Day 2018 Survey. We had an overwhelming number of responses, and your feedback is very valuable in determining the floral industry’s success and helping other florists as well as new and upcoming florists.

We surveyed over 10,000 florists. Approximately 90% of participants were located in the US and Canada.

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Q1. When did you start receiving orders for Valentine’s Day?

Week of Jan 28-Feb 3

#1 Answer with 40.5%

#2 Answer, Week of Feb 4 – Feb 10 (28.4%)
#3 Answers (virtual tie), Week of Jan 7- Jan 13 and Week of Feb 11- Feb 14 (8.1%)

Q2. What was your top-selling product this Valentine’s holiday?

Red Roses (dozen)

#1 Answer with 47.3%

#2 Answer, Mixed flowers in vase (32.4%)
#3 Answer, Wrapped bouquet (6.8%)

Q3. Would you say the 2018 Valentine’s holiday was better than last year for sales?

Yes 

#1 Answer with 66.2%

#2 Answer, No (25.7%)
#3 Answer, Don’t Know (8.1%)

Q4. How many more orders did you receive this year?

26-50 

#1 Answer with 18.9%

#2 Answer, 51-100 (16.2%)
#3 Answer Tied, Don’t know and 101-200 (8.1%)

Results were very close!

Q5. How many new employees did you hire this Valentine’s season?

2 Drivers – 1 Front of Store & 2 Floral Designers 

#1 Answer with 64.8%

#2 Answer, 3 drivers – 2 runner – 1 front of store -4 floral designers (24.3%)

#3 Answer, 5 + drivers (8.6%)

Image via Shutterstock

Q6. Did you receive more website Valentine’s Day orders this year than last year?

Yes

#1 Answer with 56.8%

#2 Answer, No (23%)
#3 Answer, Don’t know (20.3%)

Q7. How many more website orders did you receive this Valentine’s holiday?

50-100

#1 Answer with 48.8%

#2 Answer, 25-45 (18.9%)
#3 Answer, 100-200 (17.3%)

Q8. About how much did you spend on wholesale flowers this Valentine’s holiday?

Tied, $2501-$3500 & $7001 – $10,000

#1 Answer with 24.3%

#2 Answer, $5001 -$7000 (18.9%)
#3 Answer, $3501-$5000 (14.9%)

Q9. Did you rent an extra delivery vehicle/truck this Valentine’s holiday?

No

#1 Answer with 82.4%

#2 Answer, Yes (17.6%)

Q10. Did Valentine’s Day falling on a Wednesday this year make a difference?

Yes 

#1 Answer with 52.8%

#2 Answer, Not sure (26.8%)

#3 Answer, No difference (20.5%)

Some write-in responses:

“I think it worked out well for us. Instead of going out to dinner or going away for the weekend, we sent more flowers.”

“Pros – we had two business days during the week to take orders and crank arrangements. Con – it was REALLY hard to talk customers into allowing for early deliveries on Tuesday.”

“Yes. Best day ever!”

“Not that I can tell.”

“Yes – always busiest on a Wednesday.”

“No difference from Tuesday.”

“Much better this year but ALL the deliveries were on the 14th whereas in previous years they were spread out a little more. The day gave guys more time to order on Monday & Tuesday so we saw an increase in sales there. They tend not to order as much over the weekend.”

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Q11. If your floral business is in the US, what region of the country do you serve?

Midwest

#1 Answer with 28.8%

#2 Answer, Northeast/New England (26%)

#3 Answer, South (16.4%)

#4 Answer, West (9.6%)

Q12. If your floral business is in Canada, where is it located?

Ontario

#1 Answer with 63.6%

#2 Answer, British Columbia (18.2%)

#3 Answers (tie), Alberta and Manitoba (9.1%)

Q13. If you are not located in Canada or the US, where is your floral business located?

Australia

#1 Answer with 8.1%

#2 Answers, Kuwait and Singapore (2.7%)

We hope these 2018 Valentine’s results helped you in gauging your sales this holiday against the wider industry! Although the answers varied it is wonderful to see that most florists were successful with more sales this holiday and more website orders.

Florists, do you have any important feedback on how your 2018 Valentine’s Day faired? Florists would love to hear about it -Please share in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

You are a creative and passionate florist, but have you ever considered specializing?

More and more, floral professionals are opting to focus their love of flower design into only catering to wedding/events flower arrangements. Specializing as an event florist can be very advantageous as it allows you to fully build your brand and perfect your craft. If you are currently a full-service florist then perhaps you may want to consider maximizing your wedding/event profits. In the US alone there is an average of 2.3 million weddings, and approximately $72 billion is spent on weddings each year.

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Know How to Design Blooms

If you are reading this blog, then chances are you are already know how to arrange flowers. If becoming an event florist is something new you’d like to explore, the most important thing to do before jumping into floral arranging for events is to learn your craft. Although an exciting career, floral event design can be very demanding. We recommend finding a mentor or working with a local florist or wedding/event floral professional. As easy as floral designing can look, there are principles and techniques that are necessary to follow. Know your basics, know your flowers and develop your skills.

• Find your special design style
• Know your flowers and how to prep them
• Get comfortable with floral tools, knives, wire, tape, etc.

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Establish Your Floral Brand

Marketing is the #1 criteria for your success, so think long and hard about your floral event company name, domain name, and logo. You will need a website—remember, websites are not for just selling products, they build your brand and make your wedding/event company relevant on search engines. Opt for a non-eCommerce floral website to use as a portfolio.

Must-Haves

• Company name
• Logo
• Domain name (be sure to purchase your own domain name) 
• Website
• Blog
• Social media accounts such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter
• Sign up for Google business
• Business cards/marketing materials (t-shirts, totes, pamphlets)
• Clearly consider what type of events you are going to cater to and emphasize all individually on your floral portfolio website (weddings, showers, anniversaries, birthdays, sweet 16, quinceañera, corporate events, weekly hotel or business floral arrangements)

Image via Shutterstock

Keep Your Floral Event Company Organized

Whether working out of a studio or storefront it is important to have organization! Your floral event company starts with supplies, you will not need flowers until the day you are ready to design your booked events, however, you will need basic flower tools, flower cutters, tape, glue, wire, and a floral wedding/event management software to help keep you professionally organized and allow you to estimate and understand your profits.

Make sure your wedding/event proposals include the following:

• Date
• Location(s)
• Color scheme
• Descriptive flower information
• Payment terms
• Cancellation policy
• “Act of God” policy
• Customer signature(s)

Image via Shutterstock

Create an Event Network of Professionals

There is no marketing campaign that compares to word of month, but in order to acquire word of mouth you do need to book some floral events. You can start by creating a network which will recommend your services, perhaps for a discount. Professionals working in conjunction is very convenient for potential customers, and profitable for you with establishing a new floral event company it is a must do. Grab your pamphlets, you professional sassiness and go out and get your self a network of professional business owners which will recommend your services and vice versa.

Consider these Businesses as Network Partners

• Photographers
• DJs/musicians
• Bridal and tuxedo shops
• Hair, makeup, nail salons
• Venues
• Hotels

Image via Shutterstock

Invest in Affordable Paid Marketing

The cost of starting a floral event company is minimal compared to other businesses, however, do set aside some cash for paid marketing. Unless you have potential customers waiting for you to open so they can flood you with bookings, you must invest in some paid marketing campaigns to keep your brand visible and profitable. Results may be immediate depending on location and competition, or may take some time.

The process of marketing is about connecting the dots. No one marketing tool is going to maximize your floral business, however multiple marketing strategies such as social media, word of mouth, brand awareness, professional networking, your personal website, and blogging and paid marketing is sure to result in a successful floral event business (or any business, for that matter).

Consider these low-cost paid options:

• Google AdWords (consider running these during peak times, and keep a budget)
• Join The Knot or Wedding Wire
• If you cant write a blog, hire someone who can (prices range from $100 to $250 per blog, but these are your blogs which can be posted on your website to generate potential customers)
• Facebook ads (Facebook allows you to target a specific demographic)
• Participate in Wedding/Bridal shows
• Post an online video

Image via Shutterstock

Did You Know…

• Most weddings take place in June, with May, September, and October trailing close behind
• Holiday parties take the #1 spot for corporate events
• There are more birthdays in September than any other month
• Most popular wedding flower is the rose

Florists, do you have any important advice or feedback on starting a floral event design company? Please share your feedback, tips or any floral event related questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Vanity emails go a long way in branding your floral business.

But are they necessary? If you are still using AOL, Gmail or Yahoo as your business email you are missing out on opportunities to present your brand—as many opportunities as there are emails you send, in fact.

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What is a Vanity Email?

Simply put, a vanity email is an email that includes your floral business/domain name. Generally, if you have a website domain name, you want to use your domain name in your vanity email, for example sales@flowershop.com instead of flowershop@yahoo.com. The typical structure is name@businessname.com.

You can set up a vanity email through your domain registrar.

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Why Vanity Emails are a Crucial Addition to Your Flower Business

All your shop’s public personality feeds into your brand, and using a vanity email can help connect the dots from your website to your business communications. Your logo and website are important, but so is the way you project your brand with every communication.

1. Vanity emails help make your business memorable!

A vanity/business email helps to ingrain your business name with these recipients. Creating your email identity making you recognizable. Compare flowershop134@yahoo.com with owner@flowershop.com: which is more engaging, which is easier to remember? Every impression counts, even through email.

2. Vanity emails create assurance and trust!

Anyone can create a free email account, which can leave email recipients feeling vulnerable. Having a business vanity email helps in solidifying you as a professional business owner giving you/your flower business credibility. As a customer, you can be sure that the owner@flowershop.com address was created by the same people who control the flowershop.com website, and all messages you receive from that address are coming from a shop employee.

3. Vanity emails keeps emails organized!

The beauty of vanity emails is that you can create emails for different departments, such as sales@flowershop.com and info@flowershop.com. This will help give a clear direction to your customers on who handles specific email content. You will still have access to all these departments, but it will establish an organized response system.

4. Vanity emails are reasonably priced!

Besides these other important benefits, the cost of setting up a vanity email is almost negligible. Marketing/branding for your floral business comes in a lot of shapes and some options are very costly, but having a vanity email is worth every penny you spend. It is also easy to set up through your current domain provider.

Florists, do you have a vanity email? How have vanity emails changed your floral business? Please share your feedback and questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Ever wonder how we came to celebrate Valentine’s Day with roses?

Valentine’s Day is observed all across the world, and many consider this one of their favorite holidays. Celebrating romantic love, friendship, kindness and sweetness with flowers as the #2 most gifted, candy-chocolate #3 and greeting cards being #1.

Image via Google

How Valentine’s Day Began

Saint Valentine’s Day is celebrated on February 14, but why? The story goes that in Rome around 269 AD, Saint Valentine was performing weddings for soldiers. Saint Valentine was arrested and imprisoned. While imprisoned he fell in love with a jailer’s daughter. Before his execution on February 14, 269 AD, he wrote her a letter signed “Your Valentine” as a final farewell, and the saying has stuck ever since.

Although a grim story, the association with undying romantic love captured the hearts of hopeless romantics, philosophers, and poets. Around the 14th century, Saint Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day became a tradition in what’s called courtly love. Knights would show their love for the ladies by performing services of nobility and chivalry with handwritten love notes, now better known as greeting cards.

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How Roses Gained a Part in Valentine’s Day

We all know roses—especially red roses—are a quintessential symbol of Valentine’s Day, much like poinsettias represent the Christmas season. But why roses? Florists aren’t complaining, as roses are very hardy and feature a long-lasting bloom. Besides any other flower, roses have historical relevance. It’s amazing how flowers, and roses especially, have resonated with all kinds of people throughout the centuries.

Roses are said to have become linked to Valentine’s Day during the 17th century, with tales of the rose being a symbol of Venus, the classical goddess of love.

Floriography exploded in the Victorian era, making a gift of Valentine’s Day roses a form of communication. In floriography, each rose color represents the giver’s feelings toward the recipient.

Image via Shutterstock

Roses and Their Meanings By Color

Thanks to the conservative, emotionally-reserved nature of Victorian society, one would avoid speaking words of feeling, so the “talking bouquets” of floriography grew tremendously popular.

Below are some meanings of common rose colors:

• Red rose: Romantic love, desire (can be expressed with a single red rose)
• White rose: Innocence and charm
• Mixed red and white roses: Unity
• Light pink rose: Grace
• Dark pink rose: Thankfulness
• Medium pink rose: Happiness
• Lavender rose: Enchantment, love at first sight
• Burgundy rose: Beauty
• Coral rose: Desire
• Orange rose: Fascination
• Peach rose: Modesty, immortality
• Yellow rose: Friendship, joy, gladness
• Mixed colored roses: You’re everything to me

Florists, do you have any Valentine’s Day history or trivia to share? Feel free to leave a comment below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

You need control of all facets of your floral business—your domain name included!

In 2018, e-commerce sales are projected to reach over $400 billion. Now is the time to understand and pay close attention to your floral business website and know if you truly have the upper hand.

A brick-and-mortar flower shop would never allow another company to partially own their storefront, and the same goes for your website domain name. Your floral website domain holds valuable history—if you are just starting out in the flower business you may feel overwhelmed by your hosting options, and with nothing but a web hosting company’s advice, you may find yourself allowing a host to register your domain.

Getting Started With a Floral Website

It’s important to note that you can have a domain name and a web host separately. Some web hosts will offer to register you with a domain, but you will be better off doing this independently and keeping your web hosting company from having any ties to your floral business domain name.

So what is a domain name? A domain is the common part of the internet address called a URL, but let’s not make this any more confusing than it has be: flowershop.com is a domain name, while https://www.flowershop.com is the URL. Domain names are your floral business name, or any other verbiage you choose.

Web hosting is like renting space, in this case, you are renting space on your web host’s server to house your website content.

Your website domain name is the address visitors will use to gain access to your website.

Any web host can point your domain name to their servers, so there is no need for them to purchase the domain for you.

Why Allowing Your Web Host to Register Your Domain is a Bad Idea

We all understand the feeling of being forced into a business decision, and we know that the best business practice is to allow yourself some flexibility wherever possible.

While setting up a floral website, having the web host also give you your dream domain seems convenient but in the long run, you may run into issues if you feel like switching web hosting providers. Remember, if they have access to that awesome domain name, so will you—there is no black market for web domains.

There are some web hosting companies that will actually own your domain outright, so even if requested back they hold the upper hand and can charge you exorbitant fees just to release it back to you.

So what’s the big deal—if they do not release it back then you can just find a new domain name, right? Unfortunately, once you have established your online branding through your domain name, walking away from your domain can be detrimental to your business.

Essentially, what you are doing is allowing a third party to have a stake in your website domain branding on SEO. You can request it back if and when you decide to leave your web host, but this can sometimes lead to more frustration and weeks or months of waiting. If you give up or choose not to request your domain back, the host may sell it to a competitor or order gatherer, now that the domain is listing ideally on search engines thanks to your hard work, while you’re left to start all over again with a new domain.

Another benefit to owning and registering your own domain name is that you can keep all your domains in one place. You may now only have one website and one domain, however you may choose to purchase more domains to forward to your current website, or perhaps you want to open another website for a second location. Regardless of the reasons or whether this is an option you expect to use, you’ll still want to hold the option.

How Do You Know if You or Your Web Host Owns Your Domain?

If you are unsure who owns and controls your domain name, check https://www.whois.com/ and type in your domain to see who indeed is the owner. If it is not you, contact your web host immediately to start the release process. Remember, you can own your domain and keep your current web host. Just let them know you just want to have control of your domain name and they won’t ask questions.

Are There Any Cons to Owning Your Domain Name?

“Cons” may be too strong of a word, the only con is that you’ll need to pay your domain registrant.

If you miss your payments (try setting up auto-pay to renew annually!) your site may be taken down until your balance is paid. The cost is generally very affordable, ranging anywhere from $12.00 to $30.00 USD a year, depending on which domain registered provider you choose. You may choose to pay annually, biannually, or even on a schedule of five years or more. If you set up auto-pay, you will be charged annually and your domain will never expire.

Where Do I Purchase My Domain Name?

If you are looking to purchase your domain name, congratulations! This just like purchasing a storefront, but on a smaller, more manageable scale.

There are so many providers, but we will provide a list of our top five. I genuinely like GoDaddy and find their customer service excellent. Their yearly domain fees are also super affordable.

1. GoDaddy
2. Namecheap
3. Hover
4. Name.com
5. 1And1

Florists, do you have any important advice or feedback regarding walking away from a web host, or getting a web host to release your domain name? Please share your feedback, tips or any domain name related questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

With the holidays now behind us, most retailers will have a chance to relax—but not florists.

Valentine’s Day—or shall we say, Valentine’s week—is one of the busiest holidays for flower shops, with over 198 million roses sold. It’s a good idea to get a jump on your flower and supply ordering so that you can be organized and prepared for what is being predicted to be one the busiest and most profitable successful Valentine’s weeks of all time for the floral industry.

If you haven’t ordered your Valentine’s Day week florals and supplies yet, then today is the day to start. Ordering early keeps you ahead of the game and saves you money.

Floral Supplies

Many flower shops are already loaded with supplies, however, do not count on having something for the week of Valentine’s day without checking. If budget allows, it’s best to have extra as Valentine’s day can be very unpredictable. If you operate on a razor’s edge, any spike in sales can leave you making costly adjustments.

Consider stocking up on the following supplies:

• Aquapic/water picks
• Arrangement carrier (for pickups)
• Cellophane
• Tissue paper
• Clear Crowning Glory
• Door hanger tags
• Leaf shine
• Oasis
• Floral stem tape
• Floral waterproof tape
• Floralife Fower Food (give away packets)
• Wired or unwired pics (your preference)
• Floral wire (the higher the gauge the thinner and pliable the wire)
• Greening pins (may or may not be a must-have, but good to have a few on hand) 
• Pins
• Ribbon
• Wire cutters (check for quality and wear) 
• Rose thorn stripper
• Pliers
• Floral knives

Vases

• Clear glass bubble bowl 6″
• Clear glass bubble bowl 10″
• Gathering glass vase 8″ and 9 3/4 ” (most popular)
• Garden rose glass vase 9 3/4″
• Classic glass urn vase 10.5″
• Mary glass vase 12″
• Oval tapered glass vase 9 3/4″
• Glass cylinder vases (4×5) (5×5) (6×6) (10×4) (20×6)
• Square glass vases (3×3) ( 4×4) (5×5) (7×7) (12×4)
• Rectangular glass vases (5.5x3x4)

Flowers

Without question, it is important to have an ample supply of red roses on hand for Valentine’s day. Equally as important is a signature rare or unique bloom that you can offer customers who are not looking for the traditional red rose Valentine’s Day arrangement. Think of some pretty bloom or blooms you can order early to entice your customers looking for that special something.

In addition, its good to get a grasp on what customers order—just red roses, or maybe pink roses in mixed arrangements. See below for a list of popular flowers for this holiday to create beautifully mixed arrangements.

• Red roses (Freedom variety, 20-100 cm, 60 cm most popular)
• Red roses (short stem, 40 cm for low vase arrangements)
• Pink roses (Senorita Blush, light and dark)
• Lavender roses
• Cream/white roses
• Yellow roses
• Sweetheart roses (pink and lavender)
• Garden rose (David Austin, any color you can get—however, blush pink is most popular)
• Asiatic lilies
• Pink oriental lilies
• Stock
• Carnations (purple, pink, white)
• Matsumoto asters
• Gerberas
• Iris
• Lisianthus
• Tulips
• Green buttons
• Hydrangea

Tip: Flowers sales this Valentine’s are predicted to be more than last year, so we suggest that you up your order by 10% on roses in particular. Take a look at last years Valentine’s sales and up the order 10%.

Filler Flowers

Floral designers tend to have their signature rose arrangement look and feel. All these filler flowers below will work to create a stunning rose arrangement and work for all of your mixed bouquets.

• Baby’s breath
• Lavender limonium
• Wax Flower (White, pink, purple)
• Monte (White, purple)
• Statice
• Queens Anne’s lace

Greens

• Gunnii eucalyptus
• Silver dollar eucalyptus
• Seeded eucalyptus
• Cordyline green leaf
• Bear grass
• Tree fern
• Italian ruscus
• Salal lemon leaf
• Leather leaf

Add-On Gifts

If you sell giftware in your flower shop, keep stock up for cross-selling. Cross-selling is the easiest way to take your Valentine’s profits from great to unbelievably incredible. There is no excuse! Everyone at the flower shop should be offering their customers other products in addition to florals: “Would you like me to add a box of chocolates with that for only $X?”

This can make a huge difference.

• Candies or chocolates
• Greeting cards
• Gift baskets
• Balloons
• Candles
• Plush

Florists, do you have any must-have floral/supply item at flower shops during Valentine’s Day week? Please share your feedback, tips or any Valentine’s Day-related questions in the comment section below.

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Floranext offers great florist software, florist POS, florist websites and florist wedding proposal software. Our florist technology products are built by florists, for florists. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.

Flowers are an alluring gift from nature, with their amazing aroma and natural in-depth beauty.

Although flowers are commonly very affordable, there are some that can get pricey. Let’s review some of the world’s most expensive blooms.

Lily of the Valley

We all love lilies of the valley. The flower itself is highly poisonous, but poisonous or not, lily of the valley is a very meaningful flower that symbolizes humility, chastity, sweetness, purity, luck in love, and the return of happiness—no wonder it’s one used most in weddings. Kate Middleton chose these flowers for her bridal bouquet. The beauty and meaning of the lily of the valley does come with a price tag, however—this flower can run about $50 per bundle.

Gloriosa

Native to Asia and South Africa, the Gloriosa flower creates a melody of colors on its tendrils. This flower and plant is also poisonous if eaten and can cause skin rashes, however there is still many that admire this bloom for its uniqueness and medicinal benefits. Gloriosa flowers can be found for $10 or more per flower.

Juliet Rose

The Juliet rose has such beauty and keeps with today’s woodsy bespoke style. The Juliet rose took David Austin 15 years to create, with its bewitching fragrance and fascinating appeal. It cost $5 million to develop this rose and ten stems of this rose can go for about $85.

Kadupul Flower

The Kadupul flower comes from Sir Lanka, and the flower its self is priceless. It is most desirable due to its aroma and blossoming. The Kadupul flower blooms at midnight and withers by morning. The Kadupul flower cannot be purchased commercially and is virtually impossible to grow, making its retail value priceless.

Florists, are there any pricey blooms you carry, and any risks associated with them? Please share your priciest blooms sold or any feedback and questions below.

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Floranext makes great florist software. Florist websites, floral POS, florist wedding/event proposal software, and florist technology. Let us know if you want a free demo or try our software for free here.