How Can You Warm Up Winter Sales? The New Northwoods Collection of Floral Products.

How can “cool” holiday designs warm up your winter sales? Appeal to trend savvy and traditional customers? Be fresh from the forest, modern and easy? How? When you use the inspiring textures of nature. Welcome to the new Northwoods Collection of holiday floral products, created to provide convenient natural products for your tradition-with-a-flair designs. [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][rev_slider alias="warm-up-winter-1"] Texture is the luxury of floral design. The Northwoods Collection is rich with rough-timber surfaces fashioned into wood rings, wooden crates and bark logs. With these easy-to-fill containers, you can create rustic-modern designs that capture the clean feel of a snowy alpine meadow with fresh-from-the forest styling. The vibe of this collection is earthy yet new, naturally blending updated shades of cranberry and cinnamon, moss and slate, silver and gold and matte and glitter finishes. Frosty blue shades from lavender to azure are added to help celebrate the holidays with the latest color trends. (Northwoods is a seasonal offering that goes on sale in September).

Add a natural element with Bark Logs

[rev_slider alias="warm-up-winter-2"] Your back-to-basics clients will love the natural woodland bark finish of the 8”, 12”, 18” long Bark Log containers. A sewn-in waterproof liner in each log makes it easy to pop in the foam and get started on holiday designs.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD7S0miYnj4&t=1s" align="center"][vc_column_text]

Include on-trend Wooden Crates

Wooden pallet and crate projects are very popular again this year. Here’s a collection of pine wood crates you don’t have to build yourself! The water reservoir area is lined with the three sizes designed to hold one-third, two-thirds or full block of floral foam. [rev_slider alias="warm-up-winter-3"] As seen in the photos above and the video below, the addition of Raw Jute, Bark Wrap or Moss wrap loops or bows can help to accessorize designs of natural materials.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHtbrbhJyCc&t=4s"][vc_column_text]

Add visual interest with Wood Rings

[rev_slider alias="warm-up-winter-4"] One of my personal favorites in the list of new products is the collection of Wood Rings. Add visual interest to your designs with these rings in three sizes—8”, 12”, 14”—and three colors—natural, brown and white wash. The simple addition of the appropriately sized bowl to the center of each ring creates a great foundation for a holiday centerpiece. Secure the wood ring to the center space of a wreath of greens, glue in cones, pods or berries to the base of the ring center, add decorative materials to the outer wreath and you have an impressive holiday wreath for the table or door.[/vc_column_text][vc_video link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bW8IO9bdk8&t=14s"][vc_column_text]

Use accessories to add a festive flair

Sometimes a holiday accessory is all it takes to add just the right touch of festive flair. These new raw muslin ribbons featuring wooden snowflakes, stars, and trees are easy to add and quick to get noticed. [rev_slider alias="warm-up-winter-5"] To add a bow or a few loops into an arrangement, use a wired Cowee pick, wrapping the thin wire around the fabric end, and taping over the wire for extra security. Dashes of UGLU can be used to help secure the muslin to container surfaces.

Consider using a 60-20-20 product mix

A good rule of thumb for blending your product mix for holiday sales is:

• 60 percent tried and trues; what you know you can sell.
• 20 percent basic materials: holiday staples like ribbons, candles and green.
• 20 percent trendy new looks; the latest greatest.

The magic is in the mix. The latest and greatest products give your displays a fresh look, inspire impulse buys and can usually garner higher price points because they are viewed as something different by your high-end shoppers. The next year, customers will know the look. It may sell more readily, but perhaps not at a premium price. It becomes part of the 60 percent of tried and true saleable items. New latest and greatest items will fill the wow! space in the 20 percent higher-priced trendy category that entices customers into your door. Which category do Northwoods Collection products fall into for you? If the textured natural look is indigenous to your area, it belongs in the tried and trues. If it is a new look for your region, then it goes into the trendy category.

Selling to wants versus needs

People typically spend more money on what they want over what they need. However, knowing the needs of your customers is key to providing them with products they really want. Creating visually interesting in-store or online vignettes of a new collection is the best way catch the eye of a potential customer and for the new products to become a must-have in their shopping cart. How will you add tradition with flair to your seasonal product mix to boost your holiday sales? Next week: Northwoods rustic tin containers and more decorative accessories.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]