Flowers: It's all in the handling

A rose by any other name ... would a still need to be in a cooler. The above may not be Shakespeare, but it's what flower experts tell supermarkets that want to set up in-store floral departments.

Proper display and storage techniques can enhance flower appearance and maximize shelf life, thereby increasing floral department income, experts agree. But a rose is not a carnation is not a tulip. All have different optimum temperature and humidity requirements. That means setting up and running a floral department is a careful blend of business objectives and flower-care know-how.

Customer demographics are the place to start when determining what types of flowers a store carries. Once a product mix has been formulated, store floral managers next must decide among a variety of display options ranging from cut flowers sitting in self-serve buckets to elaborate walk-in coolers that can give that afore-mentioned rose its optimum life.

Carl Waggoner, assistant general manager at Co-Op Markets, Chicago, says his urban shoppers prefer cut flowers. So he's put a walk-through cooler in the co-op's newest store on the city's South Side. The cooler can keep roses and other flowers fresh; because it has no doors, it encourages shoppers to walk in and browse. "Traffic is what drives that business--traffic and service," Waggoner says.

CATCH THE IMPULSE

Indeed, flowers bought in supermarkets are largely an impulse purchase. "You have three seconds to capture the customer's attention, which means the visual presentation is important," says Pam Smith, director of marketing at Nature's Flowers, a Missouri-based company that ships flowers from South America to U.S. stores.

Many stores opt to put their floral departments at the entrance to their supermarkets, trying to capture that impulse buyer the moment he or she walks into the store. Fresh flowers at the entrance also can contribute to a store's overall ambiance, conveying freshness to shoppers.

Some stores have opted for what's known as European flower markets, in which flowers are displayed on carts. That sort of operation requires high turnover to prevent shrinkage from skyrocketing. The average floral department experiences anywhere from 7 to 12 percent shrinkage, Smith says. Anything less than 5 percent means a department is keeping flowers past their prime, a practice that ultimately will hurt sales, Smith warns.

A major way to control shrinkage is to display flowers in cases best suited to their temperature needs, experts agree. Roses should be kept at between 32 and 35[degrees]F, but orchids need to be at 40 to 45[degrees], says Marcy Britigan, president of MEI, LaGrange Park, Ill. Flowers kept at the wrong temperatures develop what flower pros call "burn" and what most people know as brown spots.

EACH TO ITS OWN TEMP

The need for colder temperatures is why roses are most often kept in closed coolers, either upright-doored units or massive walk-in models. Others flowers that need higher temperatures can be held in buckets inserted into open coolers that circulate air and moisture around them.

"The two biggest factors to the longevity of flowers are temperature and humidity," explains Stan Pohmer, president and CEO of Pohmer Consulting Group. Open coolers don't just blow air over flowers; they blow moist air to maintain humidity levels. Some come with hoods that create airflow above the flowers on display as well. "You have to have good air circulation and you can't have high velocity" of air flow or flowers will be damaged, adds Britigan.

Why all the fuss? Carnations kept at their proper temperature, roughly 34[degrees]F, have a 21-day life, Britigan explains. That's three and a half times longer than they'll last if not treated right. Because it takes about a week for flowers, many of which come from South America, to reach U.S. stores, every day of additional shelf life is important to a stores bottom line.

COSTS AND PAYBACK

A floral department that includes a variety of displays ranging from flowers in vases set into a 15-vase open cooler to a closed cooler for more delicate varieties can cost in the $20,000 range to equip, says Michael Wetzel, president of Floratech, a Syracuse, N.Y., cooler manufacturer. That figure includes a small storage cooler, say with a 4-by-6-foot footprint, for department staff to store product they use in making arrangements for the department, he says. The department also needs its own storage cooler in the store to keep incoming product. While some might be tempted to stick flowers in meat or produce coolers, that's a no-win proposition, experts say. Fruit and flowers each emit gases that are noxious to the other. The meat cooler not only might not be the proper humidity level for flowers, but the chances of blood and other meat byproducts damaging floral product is high.

A 1999 Food Marketing Institute study found more stores are leaning to self-service flower departments these days. That choice for an individual store, however, should again be dictated by local market conditions.

Waggoner, for example, says his shoppers want advice and help from store personnel. His floral department has a four-person staff. The FMI 1999 study, which was co-sponsored by the Floral Marketing Association, found gross margins for floral departments range from 40 percent for self-serve operations to 45 percent for full-service departments.

Flower-buying tips

The Floral Marketing Association can provide posters and notebooks that include grading and standards criteria that store personnel can use. Training programs also are available from suppliers and industry consultants.

As for product sourcing, consistency makes a difference. "The key to maintaining quality is to have a good relationship with your supplier," says Stan Pohmer, president and CEO of Pohmer Consulting Group. "If you go out and spot-bid the market, generally you get what you pay for."

Another important step for ensuring long flower shelf life is to inspect flowers when delivered. Some telltale problem signs include:

* Visible brown spots. These could signal temperature problems in transit.

* Moisture on leaves or flowers themselves. Flowers are either shipped dry-packed, chilled in their boxes, or wet-packed in canisters of water. Either way, water should not be on the flowers themselves. Water on those surfaces breeds mold and fungus.

* High temperatures. Shippers should include temperature devices in boxes that can tell you the temperature history of the shipment. Some large chains pay inspectors to look at their flowers before they leave Miami, the most common entry point into the United States for South American flowers. Others have inspectors at their warehouses where they receive flowers before shipping to individual stores.

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