22.12.21: Christmas 2021 has been a nightmare. In some ways worse than 2020 as at least we knew then what we were dealing with rather than the vague, and totally destructive ‘will we/won’t we be in lockdown’ that put everyone on edge and not thinking of anything!!
At the time of writing (less than 72 hours to closing time on Christmas Eve) our industry intel showed order volumes were down with even big-name players reporting a straggling order volume that has really only just started buzzing
As a result, we know there are florists who may sadly end up with excess stock.
But rather than bin anything left over that simply won’t make it over Christmas please, please make a last concerted effort to turn it into something positive which may not bring in the hard cash but could generate free publicity and highlight the fact it’s been tough.
Because giving them away can be turned into a genuinely nice press story (just pen a few words from the heart or use our ideas below as a starter for 10) and be a lot nicer thing to do than simply dumping them.
Recipients should be people like care home staff who have had a hellish time, nurses (Lord knows how much they have done), food bank workers and other volunteers who may not always get thanks etc.
Another alternative is to run a Facebook competition for the 10 (or however much you can do) most deserving people to receive them or ringing your local radio station to get them to do a shout out for worthy recipients.
You’ll need to think about it now … we know … not what you wanted. However, if there is the remotest chance that you are going to be left with gear, we’d be looking at how to turn it into a positive NOW … like today/tonight … because the alternative is just too, too depressing.
We’re also hoping that if you plan for the worse, it could actually end up not being needed because you suddenly get a rush!
Draft press release/email to end to local radio
Headline: Paying it forward with flowers - local florist gifts flowers to special people
Local florist [insert name of shop] may not have had the best trading Christmas but that hasn’t stopped them spreading festive friendship as owner [insert your name] explained.
“We have to orders our stock at least a week in advance so had to commit to make sure we had good stock levels. Sadly, the whole Omicron situation has put a real dampener on sales as people are either too ill or too frightened to come out or simply don’t know what they are going to be able to do so we knew we were going to have stock left over.
However rather than bin it, [insert name] decided to give them away and make Christmas Eve a little bit more special for as many people as they could who might not otherwise get a bouquet.
Here insert details of who or what you did to pay it forward
[insert your name] said. “Obviously I would rather we had been able to sell them as it’s been a tough trading year and Christmas is one of our most important trading periods. But I would far rather pay it forward and know someone deserving was enjoying them than put them in the bin. Flowers are for sharing and that’s what we wanted to do.”
Here you insert contact details and a phone number.
