Surviving Mother’s Day 2016

Floral professionals, are you exhausted yet? You will be – Mother’s Day is one of your biggest weekends of the year.  If you need a break – and can somehow squeeze one in – check out some Mother’s Day floral statistics, as well as a few interesting articles floating around the web. First, let’s look at the numbers!

The Annual Mother’s Day U.S. Spending Survey is out, and the National Retail Federation reveals the following for 2016:

• 84% of us celebrate Mother’s Day
• $21.4 billion in total Mother’s Day spending
• $172.22: average spent per family, down from last year’s record-setting $172.63
• $4.2 billion on jewelry
• $4.1 billion on dinner or brunch
• $2.4 billion on flowers
• $2.2 billion on gift cards

Mother’s Day Flower Specifics:

• 66.5% of us will buy flowers
• $2.4 billion spent on flowers
• $29: average flower purchase
• Regional spending:
  • Western US: $31
  • South: $29
  • Northeast: $28
  • Midwest: $27

FloraMother’s Day floral news from around the web…

• Inc. Magazine takes an in-depth look at the Mother’s Day flower industry, “What It Really Takes to Get Mother’s Day Flowers to Mom’s Door.” What do you think? Did they capture all the dirty details?
• Floranext offers “5 Mother’s Day Marketing Ideas”. Online, coupons, marketing to schools, and others. See any that might work for you?
• PennLive.com suggests “The 10 Best Flowers for Mother’s Day”, particularly for planting afterwards. These include Angelonias, Begonias, Calibrachoa, Dahlia, Geranium, Lantana and others. Do you agree?
• Time Magazine takes a look at a few of the Disruptors – the tech-savvy online floral startups that are making waves this Mother’s Day. What are they offering? What are their keys to success?
• Finally, here is a consumer piece strictly for the fellows, GQ’s “This Is How You Will Win Mother’s Day”. What do you think? Do these chaps stand a chance?

The best Mother’s Day advice for the floral pro? Amid the chaos, realize that all your hard work is in the service of one of your biggest sales weekends. You’re making a nice chunk of money, and the quality you turn out and the smiles you bring are great marketing for the rest of the year. Best of all, it all ends Sunday afternoon!

Floralife wishes a happy, prosperous and sane Mother’s Day weekend to all our floral friends!