The Floral Insight Newsletter—July 29th, 2024
Greetings from the Wizard!
This month has been great as always. We have finally launched our new vendor, United Selection, and are showcasing their new rose variety, Isla Bonita this month. Be sure to check out the email announcement. Stay tuned as we highlight some of their amazing new rose and spray-rose varieties over the next 12 months.
We are also very excited to start a collaboration with Airglades as a partner vendor. At New Bloom Solutions and Above All Flowers, we believe in supporting endeavors that are innovative and have the potential to improve the floral industry, and we see Airglades as an opportunity to do so. We had the chance to interview Deborah Zoellick of IFPA, and she shared some encouraging words here. Keep an eye out for a special event with Airglades where the Miami floral and perishable community can learn more about Airglades and enjoy some bloom-together-style networking- we will keep you updated.
Remember to tune in to our last Bloom Show with Deborah Zoellick; it was truly one to remember.
We are excited to announce that the Bloom Show will be going live from Fun ‘n Sun for the second year. The Bloom Show and its host, Sahid Nahim, and veteran guest co-host Williee Armellini of Flowers & Cents have been invited to create a couple of one-of-a-kind shows that promise to be a first for the floral industry.
Here are the showtimes and formats: We are awaiting confirmations from the guests, but it will be worth the wait and your time.
Watch the commercial for The Bloom Show live at Fun N Sun 2024! You can join us live on LinkedIn and YouTube. Subscribe to The Bloom Show channel to stay in the loop, and don’t miss a beat by tuning in to The Bloom Show podcast.
Another opportunity to connect – we are also attending SAF. The Society of American Florists (SAF) brings together retailers, wholesalers, growers, and suppliers to cultivate a flourishing floral community by equipping floral professionals with resources to create fulfillment across all segments of the industry. SAF Miami 2024 marks the 139th Annual Convention for SAF, offering three days of strong community connections, training, and networking with over 400 floral professionals. The 2024 schedule includes topics on workplace culture, leadership development, profitability, and much more! There will also be a wide range of the latest industry updates and trends to explore. We are excited to cover SAF 2024 and will be posting our experiences in a blog, as well as doing some IG Live sessions on our Instagram account and quick video interviews throughout the event. Keep an eye out for these updates and other surprises and sightings.
If you want to connect with Sahid or share your story and experience at SAF, feel free to reach out to him at sahid@newbloomsolutions.com.
Back to Colombia, the Bloom Show goes! Sahid has been invited to Chrysanthemum Week by Deliflor. Chrysanthemum Week in Colombia is an annual event dedicated to showcasing the chrysanthemum flower, one of the key exports of Colombia’s floral industry. The event brings together breeders, growers, and floral industry professionals from around the world to celebrate and display the latest varieties and innovations in chrysanthemum cultivation. Attendees can expect extensive exhibitions of chrysanthemum flowers, visits to breeder locations, networking opportunities, and much more. The week highlights Colombia’s significant role in the global floral market and its expertise in producing high-quality chrysanthemums.
Sahid and our team will be there joining the Deliflor team to create lots of content, conduct interviews, and share the experience at the DeliFlorest event from August 20th to the 30th in La Ceja, Antioquia, Colombia. We are truly excited to return this August to see the stunning Deliflor breeder location and attend the DeliFlorest event, as Deliflor is known for hosting amazing events with stunning flowers!
Keep an eye out on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram for live updates, and don’t forget to check our newsletter for a blog about the entire experience. It is going to be one to remember. For more information about Deliflorest, reach out to lorena.franco@deliflor.com and let them know we sent you. This is a week you wouldn’t want to miss.
Next Month in the Bloom Show – The Bloom Show is thrilled to welcome back Thomas Prince of Prince & Prince for a third time on August 13, 2024, at 1 PM EST! The episode will dive deeply into self-purchasing, consumer purchasing trends, and floral market insights- a hot topic and a way to grow floral sales for all sectors.
But wait, there’s more! On August 27, 2024, at 1 PM EST, the legendary Dwight Larimer, Former President of Design Master Color Tool Inc. is coming out of retirement for a day to share his 50 years of experience in the floral industry sharing some fun stories. This is one for the books!
Special Announcement: Are you ready to take on a challenge and grow your personal brand? As we expand our Bloom Show, blog, network, and partner vendor list, we are looking for representatives to collaborate with us. We seek floral educators, researchers, and professionals to cover stories and report at conventions, farms, events, and more.
Do you attend floral conventions and events, always coming away with amazing insights? Share those experiences with our audience! We are looking for passionate individuals to join us. If you’ve ever wondered how you’d fare on The Bloom Show or interviewing people at events, this is your chance. Help us grow and connect the floral industry.
All experience levels are welcome. If you enjoy writing, have blog experience, and are eager to learn about people and all aspects of the floral industry, reach out to connect@newbloomsolutions.com, we would love to hear from you.
That covers most of it for this month, but we will have a lot to share next month, including insights from conventions, floral shows, new vendors, networking events, and more. Stay tuned for updates and find out who we will be interviewing on the Bloom Show.
If you are a farm or service and going to be at Expoflores don’t forget the opportunity to be highlighted in Expoflores by sponsoring the Bloom Show for a booth highlight where Sahid will interview and feature your booth. Use this link for more information and send an email to connect@newbloomsolutions.com to reserve your spot – only 6 spots are available.
Also we would also like to extend our congratulations to Rodi Groot and his new team about his new endeavor of Groot in Flowers LLC. Groot in Flowers LLC is carrying on where Sun Valley left off.
And now for some thoughts from the Wizard on some of the current economic, logistic problems, and global issues that may have an impact on you and your business.
Before getting into our monthly positives and negatives let’s chat a little about the most recent software glitch where a few things were almost crippled. On Friday the 19th of July a global IT outage caused by a bad software update from Crowdstrike caused many vulnerabilities in our supply chains, especially at airlines and airports. Hopefully, regardless of the size of your company, you will develop more levels of cybersecurity and contingency plans to avoid these issues that display how fragile our supply chain can be. We know some florists who were chasing special wedding flowers that got delayed because of the many flight cancellations caused by the software glitch and resulting supply chain vulnerabilities!
Consumer inflation declined in June. It is not a big decrease but enough that it will help boost the hopes of a Fed interest rate cut earlier than expected, based on data we are at the slowest inflation rate since 2021. The inflation stabilization strategy from the Fed seems to be working.
The Dow, S&P 500, and the Nasdaq composite hit record highs in July Thanks to investor optimism and Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinting at interest rate cuts mostly due to the cooling labor market.
The U.S. economy continues to remain strong, which is surprising to many experts. The stronger economy has resulted in interest rates that have been higher for a longer period than expected. The job market remains strong, resulting in more personal consumption expenditures despite the higher costs of borrowing. There is some slowdown on durable goods and in discretionary services but for the most part, spending remains high. June retail sales indicate continued economic strength.
Shoppers spent $14.2 billion during Amazon’s Prime Day on July 16th and 17th. Amazon had the biggest Prime Day ever, with record sales and more items sold during the two-day event than any previous Prime Day event.
Labor demand continues to appear stable. The hot labor market is cooling off a bit and getting back to normal. Job hopping has decreased as well as the size of pay raises for those changing jobs. “This trend suggests the labor market is no longer as tight, and employers may be more in the driver’s seat again. Less turnover is taking place and the hiring process is more selective. The labor market is not driving inflation as much as it was according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Stock market continues to move higher. Up till Wed July 24th the market has been quite strong this July.
Cargo volumes have been rising year over year. This surge suggests a good sign for what retailers expect for future sales. After 2023 when large retailers were more interested in selling off deep inventories we are now seeing a large restock with optimism in the air. Freight rates are expected to increase especially for trucking. Trucking has seen a 30% increase in volume since June of 2023.
E-commerce continues to thrive and many floral e-commerce companies are seeking alternative delivery and fulfillment options. Reevaluating traditional delivery methods is crucial for staying competitive in a shifting consumer landscape. They are looking for flexibility, speed, lower costs, and risk diversification. Maintaining a competitive advantage is crucial as e-commerce is continuously evolving.
On July 25th, the exchange rate for the Colombian peso was 1 USD = 4,021.232 COP down approximately a little over 3% in a month with some dramatic swings as much as 5.25%. This volatility is not easy for Colombian growers to deal with daily.
Cargo prices are up due to some geopolitical conflicts and droughts in the Panama Canal. The Red Sea and Suez Canal are still suffering attacks from the Houthi rebels and the Panama Canal has low water levels. UPS stock got slammed the other day as they reported a 29% drop in operating profits due to reductions in revenue as more clients switched to economy service as well as their most recent increase in labor costs with the new contract they signed with the teamsters.
Futures trading for container shipping rates on the Asia-North Europe route has surged. This indicates that there is a continued concern for safety in the area for a while to come. Ocean freight rates for 40-foot containers from Asia to North Europe are on average currently over $8,760. Experts are expecting spot rates of about $10,000 per 40-foot container from China to the States. A best-case scenario would be an end to problems in the Red Sea along with container prices returning to pre-pandemic levels. Stay tuned!!
The rapid expansion of Temu and Shein is reshaping the airfreight market out of China, leading to a 12.7% increase in global airfreight demand in the first four months of the year and driving rates up 40%, causing capacity concerns for the peak holiday season. Additional disruptions in ocean shipping are straining the air cargo. Boeing has been delivering more 777 cargo planes and taking new orders from several companies like Turkish Airlines and Emirates to name a couple.
This air cargo surge could be at the expense of peak season freight growth as companies ship earlier to try to avoid any supply chain disruptions.
Diesel fuel has been up for four straight weeks and is at its highest since early May. Hurricane Beryl did not hurt the overall supply even with its proximity to oil refineries.
The IMF is warning more tariffs could push inflation upwards and force central banks not to reduce interest rates. A lot could depend on who wins the election.
Another major issue on the negative side is the cost of healthcare and its unpredictability. Health benefit costs are increasing more rapidly than inflation. This is making cost management difficult for many companies.
Home sales continued to decline in June. With high mortgage rates and high prices sales have slowed. Home prices increased for the 12th consecutive month, reaching a national median of $426,900. Inventories have reached the highest level since May 2020, which could result in a potential buyer’s market.
Warm regards and thanks for reading my rants and tidbits that may or may not mean anything to you, Let the Wizard know if you have any comments!
The Flower Wizard- David Kaplan
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