furkew

This is probably a question for the ladies out there,

The business I am hoping to start when we emigtrate to Australia is in the wholesale cut flower indusrty. My questions are :

Do Australians buy many flowers, or is it just for special occasions ?

Are flowers expensive in OZ ?

Do you like the flowers that are available ?

Any feedback would be really helpful.

thanx

Paul

p.s. Say it with flowers !!!!!
[it helps me pay the bills]

ABCDiamond

Some reading material..........

http://www.fastflowers.com.au/

http://www.flowers.com.au/

http://www.easyflowers.com.au/

http://www.flyingflowers.com.au/


Quite a few wholesale flower farms around our way, we even had one right behind us, about 5 acres worth, but it closed down recently, for development purposes. More money in houses than flowers

furkew

I have looked into the wholesale side quite deeply up till now, I have also had mail contact with a number of companies in Australia dealing with flowers, but I have a few ideas in mind, but I need feedback from the actual consumer. I know that all women love flowers, but I want to see more bought because they are affordable.

thanks for the links btw. I'll check them out for prices.

Paul

furkew

I had a quick glance on the sites, and using 12 long red roses as a guideline, $88-$97 does not get me enthusiastic about buying flowers !!

I am spoilt here in Holland with the range and prices, but I know enough about the business to see that there is room for improvement !

My present company offers 3 dozen red roses sent from Holland to the UK for 49.00 pounds !! It can be done, but is there enough interest ?

irishbloo

hi there,my sister lives in perth.she said that you can get lovely flowers there and of course lots of tropical.i hope when i get there i can afford to buy lots of flowers as i think the house looks sad without them.im also training to be a florist in england at the moment so im hoping to continue that in perth. good luck with your buisness. ..irishbloo

furkew

Thanks irish.

I need people like you with a positive attitude about flowers to make things work for me if i'm to make a success of a new business in OZ.

Hope it all works out for you as aflorist, and good luck in Perth

HiddenPaw

Yes, Aussies buy a lot of cut flowers. In the burbs of the main cities, you will often find 2-3, or more florists on every high street.

I did my diploma in commercial floristry at the Floral Art School of Australia, in Melbourne. They has a massive throughput of pupils, most of whom of course want to go on to be commercial florists!

In certain areas there is BIG demand - e.g. my sister lives in a large, rural Italian community. I'm not being crude but she goes to tons of funerals! Big catholic funerals, hundreds of relatives, zillions of flowers. The cemetaries are simply stunning and very colourful with flowers. She also goes to loads of weddings - big ostentatious weddings - again, tons of flowers! So, a very big market up that way for flowers.

Good luck.

MrsDagboy

We buy flowers regularly for our rental houses, florists usually charge an arm & a leg, so we buy directly from the growers as they sell out of a small shop on their farm. Not a huge range of either types or arrangments, but more than enough for what we want.

Florist shops are finding it hard over here as competition from people selling online & direct from farms is growing. We looked at buying or establishing a florist shop but came to the conclusion that profit margins for the average shop are dwindling because of those factors. As HP mentioned, the biggest money spinners are weddings & funerals & if you can get into a market for those you would do considerably better.

I even had an area & name for the business chosen, but just couldnt justify the outlay .

joanneS

What on earth are you doing on expats site this time of the morning on New Years Day!LOL You should be in bed with a major hangover!!
Happy New Year
jox

MrsDagboy

Haha, I've been in bed, but not with a hangover, I hurt my back yesterday & have spent most of my time yesterday & today (& probably tomorrow) on the bed, no NYE party for me .

Happy New Year to you too .

wholeworldwindow

I used to buy flowers all the ime in UK but I find they die too quickly in QLD - only last a few days - and they never seem to give a packet of long life stuff to put in the water like I did in UK. Any tips for longer life? (for flowers I mean - unless of course you have a magic potion for me too! )

furkew

It depends on the type of flower, but for example with gerbera's, a little bleach in the water helps, with carnations and spray carnations, a little lemonade in the water. There are a million little tricks of the trade, but at the end of the day if you use flower food (i would imagine you can get this at any florist or garden centre) fresh water after about 3 days, and when the flowers are gone, make sure the vase is well disinfected. Bacteria is the main reason that flowers don't last long enough.

wholeworldwindow

Thanks for that. I mainly buy Lillies. Love em.

furkew

The Brits in general are lily lovers.

Just make sure that there are no leaves in the water to prevent bacteria being produced, and keep them out of the sun. A couple of icecubes each day in the water slows things down as well.

If you like lilys, have a look at these then :

bianca lilies

paauw lilies

Vletter & den Haan


Have fun

Paul