What other florists did for Valentine's Day: Interview with Avalon Florals

Valentine’s Day is one of the biggest events on a florist’s calendar, so it’s easy to see why this day can be incredibly stressful for florists who take it on!

We caught up with four successful who took part in Valentine’s Day in 2024 to hear their insight into their experience and advice for other florists on what to expect out of the day.

This is part two, an interview on Valentine’s Day with Dahlia, owner of Avalon Florals. Avalon Florals is a Brisbane florist based in New Farm offering bouquet pickup and delivery, weddings, events and corporate flowers throughout Brisbane.

What was the highest priced order that was placed?

Our highest price point was our $350 wrapped bouquet of seasonal flowers 

What did you do to feel/be prepared for the week?

Being on a Wednesday this year meant I felt well prepared buying on a Monday when all the fresh flowers for the week arrive.  

We only do wrapped arrangements and vases, so we don't have too much to prepare like boxes/foam. We just had to make sure we have enough paper, tissue, ribbons etc. 

How did you choose your offerings? Price points, styles, quantity etc

We offered a pastel or bright seasonal wrapped bouquet at different price points starting at $80 up to $250.

I stick to mostly what's in season and use full or half bunches of a few varieties - this year I used hydrangeas, dahlias, roses and hanging Amaranthus.

What marketing techniques did you use to increase sales and target your ideal client?

We mostly just used Instagram - using stories every day to remind people and adding a link to the valentine's day product on the website and only offering limited pre-orders for delivery. We also have a reminder on our website when you abandon the cart which definitely helps to remind people if they have gotten distracted while ordering. 

What was the most challenging part of Valentine’s week?

The most challenging part was to make sure any last-minute bouquets were accounted for with stock and making sure we'd added them to the delivery and pick up run sheets.

An unexpected lesson that you learnt?

That you always think you have enough but product actually moves really fast once you start pre-making 

Biggest win from the week?

Everyone seemed really happy with their bouquets as they were local seasonal flowers and we received some lovely compliments!

What would you do differently next year?

I would make sure my recipe for each bouquet is really thorough for each size bouquet and to buy a little more stock for walk-ins

Do you have any tips on how to hire, manage and lead your flower team on such a busy week?

I would hire people you already know or that you have previously worked with/for you. Have a few people that are really good/accurate at making bouquets in a relatively quick time, then maybe have a junior who is good at wrapping and can clean around you as you make. My friend George of Gigi Floral and I have worked together for years and we work smoothly together no matter how small the space is.

Try not to do too many things yourself at once and spread out the load!

If you’ve done Valentine’s in the past, did you look back on previous data and find any common trends or anything interesting you could share?

This was only my second Valentine's Day as my own business but it was definitely a lot bigger this year than last! I think the shop's reputation building over the last year really helped mostly through word of mouth and social media. I think people don't always want red roses and would rather just buy a beautiful seasonal bunch. I think sticking to my style people know what they're going to get in a bouquet from Avalon and trust that their partner will like it.  

Any other tips/tricks/advice for florists wanting to do Valentine’s in the future?

I think the best advice I can give is to work out roughly how many bouquets you will make (hard the first year) or offer say X amount of pre-orders and build up some hype when there's only a day or so left to lock it in. Work out what varieties you'd like to use and do a mock up. Do a little math about how much you'd make on X amount and what you should spend. 

Place your order to the wholesaler as soon as the order sheets come out and have subs for each variety, especially if you're in a smaller city like Brisbane. If you get them sent back earlier wholesalers have a better chance to get you what you want and not over-buy!