Valentine’s Day: Flower Facts and Eco-Trends

Media Advisory
January 23, 2006
Valentine’s Day
Flower Facts and Eco-Trends

Overview: Can Valentine’s flowers be ‘Green’? Eco-entrepreneur and organic flower pioneer Gerald Prolman is on a crusade to transform the $20 billion floral industry to organic and to eliminate the toxic chemicals that are commonly used to produce flowers.

Floral Market / Sales Data – Overall –
• Roses produced for Valentine's Day in 2005: 180 million stems
• Valentine's Day ranks number one, capturing 35 percent of holiday transactions and 34 percent of dollar volume. Valentine's Day is also the number one holiday for florists [Fresh flower purchases only (Society of American Florists)]
• U.S. market for flowers and plants = $19.5 billion in 2004 (U.S. Dept of Commerce, 2004)
• 63 million educated and affluent consumers in the US spend $230 billion dollars annually on socially and environmentally responsible products (LOHAS market research)

Floral Market / Sales Data – Eco / Organic –
• U.S. sales of organic flowers grew to $8 million in 2003, an estimated 52 percent growth spurt from the previous year. Organic flower sales are expected to grow 13 percent annually through 2008. (Organic Trade Association)
• OrganicBouquet.com, the leading organic flower supplier, projects Valentine’s 2006 sales to exceed 10,000 dozen roses
• Veriflora™ – a new independent eco-certification developed by Scientific Certification Systems, a neutral third-party organization – addresses agricultural practices, environmental protection and social responsibility. The standard incorporates organic agricultural practices into its criteria.
• Veriflora™ has 250 million stems already certified, with another 200 million in the pipeline. Organic Bouquet was the first Veriflora™ certified handler.
• The U.S. organic market is projected to reach a value of $30.7 billion by 2007, with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 21.4 percent between 2002 and 2007, compared to a 21.2 percent rate between 1997 and 2002. (Datamonitor)

Internet Sales Trends –
• In 2004, $950 million of flowers were sold online (Aggregated sales figures based on publicly available sales data)

Flower Production / Growing – Eco / Organic –
• Organic flowers address the main purpose of organic production, which is to enrich the soil and produce crops in a responsible manner.
• Organic and Sustainably grown flowers are now grown in the USA (including California and Oregon) and internationally including Holland, Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico.

Experts Available –
• Gerald Prolman, CEO, www.OrganicBouquet.com – Organic Bouquet is the internet’s first organic florist, offering flowers that are grown in a manner that is gentle on the earth and safe for the farm workers, wildlife, and the environment. They have pioneered the organic flower market, and have been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, Worth Magazine and San Francisco Chronicle.
• Linda Brown, Scientific Certification Systems – a neutral third-party certification organization that developed and monitors the Veriflora™ program.
• Ray Klocke- former Senior Vice President, Produce and Floral – at Safeway Corp. and Kroger’s.

To schedule interviews, receive additional background information, photos and other resources, please contact Michael Straus, Straus Communications, 415/777-1170 x 302, Michael@StrausCom.com.