New Year, New Floral Newsletter

January 25, 2022

Welcome to the first official edition of the IFPA Monthly Floral Newsletter! When we first shared that International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) would be succeeding our two legacy associations, Produce Marketing Association and United Fresh, I wanted to assure you that the best of those organizations would not just continue, but be amplified to support the floral industry in new and different ways. After just one month as the new IFPA, I’m proud to not just tell you that we’re doing just that, but show you how.

Research and Data:

Over the past year, we’ve been gearing up our body of research for floral. From our latest deep dive into floral buyer sentiments, to the monthly partnership with IRI, we’ve been looking to give the most up to date, and critical research and data to help you drive your business decisions. We’ll continue to provide the great resources that you come to expect, like holiday performance reports, point of sale data and more, but here’s at least new levels of data you can expect from us right away:

Enhanced IRI data. In this month’s report, you’ll see we’re not just talking about point of sale data, but we’re also able to drill down to the category to see how different areas are performing.

Consumer pulse surveys. IFPA will be reaching out to consumers each month on a variety of topics, and this month it was all about floral. We asked 500 U.S. consumers about their expectations for floral going into Valentine’s Day. While the deep dives are important, this kind of formative, in the moment survey, can also help answer some burning questions like "Will the Super Bowl impact people’s buying behaviors?"

Events:

We met earlier this month for our first, virtual buyer meetings that were very successful for all involved. We plan on holding these again in May, but in the meantime, you can mark your calendars with the following dates:

March 29: The Floral Conference – Anaheim

The event will begin with a Breeder Showcase to provide retailers and breeders an opportunity to connect. The afternoon education/networking event is designed for all parts of the supply chain to hear the latest IFPA research findings on consumers’ opinions about supermarket floral departments and their products. Do consumers see supermarkets are their “go to place” for flowers? The event will be structured to provide ample time for discussions and networking across attendees.

May 25 : The Floral Conference – Miami

This event will be a deep dive into the important topics impacting the industry including a discussion on supply chain challenges as well as overview of current consumer demand for floral products. Global floral guests will network across the entire supply chain and share insights, ideas, and business opportunities.

October 27-29: Global Produce and Floral Show– Orlando, Florida

This is the big show, where the entire fresh produce and floral supply chains come together. There will be unmatched education, great speakers and an exciting and buzzing expo, but most importantly, you can connect with all your peers in one place.

Resources:

In addition to our upcoming research and data releases, we’ll also be doubling down on our efforts to provide the latest insight especially for our North American floral members.

In this month’s government affairs insights for floral, John Hollay, IFPA’s director of government relations and expert on workforce and labor, has provided the latest from the Hill.

This is just the beginning, but I’m excited about the energy not just from our association and our members but from our broader partners as well including media partners. In addition to the excellent partnership and support we receive from our industry press, we have also received outreach from publications like Bloomberg, Washington Post and more to discuss the fresh industry’s challenges with the supply chain, transportation and more. This kind of engagement is key when we remember that the challenges that we are facing in today’s environment are not issues that any one industry can solve on their own.

When we launched IFPA, we promised to be a resource, a connector, and an advocate. I’m proud of the work we’ve done so far, and we are just getting started.

New Year, New Floral Newsletter

Research and Data:

Events:

Resources:

Additional Press