2024 Trend Predictions and Product Development Insight with Ellie
This episode started with pushback. At a recent Flower Clique Shop Talk, members raised honest concerns about some of the new Christmas products on their websites — particularly the painted and color-enhanced flowers. Rather than getting defensive, Vonda and Lori brought in Ellie LaFever, PFCI — who leads product development for the member website image library — to pull back the curtain on exactly how those products come to be, and to share her trend predictions for 2024. The result is a masterclass any florist can borrow for developing their own product line.
When members push back, listen
The hosts frame the Shop Talk conversation as exactly what a healthy community looks like: members speaking their truth in love, and the team receiving it the same way. As Ellie points out, that relationship works because Flower Clique's members are in the trenches testing what the team creates — and because the company is small enough to be agile, with four to six photo shoots a year to adjust course. One clarification from Lori, speaking as a flower buyer rather than a florist: these aren't tie-dye or fluorescent novelties. She had no idea the burgundy hydrangea was painted at all — it reads as a completely natural color.
The three-part product development process
Research. Inspiration comes from Instagram, Pinterest, and tastemakers introducing new concepts — plus physical markets that set trends years ahead: Proflora in Bogotá, Aalsmeer in Amsterdam, Maison&Objet in Paris. Then inspiration gets mixed with practicality: retail and wholesale price points, fluctuating flower costs, best-sellers across members' websites, and the most-searched recipes on the portal. Ellie describes it as setting a thermostat — trend-forward enough to introduce something new, but replicable in a real retail shop.
Development. Vonda builds the flower lists, mood boards, and color stories; then comes the shoot — snacks by day, wine by night, space heaters when it's cold. Along the way Lori texts photos to members who'll speak truth ("eh, I don't know about that one"), and the team's two creative consultants — both retail shop owners, including Abby Chick — weigh in. Plans still get scrapped in front of the camera: color combinations that seemed brilliant on paper sometimes simply don't work.
Testing. After products go live, the data speaks: did it hit the mark, or flop? The burgundy hydrangea is a case study — the cherry bouquet had been shot with white hydrangea for two years, and spraying gave 250–300 shops a fresh look without changing anyone's inventory.
Adapt or die (but you don't have to chase everything)
Ellie's bigger point: painted flowers aren't for everybody, and no shop has to follow every trend. But "your customers are not going to be your customers forever" — millennials and Gen Z want genuinely different things, and shops that only stock what the owner personally likes are quietly shrinking their market. Vonda cops to her own version from her shop days: when customers asked for a blue rose, her answer was "God didn't make a blue rose, so we're not gonna make one either." Today, enhanced colors come straight from the farms. Stepping outside the circle — even a little — can bring in a whole new customer without losing the old ones.
Ellie's 2024 trend list
- Maximalism: more is more — patterns, textures, and prints replace sad beige and extreme minimalism.
- Color and positivity: vibrant hues and happy graphics, echoed by Pantone's soft pinkish-orange Peach Fuzz (the hosts' verdict: safe — expect it in summer weddings).
- Retro revival: 60s–70s hues and Pinterest's "eclectic grandpa"; nostalgia getting sincere rather than ironic, with thrifting way up and shoppers wanting pieces with a story — which plays straight into the flower shop experience.
- Curved shapes and cozy: soft lines and homey spaces, driven by how many people now work from home.
- Bows: everywhere — tiny bows, multiple bows, bows with long streamers.
Key takeaways
- Develop products with a repeatable loop: research (inspiration + practicality), development, testing — and steal Flower Clique's process for your own site.
- Use your data: best-sellers, searched recipes, and market prices should drive decisions as much as Pinterest does.
- You don't have to jump on every trend — but showcase one or two so customers see you're multifaceted and forward-thinking.
- Stocking only your own taste caps your growth; small experiments recruit the next generation of customers.
- Create open dialogue with the people who sell your work — pushback received in good faith makes the product better.