China News Service, February 15th (Zuo Yuqing, Zhongxin Finance and Economics) Sending a bouquet of flowers to lovers is the most enduring romance on Valentine's Day.
However, apart from being romantic, many people complain about the high price of flowers on Valentine's Day, which is suspected of being an "IQ tax".
While couples are enjoying the romantic atmosphere, florists will "close their eyes" to make money, which seems to have become the consensus of many people.
However, facing the price of flowers on Valentine's Day this year, many florists are struggling.
Flower shop: The sudden drop in flower prices has become a "taken advantage"
"It's normal for the price to rise every festival, but this year's flower prices have skyrocketed, but the quality has deteriorated a lot." On the eve of Valentine's Day, Zheng Juan (pseudonym), the owner of a flower shop in Beijing who was stocking up in advance, felt anxious.
"There are a lot of broken branches and clipped branches. My colleagues also received cold storage flowers, and even gray mold (disease)."
Zheng Juan told Zhongxin Finance and Economics that due to the distance from the main flower producing areas such as Yunnan, many flower shops in other places will choose to purchase from Yunnan many days in advance, and then fill the vacancies from the local wholesale market according to actual needs.
"I always hear customers complain that the high price is to make black-hearted money, but in fact we also purchase at a high price, and there is really no way around the price."
"(When the goods were purchased) A-grade plateau red Yunnan was already 180 yuan a bundle (20 sticks), and the wholesale price at the store was almost 210 yuan." She told Zhongxin Finance and Economics.
A flower wholesale market in Beijing.
Photo by Zuo Yuqing
However, what Zheng Juan couldn't accept was that after she prepared the goods, the price of flowers in the Yunnan Auction Market (Kunming International Flower Auction and Trading Center) suddenly dropped.
"On the 9th, I heard that the price of red roses has fallen sharply, and now I am very worried about whether the goods in my hand can be sold."
On the 10th, when Zhongxin Finance visited a flower wholesale market in Beijing, the price of Grade A plateau red was mostly 15-18 yuan per piece. Many flower shop owners told Zhongxin Finance that the price would rise again in two days.
However, on the 13th, the A-grade plateau red in the wholesale market has dropped to 13-15 yuan/piece, and even a flower shop said that it can be sold at a price of 10 yuan/piece.
On a social platform, a flower shop owner said that he had encountered the same situation: "The red color I bought for 110 yuan just arrived, but Yunnan fell to 60 yuan, and my heart hurts." "The price of flowers this year is really outrageous. Explain that the price is too expensive."
"The price of flowers in the auction market is unstable, and the live broadcast at the source is cheaper than ours. Now the small flower shops who stock up for the holidays are frightened." Zheng Juan said that although she only prepared 10,000 yuan of goods this year out of caution, she was still worried about whether it could sold out.
Suppliers: Climate cuts in line with supply and demand
"Buy at a high price and sell at a low price." While complaining about flower prices, many florists also took aim at the auction market in Yunnan.
As one of the main sources of flower supply in Yunnan, the auction market is a channel for many flower shops to purchase.
A supplier from Kunming Dounan said: "Florists find it difficult this year, but the 'pain' of shippers is no less than that of flower shops."
The recent price trend of fresh cut flowers in Yunnan auction market.
Screenshot from Kunming International Flower Auction and Trading Center.
She said that the weather in Kunming this year was not good, and many frost flowers appeared.
"The pressure is really great. Good flowers are hard to find, and the price is high. A car can cost 100,000 yuan, and it has to be settled now."
In addition, the distribution of goods in the auction market has also become a pain point.
Some suppliers said that the slow distribution of goods at the auction led to the accumulation of flowers, which also indirectly pushed up the price of flowers.
"A lot of good flowers are abruptly spoiled."
Regarding the drop in flower prices, the supplier Yang Lei (pseudonym) said that it was in line with normal market laws.
"A few days ago, out-of-town florists purchased a large amount of goods, so naturally the tide went up. When the holidays approached, the out-of-town stocks were almost ready, and the prices came down. Generally speaking, it was still affected by the relationship between supply and demand."
According to the data released by the Kunming Flower Auction Center on the 9th, after entering the peak period of "2.14", the market continued to run at a high level. From February 6th to 9th, the momentum of high-quality market remained undiminished. From February 9th, low-quality goods Prices are gradually falling, and the price difference between various grades of goods is gradually widening.
The prices of many rose varieties have soared, and the red, vintage and pink varieties are extremely "favored", and the flower matching performance is also strong.
Among them, quicksand, Freud, cappuccino, explorer, Zhenai, Gaosheng, pink snow mountain and other varieties have the highest price of more than 10 yuan per bottle, and the highest price has reached 14 yuan per bottle, occupying the top position in the market list.
Flower e-commerce: Are cheap flowers broken by terminal florists?
For florists, in addition to the difficulty of purchasing goods from the auction market, the sudden emergence of flower e-commerce in recent years has also constrained terminal florists.
According to iiMedia Consulting data, 2013-2015 was the outbreak period of flower e-commerce in China. After entering 2020, the epidemic has accelerated the integration of online and offline channels in the flower industry.
Major Internet platforms such as Taobao and JD.com took the lead in launching flower self-operated businesses, and fresh food brands such as Dingdong Maicai, Daily Youxian, and Hema Xiansheng also joined the track.
In addition, a large number of live broadcast rooms from the origin of Yunnan have joined Taobao, Douyin and other platforms to provide consumers with direct sales of flowers across middlemen.
Compared with offline stores, the price of flower e-commerce is generally more favorable, and the delivery is more convenient, and it has quickly become the new favorite of many young consumers.
Buying flowers is no longer a holiday consumption behavior, but has become a daily life like grocery shopping.
However, for low-end flower shops, the development of flower e-commerce has made their situation more difficult.
"We have to buy goods at high prices from the source, but the low-priced flowers live from the source make the retail price of the flower shop look like a joke." Some flower shop owners believe that under the live broadcast from the source, the low-end flower shops at the terminal have become The real "big injustice".
A flower wholesale market in Beijing.
Photo by Zuo Yuqing
Zhongxin Finance noticed that on the eve of Valentine’s Day, the price of A-grade plateau red on live broadcast e-commerce has been sold at 64.9 yuan per bouquet, while some fresh food e-commerce has already packaged red rose bouquets, with an average price of 10-11 yuan / branch.
The addition of e-commerce and live streaming will undoubtedly have an impact on the business of flower shops.
Some stores said, "The low-priced flowers in the off-season have lowered many customers' expectations for flower prices, and it is even more difficult to accept price increases during the festival."
On the other hand, although consumers can buy cheaper flowers through new channels, some practitioners have reported to Zhongxin Finance and Economics that considering the gap between transportation, physical objects and online display, the quality of some flowers in online channels Difficult to guarantee.
The instability of prices and the change of channels make flowers that symbolize romance seem to be a "tribulation" for flower shops.
On social platforms, some flower shops said that they no longer plan to stock up or stock less for Valentine's Day this year.
"Preparing stock is like gambling, and the competition is too tiring." But some stores have already begun to consider moving to the front line.
Have you bought flowers for Valentine's Day this year?
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