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How To Merchandise Fresh Flowers For Impulse Sales
If the floral products you want to display need refrigeration to look their best, it's now possible to find open coolers in a variety of sizes. They can be small and portable, which makes them easy to relocate to different areas of the store; they can be part of a walk-around island display of shelving; or they can be traditional-looking wall coolers. For example, FLORATECH recently introduced a low-profile cooler meant to be part of a creative arrangement of straight and rounded shelving sections which in effect creates a self-contained floral department on the showroom floor. FLORATECH's Petal Protector, CoolCart and Bouquet Mart models are "mini coolers" and easily move from spot to spot. They are the perfect solution for remote sites, or to place in the front of the store with the day's specials.
An open flower cooler needs to be somewhat more sophisticated than a standard closed door model. The optimum temperature for flowers, 38-40 degrees, is more difficult to hold in an open environment. A good flower cooler - open or closed - must additionally control for air turbulence, whether it be open or closed. Flowers come in all shapes and sizes and are not always positioned carefully within the cooler. To compensate for this, there must be uniform airflow and low air velocity over all the flowers to prevent "hot spots" and reduce hydration. FLORATECH has an improved air distribution system with the ability to provide lower and more consistent temperature through a cascade airflow pattern. This can only be accomplished if the unit is designed by the ground up with the proper refrigeration components for flower preservation. Oversized evaporator coils are necessary to minimize moisture removal and keep humidity high. FLORATECH has devised technology that not only provides a proper temperature of cool air around the flowers without turbulence, but at the same time cools the water within the buckets. Cold water in the buckets helps retard the growth of micro-organisms and reduces blockage in the stems. These two factors together have been shown to greatly enhance the shelf life of the flowers.
Flowers located behind frosty, closed doors do not lend themselves to impulse buying. Closed door coolers are fixed in position, often in remote corners of the store. Fluorescent overhead lights tend to reflect off the glass of the closed-door cooler and obscure the flowers within. The shopper must either slide or pull the door open to reach the merchandise inside. The effect is often intimidating, or not worth the trouble. Additionally, shoppers who do open the doors tend to do so quickly, to prevent the cold air from escaping, and therefore have very little time to "interact" with the flowers.
FLORATECH customers report that their sales double and triple when they switch to open coolers. Selling flowers in an open case is analogous to selling produce in an open case, which is the way all supermarkets are doing business today.
RELEASED: December 26, 2002
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