The Knowledge

Does your flower shop look like this?   Actionable advice based on years of working for large-scale commercial flower companies.   Play to your strengths: don’t fight for the same business as supermarkets Use the same strategies, but with unique designs to really stand out in the market. There are a lot of products that supermarkets can’t produce or deliver easily. It’s difficult for them to react quickly, and they can sell-out too quickly or find they’re over-stocked if something goes awry in the supply chain. Buy wisely, look after your designs, clean those vases, condition all flowers properly and...

Many of you may know I started my journey in flowers several decades ago ...in fact, I have been flowering about the world since 1985 to be precise. In the early years, I promoted a disposable (recyclable) vase product. I was teaching floristry part-time at Easton College and doing weddings and events for the rest of the week. Fifty-six weddings in the busiest year!! I went along to the local High Street to set up a business bank account and had a chat with the bank manager - he asked me about my business and I told him about teaching...

An inside look at what goes on within supermarket flower departments.   Year-round consistency is critical When designing floral products for supermarkets, every bouquet within a particular price point must appear consistent in value for money, throughout the year. This means that every stem has to be researched carefully. If thousands of bouquets are dependent on a specific kind of Germini, we need to make sure that enough will be grown, which in turn means the grower has to schedule it into their programme for the following year. This involves lots of calendars and Excel spreadsheets! Each bouquet design will...

With a background in both creative floristry and supermarket product design, Helen Chambers has played for rival teams within the flower sector. In this two-part feature, she shares behind-the-scenes insights into the world of large-scale product development, and offers practical, takeaway advice for flower businesses of all kind. About Helen Chambers, Evolve Flowers Helen’s career began with traditional floristry training, but took a swerve when she started working for a company that developed sundries products. She was later offered a role as product developer for a Dutch flower supplier, designing bouquets for the likes of Shell and BP. She admits, “I...