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Extra Features and Video Online FloristsReview.com R E A D O N L I N E 13 I t is becoming not only a feeling but also a certified fact that caring about sustainability practices as a florist is good for business—as well as the world. Let's start with the results from a recent consumer research study titled "U.S. Consumer Perceptions & Willingness to Pay for Sustainable Environmental Practices in the Floral Industry." Of the study's 2,172 U.S. participants, 61.7 percent indicated the strongest willingness to pay "10 percent or more" for locally sourced flowers, and 59.5 percent responded that they would be willing to pay the same amount more at floral providers that compost their floral waste (of all participants). "Ten percent or more," folks. at's a nice number, indeed. And, we're not done yet: 31.7 percent of participants indicated a willingness to pay "15 percent or more" for locally sourced flowers. is 2023 study, led by Coleman Etheredge, Ph.D., CFD, and James DelPrince, Ph.D., AIFD, CFD, PFCI, at Mississippi State University, and Tina Waliczek Cade, Ph.D., at Texas State University, was funded by Floral Marketing Fund (FMF), alongside co-sponsors, BloomNet, a floral services company serving more than 5,000 local florists across the country, and Syndicate Sales, a leading manufacturer and supplier of floral hard goods for retail florists. Turns out that women are very much focused on this issue. is study, and others (Laroche et al., 2016), discovered that "married females with at least one child living at home" are the ideal clients who will pay more for environmentally friendly products. Good to know, right? Plus, as we know, women purchase the majority of flowers for gifts and accompany brides when booking big wedding events. So it is, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing. Additionally, it has been found consumers 36 to 50 years of age are the most likely group to be proactively purchasing products from environmentally friendly companies (Patel et al., 2017). So, let's take a pause for a moment. is demo isn't even the younger generation of 20-somethings who also prize sustainability. erefore, touting your bona-fide sustainability practices is good for business, with opportunities spanning several generations. ese illuminating results also mirror other earlier studies, which found that consumers would pay up to 40 percent more for products from industries that design products using environmentally sound practices that have Floral design by Brenna Quan, AIFD, CFD 61.7% indicated the strongest willingness to pay "10% or more" for locally sourced flowers

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