Episode 66: Where did all the flowers go? Throw back to past Easters with great ideas to market TODAY!
Happy Easter week! Vonda and Lori open this one swapping childhood memories — Easter bunnies who hid brand-new dresses and white patent Mary Janes alongside the eggs, the one year Dad got to do the dress shopping (two try-ons at JC Penney and done), and grandmothers who never went to church on Easter Sunday without a corsage. But behind the nostalgia is a real business question: where did all the Easter flowers go — and can flower shops bring them back?
When Easter was almost as big as prom
Vonda remembers Easter corsage season vividly from her flower shop days in Dixon, Illinois: 60 to 80 corsages for a not-really-big shop — Cymbidium and Japhet orchids, mixed spring flowers — all hand-wired in the days before glue, each one a serious labor investment. At the time, letting go of all that corsage work felt like relief. Now, she says, you look back and realize the tradition almost completely went away. Walk into church this Sunday and you'll see very few women wearing flowers — and the younger generation may not even know it was ever a thing. They associate flowers with prom and weddings, not Easter.
How to bring wearable flowers back
Vonda's idea: take 50 wristbands, put spring flowers on them, and give them away outside church on Easter morning. Nobody wants pins through their dress anymore, but a little wristlet with a few spring blooms is something a woman will wear to brunch and through the whole day. Give them away this year, and next year those same people may ask for them again — or the church could sell them as a fundraiser, with the flower shop getting the order. Lori adds the marketing layer: photograph everything, post it everywhere, and roll the same idea into Mother's Day, where a flower on the wrist beats awkwardly carrying the single stem many churches hand out.
The hosts also love throwback marketing. Lori's suggestion: dig up old photos — grandmas in corsages, Easter bonnets, kids on the mall bunny's lap — and post "remember when" content, maybe with a throwback price on a special item. Twenty-somethings adore anything retro and vintage; an old idea made new again is exactly the kind of content they stop scrolling for. As Lori jokes, post the picture with an arrow: see, I'm not lying — people used to wear flowers to church on Sundays.
Pick up the phone — this week
Last Easter, shops that could stay open had record sales — one member, Teresa, went back to the greenhouse three times because she couldn't keep plants in stock. But this year, with grocery and big-box stores open again, that windfall probably won't repeat on its own. The hosts' advice: it's Tuesday — you have the rest of the week. Call the customers who ordered Easter flowers last year and offer to deliver again. Be ready to leave a voicemail (nobody answers unknown numbers), and it's perfectly fine to mention limited inventory — "we're contacting our customers first to make sure we can take care of you" turns the call into a favor. The same play works for Passover, which started last weekend: look up what was sent last year and make the calls.
Shortages, farms, and the bundle lifeline
Flower shortages were the hot topic at the members' monthly Shop Talk, with a twist: they're wildly regional. One shop was told there were no tulips while a West Coast shop was swimming in them; same story with peace lilies. Vonda has been talking directly with the South American farms, who say the next couple of weeks are tight but things should start looking up before Mother's Day — with shortages still expected, so order early, ASAP. She also explains why she spends so much time with the farms and her expert rep, Amy: the Flower Clique bundle program builds farm-direct flower bundles matched to the designs on members' websites, so shops "have what you sell and sell what you have" — critical when 70 to 80 percent of customers look at your website before ordering. With current shortages, she's constantly reworking recipes around substitute roses in the same color story. One brand-new member messaged that her first bundles sold out the door before she could even get them on her website — her verdict: "stinking genius." (One clarification from the hosts: the bundles are an exclusive part of Flower Clique membership, though Bill Doran wholesale offers its own version.)
Key takeaways
- Wearable flowers are ripe for a comeback — try giving away flower wristlets at church this Easter and again at Mother's Day.
- Use free social media for throwback marketing; younger customers love vintage traditions they never knew existed.
- Call last year's Easter and Passover customers this week — and mention limited inventory to create urgency.
- Expect regional, uneven shortages; talk to your suppliers and order Mother's Day flowers as early as possible.
- Have what you sell and sell what you have — your website should match your cooler.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist