Re-entering the fast lane? Young people prop up the 100-billion-level flower industry

"Come to Huahai to check in, you are the fugitive princess!" Recently, such posts are not uncommon on a certain social platform. It turned out that the flower wall and flower staircase of a shopping mall in Jinan became a new "Internet celebrity" check-in place, attracting many young people to take pictures (picture). Flowers not only have "appearance", but also business experience. This group of young people who love exquisite life have supported a flower market worth hundreds of billions. Dazhong.com·poster journalists interviewed several young people to see where their love for flowers came from.

Pleasant Economy Drives the Change of Flower Consumption Pattern

According to the "2022-2027 China Flower Industry Market In-Depth Research and Investment Strategy Forecast Report" released by the China Research Institute of Industry Research, flower e-commerce users are mainly concentrated in the 26-40 age group, of which 34.9% are between 26-30 years old. Become the main force of rising consumption. "Impromptu, cheap, and trendy" are the keywords for young people's consumption this year. In the past, flowers were associated with important festivals such as Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, and "pleasing others" was the main motivation for consumption, but now "trying to live every day with a sense of ritual and learning to pamper yourself" has become new pursuit. Buying yourself a bouquet of flowers from time to time and placing them on your desk or on the dining table at home is a way to achieve happiness with a low threshold. For some young people, buying flowers has become a daily expense. As a "flower expert", Ms. Zhang from Jinan told Dazhong.com Poster News reporter that she often buys flowers in the e-commerce live broadcast room, and sometimes goes to the Jiefangqiao Flower Market to buy flowers. "I feel very peaceful when I play with flowers." , When the flowers bloom, there will be a very strong sense of accomplishment, which can be regarded as a decompression for busy work."

Recommendations from relatives and friends around, driven by the atmosphere of social platforms, make young people unconsciously join this buying trend. You only need to spend a few tens of yuan, plus carefully selected angles and filters, you can create an exquisite living atmosphere and quickly increase your sense of happiness. Ms. Tian from Jinan told reporters that she buys flowers for herself about once every two weeks, and the unit price ranges from 100-500 yuan. She often discusses with her flower-loving colleagues where to buy rare flower species, how to prolong the flowering period, and how to match flower materials. After receiving the bouquet, she can spend a good time arranging flowers with her children. I like nature."

According to the data from Qichacha, in the past ten years, the number of registrations of flower-related enterprises in my country has shown an overall upward trend, and there are 410,500 flower-related enterprises in existence. In 2019, there were 93,200 new flower-related companies in my country, a year-on-year increase of 25.52%, which is the most new year in the past ten years. In 2021, 60,900 new stores will be added. Although it has decreased year-on-year, the scale should not be underestimated; in 2021, the scale of my country's flower e-commerce market alone will be close to 50 billion yuan. Since 2013, there have been more than 50 financings in the field of flower e-commerce, and reached a peak in 2015, with a total of 22 financing events. Vertical flower e-commerce companies such as Take Time, The Beast, and Roseonly flooded into the track at that time. In 2019, financing in the field of flower e-commerce fell into a freezing point, with only two financings throughout the year, but at the same time, food delivery platforms and fresh food e-commerce began to enter the market rapidly. The participation of companies such as Ele.com, JD.com, and Hema Xiansheng has rekindled the flames of the flower track. Ultimately, market trends are inseparable from changes in mass consumption patterns.

Adjust the structure on a large scale and explore a new mode of flower planting

The demand for flower consumption will inevitably lead to new roads and new models of production, transportation and sales in the entire industrial chain. In order to meet the growing demand of different consumer groups for fresh cut flowers and the change of supply mode such as "direct delivery from the origin", the fresh cut flower industry is gradually abandoning the traditional planting mode and exploring various methods such as optimizing improved varieties and prolonging the flowering period.

Hou Peiyu, chairman of Huachao (Shandong) Flower Group Co., Ltd., introduced his purchase channels to reporters: "70% of the production areas of my country's flowers are in Yunnan, and a large number of goods in the store come in from around Kunming; The production areas purchase goods, such as tulips from Liaoning, chrysanthemums from Lianyungang, Ruyi roses from Rizhao in the province, peonies from Heze, etc.” In May, when the fragrance of flowers is overflowing, Heze’s “flower-like” peony has become a new “net celebrity” and is popular among consumers. sought after.

Heze has become the largest production base of peony fresh-cut flowers in the country, accounting for more than 50% of the national market. It is estimated that more than 60 million fresh-cut flowers will be put on the market in 2022. Although the epidemic is severe, it still hasn't stopped the pace of Heze fresh-cut peonies from entering the major fresh-cut flower markets across the country. According to the statistics of Heze Peony Fresh Cut Flowers Association, there are currently 30,000 mu of peonies in Heze, and more than 10,000 mu are used for cut flowers, of which 3,000-4,000 mu are imported peonies. Among the fresh-cut varieties of peonies grown in Heze City, there are more than 50 imported varieties, and the net red varieties include coral sunset, etc., which are very popular in the market. In order to meet the needs of different consumer groups for fresh cut flowers, Heze actively adjusted the industrial structure, expanded the urgently needed varieties of peonies in the market, screened out those suitable for potted plants and cut flowers, and eliminated a group of varieties with poor ornamental value and low application value; at the same time, through expanding The scale of facility cultivation, by prolonging the flowering period, extends the supply and demand of fresh cut flowers and improves land efficiency.

Flowers are delicate and easily damaged. The key to ensuring the quality of flowers lies in logistics and transportation. "For wholesalers like us, 30% of the logistics is carried by air, and 70% is carried by cold chains for large items," Hou Peiyu said. In terms of logistics, he uses more professional cold chains, and the transportation calculation unit is based on The unit is kilograms, one piece is 100 kilograms, and the final billing is much cheaper than express delivery. In recent years, the state has vigorously developed the field of cold chain logistics and provided corresponding support policies. Documents such as the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Cold Chain Logistics" and "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the High-quality Development of Cold Chain Logistics Transportation" have been issued one after another. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, my country will build eight national cold chain logistics backbone channels of "four horizontal and four vertical", and expand the "breadth" and "depth" of my country's cold chain logistics service network coverage. With the development of cold chain logistics, the cost of flower transportation has gradually decreased.

New ways of playing on the sales side, major e-commerce companies entering the game to share

In recent years, the sales side of the lower reaches of the flower market has also played "flowers". New models such as monthly flower delivery, flower self-selection supermarkets, and flower self-service vending machines have all appeared in turn. Follow the trend and be sought after.

Although the "520" festival has just passed, there are still many customers stopping in front of Hou Peiyu's self-service flower supermarket to choose their favorite flowers. As a traditional offline flower shop, Hou Peiyu also has his own "innovation" in the "tradition". The flower shop adopts the method of online reservation + offline selection. "We have a flower stand designed and invented by ourselves. This flower stand has three utility model patents," Hou Peiyu said. The flower stand clearly and transparently displays the price of each flower, and adjusts it every day as it fluctuates, which makes the selection process more convenient and quick for customers . Explore new models offline, and expand the sales space of flowers online and online. The flower enterprises represented by Internet flower B2C online retail brands Huajia, Huadiantime and Hualijia have launched a monthly subscription flower model to meet the needs of consumers for repeated flower purchases, and learn from the e-commerce "pre-order + periodic purchase" model. Experience, fixed-point and regular delivery of flowers to the door, let flower sales get rid of the traditional dilemma of cold and hot seasons in low and peak seasons. As flower consumption is becoming more and more popular, the flower live broadcast rooms of major e-commerce platforms are even more lively. The low price of 9.9 yuan and 19.9 yuan for a bunch of flowers in the live broadcast room is attracting more and more traffic. In recent years, with the rise of community group buying, flowers have gradually entered the stage. While group buying vegetables and fruits, group buying a bunch of flowers has also become the choice of some customers (picture). In order to realize "selling flowers in the way of selling vegetables", fresh food e-commerce companies have also entered the game one after another. E-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo, Hema Xiansheng, and Dingdong Maicai have all entered the flower sales track one after another.

When the reporter visited the Jinan Jiefangqiao Flower Market, he found that there were endless streams of consumers in front of the various flower stalls. A stall owner surnamed Zhou introduced that the new crown pneumonia epidemic has indeed affected the passenger flow, but business is slowly recovering recently. Boss Zhou said: "I have confidence in our government and our flower industry!" The published "2022-2027 China Flower Industry Market In-depth Research and Investment Strategy Forecast Report" predicts that the future market size of the flower industry will reach 176.64 billion yuan, which may mean that every player in the track has the opportunity to obtain development dividends.