Dubai : With Valentine's Day tomorrow, flower distributors and florists in the UAE are getting ready for their busiest day of the year.
"Business might be a bit cool this year," said Mohammad Yousuf Zarrouf, general manager of Safa Flowers, a shop on Shaikh Zayed Road.
Zarrouf, who's been in the flower business for the past 12 years, said that regardless of how one's business is doing throughout the year, it always picks up on Valentine's.
On a regular day, the shop sells 100 to 200 flowers, he said.
In 2007 and 2008, Safa Flowers' sales reached around 5,000 on Valentine's Day. On the same occasion last year, the shop's sales went down to around 1,500 flowers.
"If we sell 1,000 flowers this Valentine's, then it'll be good," Zarrouf said.
Stable business
Jenny Joseph, owner of Jenny Flowers, who has run his shop for 23 years, said that business has been stable for four years. "I was expecting last year to be less, but it wasn't," he said.
For the past four years, sales have been between 15,000 and 20,000 roses on Valentine's alone, according to Joseph. He expects this year to hit the same number.
Black Tulip Flowers, wholesalers located in Sharjah, have made similar predictions.
The company sells flowers to more than 500 retail shops in the UAE, according to their accounts manager.
"The business trend is a little bit down, so we are expecting the same level as 2009," said Arul Rangarajan, accounts manager at Black Tulip.
Last year, the company sold about 500,000 roses on Valentine's compared to 600,000 in 2008.
"We're not expecting to get back to the 2007 and 2008 levels immediately," he said.
"But we'll gradually get to those levels again.
"We are getting busier now, but we will become really busy before Valentine's," said Rangarajan.
The company grows its own flowers in Kenya, Mal-aysia and India.
For the flowers the company can't grow in those countries, it imports them from Thailand and Holland.
Rangarajan explained that flower prices double or triple starting on February 3.
"A rose will be around Dh7 or Dh8 for Valentine's," he said, adding, "while on a regular day it would be around Dh2."
Asked about the reason behind the jump in prices, Rangarajan explained that the farms aren't reducing their prices, so it affects their selling price and ultimately affects the customers.
Delivery challenge
One of the major challenges for florists on Valentine's Day is delivery.
For instance, Jenny Flowers will use all 22 vehicles that the business owns to make sure orders are delivered on time.
Although deliveries will start today, Joseph expects this year to be more hectic when it comes to deliveries because Valentine's falls on a Sunday.
While orders start coming in around February 10, Joseph said that many people place last-minute orders all the time.
"That's when it becomes more expensive," he said. "But if you make orders now, it's cheaper."
What people are buying
Valentine's Day is the No 1 holiday for florists. For fresh flower purchases only, Valentine's Day ranks No 1, capturing 36 per cent of holiday transactions and 40 per cent of holiday dollar volume.
What are consumers buying?
Red roses: 48%
Mixed flowers: 36%
Roses (not red): 24%
Other type of flower (not roses) such as all tulips, all carnations, all lilies, etc: 23%
Plants: 24%
Source: www.aboutflowers.com
