If the Holidays Aren’t What They Used to Be, Whose Fault Is That?

By Arthur Conforti

I continue to hear the same thing from people in our industry: “The holidays just aren’t what they used to be.”

Thanksgiving. Sweetest Day. Grandparents’ Day. Administrative Professionals Day. Father’s Day. Even holidays and cultural celebrations such as Rosh Hashanah that give florists an opportunity to help customers recognize people who are important to them.

We talk about these occasions as though customers simply stopped caring. But I think we need to ask ourselves a harder question: Whose fault is that?

For years, florists could count on organizations and wire services throughout our industry to help create awareness around important occasions. I still see Teleflora making an effort to keep shops informed and prepared.

But where is everyone else? And, SAF, where are you? This is our industry. If we want these occasions to remain meaningful for florists, somebody has to talk about them.

Posting Is Not Enough. Explain Why It Matters.

We should want customers to think, ‘My florist remembered,’ before we expect them to remember us.

Recently, I saw companies posting about occasions such as Grandparents’ Day and Rosh Hashanah. That is a start but there is a major difference between simply posting the name of a holiday and actually helping someone understand it.

If I search for Rosh Hashanah, I want to learn that it is the Jewish New Year, when it begins, what it means, and why someone might want to reach out to a friend, family member, customer, or colleague. Now I know something I may not have known before. Maybe I have Jewish friends and want to wish them happiness, good health, and a wonderful new year. That is useful information.

And from a marketing standpoint, that type of content also matters because it gives search engines and AI-powered search tools more context. We talk constantly today about SEO, GEO, and being found online. Well, content that actually explains an occasion is much more useful than simply putting up a graphic that says the holiday is coming.

The same thing applies to Grandparents’ Day. Imagine a customer sees a post from their local flower shop reminding them that Grandparents’ Day is approaching. They click through and learn when it is, why it is celebrated, and perhaps get a few ideas for recognizing a grandparent.

Maybe they order flowers, maybe they make a phone call, maybe they go visit Grandma. Either way, that florist provided something useful and that customer may walk away thinking: “Thanks to my local flower shop, I remembered.”

How difficult was that? It took one thoughtful reminder.

Are We Waiting for Orders or Creating Customers?

This is where I think our industry needs to look in the mirror. Are we going to sit with our hands out waiting for somebody to feed us another order?

And then, when those orders do not come, are we going to blame the “big bad order gatherers” for taking them? We cannot have it both ways. If local florists want customers to think of them first, then local florists need to give people a reason to think about them.

That means talking about these occasions before the customer remembers them on their own. It means keeping websites current, iIt means sending reminders, it means explaining what these holidays and occasions are about, it means creating special offerings when appropriate.

And sometimes it simply means giving customers an idea they would not have thought about otherwise. This is our industry. We should be leading these conversations.

Even the Smaller Holidays Deserve Attention

Not every holiday is going to produce Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day numbers, that is not the point. If the only occasions we care about are the ones that create enormous sales volume, then we are missing part of what being a local florist is supposed to mean.

Administrative Professionals Day matters to somebody, Father’s Day matters to somebody, Sweetest Day matters to somebody, Rosh Hashanah matters to somebody, and certainly Grandparents’ Day matters to somebody.

Doesn't your grandparent deserve a day? These occasions create opportunities to connect people. That is what flowers have always done. When we stop talking about these occasions, stop promoting them, and stop educating customers about them, we should not be surprised when their importance begins to fade. We cannot complain that a holiday is disappearing while doing nothing to keep it relevant.

It Is Time for Florists to Get Back in the Game

I also believe local florists need more ways to demonstrate their credibility and show customers the value of doing business with a reputable local flower shop. That is why I am preparing to launch Rate a Florist.

The idea is to give consumers another resource for recognizing and evaluating flower shops while giving deserving florists an opportunity to display recognition badges on their websites, similar to the trust signals consumers already recognize from platforms such as Google, Yelp, and Nextdoor.

But I do not want this to become another platform where anyone can unfairly attack a business with no accountability. If a florist believes a negative review is abusive or unfair, there will be a process for reviewing it. A committee will evaluate the circumstances and vote on whether removal is justified.

At the same time, we will not eliminate legitimate criticism simply because a shop does not like what a customer said. Florists deserve protection from unfair attacks and customers deserve honest information.

Both can exist at the same time.

Rate a Florist will also provide articles, industry information, timely reminders, and content surrounding occasions that deserve more attention. Because somebody needs to keep talking about them.

This Is Our Industry

The flower shops we manage are already being encouraged to keep their holiday information current, including names, dates, educational content, reminders, and special offerings.

Why? Because waiting for customers to remember everything themselves is not a marketing strategy. Neither is complaining afterward that business is not what it used to be.

We have a wonderful industry built around helping people celebrate, remember, comfort, congratulate, and connect with one another. We should be reminding people of those opportunities - we should be educating them and we should be giving them reasons to turn to their local florist when those moments arrive.

If we want holidays to matter again, we have to help make them matter. Come on, florists - this is our industry. Let's stop waiting for someone else to build it for us. I would genuinely like to hear what other florists think about this and about the upcoming Rate a Florist program. Email me at art@bloomerang.solutions and tell me what you think.