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Valentine's Day Sparks 40 Percent Growth to Gift and Flower Web Sites, Says Nielsen//NetRatings

Nielsen//NetRatings, Inc. - February 14, 2005

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that love is in the air . Gift and flowers Web site destinations drew 2.5 million at-home visitors, marking a 40 percent jump in traffic, during the week ending February 6 as Valentine's Day approached. Proflowers.com and FTD each saw traffic grow over 100 percent, trailed by 1800Flowers. Greeting card and personals sites are also poised for spikes as stragglers send e-cards or scout for dates.

“Online florists strategically offered shoppers special discounts for early orders and sweepstakes to maximize customer acquisition opportunities the biggest day in flower sales,” said Heather Dougherty, senior retail analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. “An added bonus for the forgetful last minute shopper is the ability of florists to fulfill same-day orders for deliveries on February 14.”
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Taking an early look at greeting cards, Americangreetings.com attracted 869,000 Web surfers for a 30 percent jump. Blue Mountain climbed 32 percent to capture the week’s fastest growing greeting cards site, drew 380,000 visitors to search and send e-cards.

Dating and Personals

Growing 59 percent prior to Valentine’s Day, MSN Dating & Personals seduced 531,000 visitors and became the fastest growing among personals sites for the week ending February 6. Eharmony.com followed with a 26 percent increase attracting 354,000 unique visitors. Yahoo! Personals enticed 1.3 million visitors reporting a six percent week-over-week growth.

The American Cancer Society will be bringing a spring preview to the area through its annual Daffodil Days Celebration. Again this year a bunch of daffodils cost only $7 and a Gift of Hope is $15. To place your order call Diana Klein at Alegent Health at 643-2298 or at home 643-5530. Please call by February 21 to guarantee that you will have a bunch of daffodils reserved for yourself. If you would like to volunteer to help with Daffodil Days please let Diana know. Pickup date will be March 7.

The daffodil has been selected as the American Cancer Society's flower of hope because it is the first flower of spring and represents hope for a new season as well as hope for a community free of cancer.

More than half of the proceeds are used to fund local prevention and patient education programs. The balance is used for national research and support.

Lovers by the thousands flocked to flower vendors Sunday, despite the rain, to purchase a Valentine's Day bouquet for their spouses and girlfriends.

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For most, like Erthan Uskup, 65, a computer science instructor at Houston Community College, the choice was a rose.

"I think it's traditional," Uskup said about roses, to be presented to his wife, Semra, when he meets her at the airport on her return from a daughter's wedding in Turkey.

"We men try not to make mistakes, right?" he said about choosing the flower that symbolized romance as far back as the Roman empire, long before Valentine's Day.

According to a Roman myth, Cupid spilled nectar that he was carrying to the gods on Mount Olympus and roses sprang up from the spot.

The willingness of thousands of patrons like Donald K. Taylor, 50, a truck owner-operator, to spill cash for the age-old symbol of romance makes Valentine's the biggest business day of the year for shops on Fannin Street's flower row and throughout the city.

Bouquet buyers began streaming into the Country Rose Garden on Fannin on Saturday, and the traffic continued through the night at the 24-hour shop, manager Martha Grisby said.

Grisby said the shop increased staffing from the normal three to nearly 20 to meet the demand from customers, most of whom are men.

Carlos Chavez, 29, manager of Fannin Flowers on flower row, says his shop normally orders between 3,000 and 5,000 roses a week from wholesalers but increased the order to 30,000 for Valentine's Day.

Chris Reyna, owner of Reyna's Florist and Gift Shop, 903 N. 75th, said her orders increased from 75 to 350 per week.

Most of the roses sold in Houston come from Ecuador, where they thrive in the warm days and cool mountain evenings, said Margo Jaco, sales representative for Greenleaf Wholesale Florist, one of the largest flower distributors in Houston.

Weekly orders for roses jumped from between 40,000 and 50,000 during a normal week to about 200,000. "This is the biggest season of the year. This is the big hurrah," she said. Mother's Day is a distant second for flower sales, she said.

The wholesaler added extra drivers and processors to meet the huge demand, with employees working up to 30 extra hours for the week, Jaco said.

Chavez said his sales began Saturday and would continue until about 10 p.m. today.

For Robert Jackson, 44, a Harris County deputy sheriff, a rose by any other name was a tulip. Jackson chose a Valentine's gift package with tulips, a heart-shaped balloon and a white teddy bear for his wife, Debbie.

Tulips also are a big seller for Valentine's Day, although they lag far behind roses in popularity, Chavez said.

Jackson is having the arrangement delivered to his wife at her accounting job today, a favored delivery destination.

"The ladies like to talk," said Jason Ybarra, 31, an environmental scientist, about why he's sending his wife, Teri, a dozen roses at work.

The circumstances of modern life being what they are, not everyone is waiting until today to present a token of their troth.

Chris Holsinger, 37, a doctor, and his twin boys, Alex and Zach, 6, each presented wife and mother Erin with flowers when she and her 5-month-old daughter returned home from shopping Sunday.

"With three kids, Monday is just too complicated," he said.